2022 Recruiting Profile: Chance Bogan, ATH-TE

Chance Bogan (ATH-TE, 6’4” 205, Lincoln HS, WA)

Rounding out my mini-series breaking down the top in-state TEs in the 2022 cycle is Chance Bogan of Lincoln HS, and formerly of Wilson HS. Bogan, a two-way athlete who was offered as a TE, is a legacy recruit whose father, Curtis, was a linebacker during the Lambright years. Like his father, Chance is a long and lean athlete that has WR-level athleticism.

Really, I’m a quite surprised that we are offering Bogan as a TE, since he really looks and plays like a WR. From what was readily available online, Bogan has exclusively played WR while on offense, and he’s quite good at it. At 6-4, I didn’t expect Bogan to be a twitched-up sprinter, but he surprised me with really solid plant-and-go quickness. He also has a fluidity and body control that is usually more common with WRs (think, Dante Pettis-like qualities). He has decent speed and athletic traits for a middle-of-the-road “big” HS WR that is getting some college attention, but pretty special athleticism if he’s destined to be a TE. To give some perspective, Bogan claims to have a 4.7s 40 and a 36” vertical at 6-4 and 195 lbs this past year. By comparison, Ty Jones was a consensus 4-star WR and HS Army All-American, and he claimed a 4.65s 40 and 38” vertical at the exact same size during his senior year. Of course, self-reported testing numbers should be taken with a heaping handful of salt, and Jones’ junior tape (the oldest full season cut up I could find) showed both better pure athleticism and WR skills than Bogan at this point (it’s also a good time to remind folks that Ty Jones was an absolute stud in HS). However, Bogan is well within reach of Jones athletically, and when trying to assess all rising juniors, it’s important to remember that there’s a lot of room for them to continue developing their athleticism naturally over a couple of years.

What is challenging is projecting Bogan’s future transition to TE. We really don’t have much to assess when it comes to his blocking abilities, and we won’t know how he will handle the physicality and traffic that TEs face underneath and near the LOS when running routes. The size concern is valid, but plenty of time for him to gradually grow into a more conventional TE size, which will be important for his blocking. There is still the possibility that he struggles with adding that weight, but that will be a concern for a later day. At bare minimum he could be a decent WR for us.

The projection of his WR skills to TE isn’t straightforward either, and shouldn’t be overlooked since Bogan wasn’t used in a conventional TE role. He was able to make use of his athleticism in space, but this leaves a hole in his tape when it comes to evaluating his skills making contested catches, catching in traffic, and releasing through the LOS. While a TE with WR skills is valuable, a TE that is only comfortable in WR settings quickly becomes one-dimensional, so Bogan’s future usage in TE roles should be watched carefully.

On the recruiting end, Chance has grown up as a Husky fan, and there’s growing chatter that we are near the top of his list. We recently made his top six, but with Utah, ASU, and Tennessee in the hunt, we shouldn’t put him on the back burner. Spots will again be tight in the 2022 class, and we are sitting pretty comfortably at TE, so I expect us to be selective in our TE targets. Bogan would be more of a luxury pick at this point, but I still think that the dream scenario would be to stick in-state with Bogan and Ryan Otton as a dynamic and complementary duo of TEs. Bogan and Otton could be the next iteration of the Hunter Bryant/Cade Otton combo of traditional Y-TE with the more dynamic “move” TE. I’ll definitely be watching his career closely.