WHAT IT MEANS: TE Ryan Transfers Home to Utah

The University of Utah landed its first big transfer portal addition of the season on Thursday with the addition of former UCLA tight end Carsen Ryan.

The 6-foot-4 and 255 pound tight end prepped at American Fork HS in Utah County where he was a 4-star tight end in the 2022 class and the No. 17 rated overall by Rivals. During that time, Utah was never in the picture with the local talent, as he held no offer and had a top six of BYU, Nebraska, Washington, Colorado, Virginia and UCLA.

Ryan played 365 snaps in 2023 and 466 career snaps. He was rated 71.6 this year and 83.3 last year by PFF. His career numbers are as follows: 19 catches on 24 targets (79.2%) for 287 yards (15.1 ypc) with 3 TD and only 1 drop. His career-high in yardage came against Utah in 2023, with three receptions for 69 yards.

Ryan visited Utah this past weekend and the talks were on-going from there.

What Utah is getting

Ryan is a big tight end with great ball skills and surprising agility. While at UCLA, he was listed as a running back where he was primarily used as an H-back because he never had any rushing attempts.

Utah’s tight ends room is once again loaded, as Landen King enjoyed a late breakout in 2023 and the expectations had long been that Brant Kuithe will return after sitting out 2023 to recover from his knee injury. Both King and Kuithe, though, are hybrid TE/WR in Utah’s system. Ryan will likely battle Miki Suguturaga for the more traditional tight end reps, where there’s plenty of opportunity to see the field.

He’ll arrive at Utah having three years to play two.

What this means for the transfer class

Ryan is Utah’s first commitment out of the transfer portal, as they’re getting ready to head into their offseason. The Utes are expected to attack the portal hard this offseason, with wide receivers and defensive backs being the most important positions.