Following former Arkansas starting tight end Trey Knox's departure to South Carolina via the transfer portal, Razorback head coach Sam Pittman and his staff knew they needed to find an experienced replacement during the offseason.
Houston native Var'keyes Gumms answered the call as a transfer from North Texas, where he was a Second-Team Freshman All-American, Second-Team All-Conference USA honoree and Conference USA All-Freshman after a stellar redshirt freshman season in which he caught 34 passes for 458 yards and five touchdowns.
New offensive coordinator Dan Enos utilizes the tight end position in his offensive schemes much more than previous offensive coordinator Kendal Briles. Enos and Pittman are two of the things that drew Gumms to Fayetteville.
"What sold me on Arkansas, it was a lot," Gumms said. "Coming out of high school I had some big offers that they pulled away from me that I plan on seeing during the season. And then again, the offense is just perfect for tight ends.
"It kind of fit the offense I came from in North Texas with all the two tight end sets. Coach Pittman, and I had just seen the offense. I was like, ‘Yeah, this has got to be the place for tight ends.'"
A redshirt sophomore, Gumms believes that Enos can put him in a position to put up even bigger numbers than he did with the Mean Green.
"I feel like I can put up way more numbers than I did at North Texas," Gumms said. "The way Coach Enos calls the game plan and the way this offense is made around tight ends, I can see myself going for way more than that."
To do that, Gumms will have to make the transition to the SEC. Having the opportunity to adapt to the physicality of the conference during the summer was beneficial because now Gumms can focus on learning the playbook.
"For me, I just came in ready to work, came in ready to adapt," Gumms said. "It’s been good as in coming in during the summer time got some good work and started to learn the offense and now going into fall camp, going over the install again and still learning from here and getting better every day."
Former Stanford and current Arkansas tight ends coach Morgan Turner has aided Gumms in his transition. Turner has a proven track record of development and his unique coaching style is a big reason why.
"He’s more of a teacher instead of a yeller," Gumms said. "He teaches first. He don’t do too much yelling because when he teaches it to you, you should get it by the end and you shouldn’t make the same mistake again."
Some of the tight ends Turner has coached include NFL players Dalton Schultz, Austin Hooper, Zach Ertz and more. His eye for talent is valuable and he believes Gumms has the attributes to perform well for Arkansas.
"We’re not there with the detail and how we’re going to use guys and certain things," Turner said. "But he’s at the point where we’re going to trust him. I mean, he’s got good hands, gets open. So there’s a lot of things we’ll be able to do."
Having a quality signal caller certainly helps tight end production as well. Fortunately for Razorback fans, preseason Second Team All-SEC quarterback KJ Jefferson is more than capable of getting the job done with his size and accuracy, according to Gumms.
"Catching passes with KJ, he’s real accurate with the ball," Gumms said. "He can see the whole field because he’s like 6-4, so he can see the whole field. Real accurate with the ball. I’m just getting in and trying to learn the offense and getting better every day."
Another tight end that Gumms will be battling for playing time is freshman Luke Hasz. The former four-star prospect out of Bixby, Oklahoma, brings some of the same physicality that Gumms does, according to Turner.
"I think they bring some of the same things," Turner said. "They have different traits, different physical abilities. Keyes, he’s been in college a little longer, so he’s had a lot more time in the weight room. But Luke’s doing a nice job in all of that stuff, too. They’re both really working. We’re going to use both of them a lot of ways."
If Gumms can continue making the big-time plays he did for North Texas with the Razorbacks, he'll help take the Arkansas offense to the next level during the 2023 season, which begins on Saturday, Sept. 2 against Western Carolina at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
