St. Stanislaus tight end Chase Rogers is high on Texas

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – St. Stanislaus tight end/wide receiver Chase Rogers can easily cite Texas head football coach Tom Herman’s history of tight ends from his time at Rice, Iowa State, Ohio State and Houston.

For Rogers, the production out of tight ends under Herman is memorable because it’s impressive.

That’s one significant reason why Rogers, a consensus high-end three-star 2017 prospect, is interested in Texas, which named Herman its new head coach on Nov. 27.

“I like the way they do it,” Rogers said. “I want to be spread out playing more as a slot receiver than down playing as a tight end. But if it comes to that, I will go play tight end because that is not an issue.”

Rogers, who decommitted from Tennessee last month, expects to receive an in-home visit from Texas on Sunday. Texas has yet to offer Rogers, who has impressed this week during team practices for the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star Game on Saturday.

Rogers standing out during practice comes with little surprise. Rogers, who is 6-foot-4 and 248 pounds, made 58 catches for 1,019 yards and 13 touchdowns this season and had 81 receptions for 1,462 yard and 19 touchdowns as a junior. He is ranked as the No. 10 overall player in Mississippi and the No. 12 tight end in the nation by 247Sports.

Rogers is also talking with Houston and LSU, but Texas is the school that seems to stand out the most. Another reason for that is opportunity; the Longhorns did not utilize a tight end much in the passing game this season and do not have one committed to the program. Texas has told Rogers that he has a good shot at making an early impact as someone who can play as a slot receiver and also block when needed.

Rogers has also received some interest lately from in-state schools.

Mississippi State has checked in on Rogers, but there does not seem to be too much momentum there. Sources indicated recently that the Bulldogs still like Ravian Pierce, a three-star tight end from Southwest Community College who decommitted from MSU last month. Pierce took a visit to MSU last weekend.

Ole Miss has told Rogers that the Rebels decided when Rogers committed to Tennessee in the spring that they wouldn’t take a tight end but that may change now. Rogers added that Rebels assistant coach Maurice Harris has called him once a week for the past few weeks.

“He was like, ‘If we do decide to take one, we want you to be that guy,’” Rogers said. “So that’s another option for me.”

For Rogers, a final decision is expected sooner rather than later.

“It will be before signing day,” Rogers said. “Hopefully at the end of December or early January.”