2013 Football Recruiting Rankings: Tight Ends

National Signing Day 2013 is right around the corner and Athlon Sports is releasing its position-by-position rankings for the Class of 2013 based on the Athlon Consensus 100. Who is left on the board? Who has the best class at one position? Who had positional needs to fill? And, obviously, who are the stars of tomorrow fans can look forward to at every position?

Only seven tight ends are ranked nationally in the top 150 by the four recruiting services. This is on par for the rankings each season as the AC100 has 3-5 tight end prospects in each class. It should come as no surprise that the major power programs are the ones landing the true tight end prospects either. Alabama, Arkansas and LSU from the SEC while Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan from the Big Ten each landed their future TE. 

O.J. Howard is the best prospect in the nation and one of the better all-around prospects at the position since Austin Seferian-Jenkins (2011). He is a polished pass catcher with electric athletic ability for his size. He also won Alabama Lineman of the Year despite missing four games. 

Adam Breneman is the prototypical Penn State Nittany Lion tight end. With Bill O'Brien showing the world how to use two tight ends at New England, Breneman should team with star quarterback prospect Christian Hackenburg to form a dynamic combination for the next four years in Happy Valley.

LSU also is getting a good one that it will be able to use in the passing game right away. DeSean Smith is a long, rangy prospect who is right at home in the slot. He will need to add size and bulk to play inline but that will come with time in Baton Rouge. Otherwise, his pass-catching ability is college ready and could serve Les Miles right away in 2013.

2013 Positional Rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE | OL | DL | LB | DB | ATH

View the complete 2013 Athlon Consensus 100

Recruiting Videos:

AC100 On Campus: Su'a Cravens
AC100 On Campus: Jalen Ramsey
AC100 On Campus: Ethan Pocic
AC100 On Campus: Robbie Rhodes
AC100 On Campus: Jalin Marshall
AC100 On Campus: Jake Raulerson
AC100 On Campus: Cameron Burrows
AC100 On Campus: Dontre Wilson
AC100 On Campus: Taco Charlton
AC100 On Campus: Torii Hunter Jr., Part I
AC100 On Campus: Torii Hunter Jr., Part II
AC100 On Campus: Josh Banderas, Part I
AC100 On Campus: Josh Banderas, Part II