Can this former Baylor Bear be TCU football’s replacement for tight end Jared Wiley?

When you have a season like Jared Wiley did in 2023, other tight ends are bound to take notice.

Wiley was a first-team All-Big 12 selection after posting a career-high 47 receptions, 520 yards and eight touchdowns as he was one of the few bright spots on offense last season. With Wiley headed to the NFL, the Horned Frogs knew they would need to grab an experienced player from the transfer portal and there wasn’t a need to go far.

If Wiley was the first- or second-best tight end in the Big 12 last season, then Baylor transfer Drake Dabney was right behind him with 33 receptions, 552 yards and five touchdowns for the Bears. Now Dabney is at TCU and will hope to build off the success he had in Waco in Kendal Briles’ tight end friendly offense.

A big reason why Dabney decided to head over to Fort Worth is how the coaching staff went after him in the portal.

“I’ve played TCU for three or four years now, so I knew what they were about,” Dabney said during the second week of spring camp. “When I hit the portal they were one of the first, if not the first school to reach out to me. It’s in Texas, I’ve got family here and it just felt like a great fit.”

The Cypress native was terrific against TCU last year with four receptions and 77 yards, but it wasn’t enough as Dabney watched Wiley go off for 178 yards and two touchdowns on just seven receptions as the Horned Frogs dominated Baylor 42-17 last November.

It was at that moment Dabney started envisioning himself in the offense and wondered what he could’ve done in that type of offense.

“Seeing what Wiley was able to do in KB’s offense and just how they use the tight end. I felt like that was something I wanted to be a part of,” Dabney said. “It just felt like the right fit. I wanted to find an offense that would really utilize and allow the tight end to do multiple things. It wasn’t a great season, but when you watched the offense it was explosive, it’s a fun offense to be in.”

Listed at 6-foot-5, 248 pounds, Dabney is two inches shorter and 10 pounds lighter than Wiley, but he’s far from a small tight end. So far during the spring Briles hasn’t been afraid to move Dabney around him from using him as a traditional inline tight end to letting him split out wide in the slot to matchup against a linebacker or smaller nickel.

The big plays haven’t come just yet as Dabney has had to do more of his work underneath with starting quarterback Josh Hoover out for the spring with a back injury, but Sonny Dykes has been pleased with Dabney’s overall development so far.

“He’s been kind of what we hoped so far. He’s a big target, he’s played a lot of football,” Dykes said. “He’s still learning, he’s a bit raw, but I love his work ethic. He works really hard and is very mature.”

Dabney’s work ethic was key in him gaining a bigger role every season in Waco. His first season he caught six passes, then next it was 10. In 2022 he made a modest jump with 16 receptions and 173 yards before his breakout season in 2023 where he set a Baylor record for receiving yards by a tight end and was the Bears’ leading receiver.

Dabney doesn’t want to have just one great college year, he wants to continue to show he’s an impact player and has plenty of motivation as he tries to replace Wiley’s production and leadership in the tight end room.

“I’m just trying to be better than I was before,” Dabney said. “No matter what the record book says, I’m not trying to set a limit on myself. I’m trying to go out there and put up as many numbers as I can, but at the end of the day I’m just trying to help my team win. I want to go out there and be the best version of myself I can be.”

Dabney is still hungry to continue to grow as a player and that mentality bodes well for his chances of having another productive season.

“He’s learning quickly, I think by the time September gets here he’s going to have a chance to be a really good football player,” Dykes said. “He’s a big receiver, he’s not afraid to mix it up and play physical. I’m impressed with his ball skills and now he’s learning all the little nuances that are gonna help him develop into a great tight end.”

TCU resumes spring practice on Thursday at 8:30 a.m.