Tight ends coach Pete Germano doesn’t plan on letting the departure of Rudy Sylvan and Thomas Christy affect him by shying away from using this year’s crop of tight ends as weapons on offense.

In fact, he plans on doing just the opposite.

“We’re hoping that it’s going to be one of our strengths on offense,” Germano said. “We feel like we can use them more in our route running and include them more in our offense in terms of maybe first reads instead of third reads for the quarterback.”

With all three tight ends from last year’s roster lost to graduation, Germano has five players vying for the starting spots, none of whom played a down last season. Two members of the group, juniors Andrew Mooney and David Carter, have seen action at the Division I level, but had to sit out last season after transferring from other schools.

This edge in experience is what Germano said puts Mooney, formerly from New Mexico State, and Carter, a transfer from Vanderbilt, in “a different category” than Nathan Caldwell, Kody Carr and Adam Olsheski, the other three tight ends on the roster.

“Sure, we haven’t been running our plays, but I think we’re both smart guys and we’re both picking it up,” said Carter, who is currently not practicing because of a pulled quadriceps muscle, about himself and Mooney. “We’re excited.”

In 2005, Ohio tight ends caught 25 passes and no touchdowns. Last season, Sylvan and Christy combined to catch 29 passes for 274 yards and five touchdowns, more than half of the team’s total receiving touchdowns last season.

“Last year, it was a better year for tight ends in general,” Carter said. “This year, we plan to expand it even more.”

Germano said that if this year’s tight ends can go beyond just “moving the chains,” they will be tough for opposing defenses to guard.

“If we can look at them at the next level and use them more in some deeper stuff, it allows us to expand what we’re going to do,” Germano said. “Now you can’t just key on them running just a 5-yard route. Maybe they’re going to run a 10-yard corner.”

Mooney, who will be used more for pass catching than Carter, said he has no problem taking on the role as an offensive threat.

“You’ve got the receivers that are going to go deep and you’ve got the backs out of the backfield, so you’re going to want to have a threat over the middle,” said Mooney, a second-team All-Sun Belt pick during his freshman season with the Aggies. “I think David and I can do that this year and over the next two years.”

As important as being a threat to catch the ball is for a tight end, run blocking is equally vital, especially when there is a tailback like Kalvin McRae lined up in the backfield.

“We’re definitely going to run first with a weapon like (McRae),” Mooney said. “If we can’t block for him, then we won’t get our routes, so we’ve definitely got to get that down.”