Brett Norfleet on the John Mackey Award Watchlist

At the end of the 2023 season, we witnessed the emergence of Missouri’s next great tight end. Brett Norfleet enters his sophomore season with more promise than any other player on the roster. The 6-foot-4, versatile tight end turned heads as a freshman last year and is ready to show his limitless potential this fall.

The John Mackey Award, given annually to college football’s most outstanding tight end, released its 2024 preseason watch list on Friday, August 9. Among the 48 names was Missouri’s Brett Norfleet, one of 12 SEC tight ends on the list.

Norfleet is a native of O’Fallon, Missouri, where he attended Francis Howell High School. He was a widely-regarded four-star tight end on all major recruiting websites. An all-around athlete, Norfleet came to Missouri with the intention of playing both baseball and football at the Division I level, but after his breakout season last fall, he decided to focus solely on football.

As a true freshman, Norfleet appeared in 12 games starting in the final seven weeks of the 2023 season, including the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State. His contributions were crucial to Missouri’s impressive run, recording 18 catches for 197 yards and scoring three touchdowns over the course of the season.

What made Norfleet so exceptional was his versatility. Eliah Drinkwitz took advantage of the tight end’s athleticism and put him in positions where he could succeed. Not only was Norfleet a valuable weapon with the ball in his hands, but he also showed tremendous potential as a blocker. His impressive performance earned him a spot on the Freshman All-American team, which was recognized by both CFN and The Athletic.

With a year of experience under his belt, Norfleet heads into 2024 and expectations are huge. If he continues to develop and perform as well as he did last season, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be a strong contender for the John Mackey Award in the near future.