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Florida Tight End Named To Mackey Award Watch List

On Tuesday, tight end Hayden Hansen earned his spot on the John Mackey Award watch list, becoming one of 46 tight ends across the country to be up for the award.

https://twitter.com/GatorsFB/status/1955315273801642393

The John Mackey Award committee presents the award annually to the nation’s top tight end, named after John Mackey himself. Mackey played his college ball at Syracuse University from 1960 to 1962, followed by 10 seasons in the NFL. He then became the second pure tight end inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Since its inception in 2000, two Florida Gators have won the award – Aaron Hernandez (2009) and Kyle Pitts (2020).

Last season, Hansen started in all 13 games, serving mostly as a blocking tight end in the run and pass game. He participated in 349 run-blocking plays and allowed just one sack over 75 pass-blocking snaps. As a pass-catcher, he reeled in a career-high 15 catches for 207 yards and a touchdown. To have a chance at winning the award, a tight end has to put up some big numbers through the pass game, something Hansen has been working on all offseason.

https://twitter.com/allgators_/status/1837540831957238184

Improving his game

During spring practice, Hansen worked more with the wide receiver unit to get faster and improve as a pass-catcher. Hansen took this route in hopes of increase his visibility to NFL scouts for next year’s draft. When fall camp started, he immediately started to see the work paying off.

“Going through our first official fall camp practice yesterday, I saw it a lot,” Hansen said on July 31 via Swamp247 Zach Goodall. “It’s just in little details like creating separation. You’re never going to be one hundred percent open in this league, so it’s always about the little mechanics you can do, like lean flipper, long arm, things like that. That’s what I was really working on, using my length to get open.”

“It was already showing up, I mean, I think I caught about five or six passes in the first half of team [drills], which is a lot for the tight ends in this system. I’m just going to keep working at it.”

A selection committee made up of sports writers, college football analysts, and former Mackey Award winners chooses the recipient. Organizers will announce the winner on Dec.12, 2025, at the Home Depot College Football Awards Show.

Category: College Football, Gators Football, SEC
Tagged: College Football Florida Football Hayden Hansen John Mackey Award SEC