Long before he was winning Super Bowls and dating Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce was delivering bone-rattling dunks and launching home runs as a three-sport star for Cleveland Heights High School. Kelce also played quarterback, putting him on his way to developing into a Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro and one of the best tight ends in NFL history.

Like Kelce, Penn State’s Tyler Warren was once a three-sport star, earning all-national honors in football, basketball and baseball at Mechanicsville, Virginia. He was also a left-handed quarterback for Atlee High School. Now a senior with the third-ranked Nittany Lions, Warren is only beginning to realize his immense potential as a do-it-all, standout tight end.

“He’s a great tight end,” said Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth, who played one season with Warren at Penn State before heading to the NFL. “He reminds me of Kelce.”

Warren still has a long way to go before he can validate such a lofty comparison. But he’s on pace to become Penn State’s first All-American tight end since Freiermuth in 2019, and perhaps the first consensus All-American at the position since Kyle Brady earned the honor on his way to becoming a first-round draft pick in 1995 become.

The 6-foot-1, 260-pound Warren leads Power 4 tight ends with 47 receptions for 559 yards. He is also one of only thirteen FBS players to produce receiving, rushing and passing touchdowns this season.

On Saturday, the undefeated Nittany Lions face fourth-ranked Ohio State in a Big Ten showdown with huge playoff and conference title implications. Penn State hasn’t beaten the Buckeyes in seven years. But in Warren, the Nittany Lions have a unique weapon that can provide the offensive punch to ultimately put them over the top.

Penn State’s first-year offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, who calls Warren “unique,” has used him in creative ways, including at running back and quarterback.

On September 21, in a 56-0 win over Kent State, Warren lined up in the shotgun, faked a pass and rumbled for 17 yards. Later, he snagged a 16-yard scoring grab from quarterback Drew Allar. Then, before the end of the first half, Warren threw a shotgun swing pass to running back Nicholas Singleton for a 17-yard touchdown.

To top it all off, Warren made a spectacular reception with his right hand along the sideline, absorbing a hit without going down.

“I really like being able to be in a bunch of different spots, making our offense more versatile and helping other guys get open,” said Warren, who made a huge three-yard rushing scoring dive on the opening drive of a 21-7 win over Illinois. “I’m just doing what I can to help our offense.”

As dominant as Warren was in the first month, he was “special,” as Kotelnicki put it, during an Oct. 12 overtime win over USC.

Warren tied the FBS tight end record and broke a Penn State milestone with 17 receptions as the Nittany Lions rallied from a 20-6 halftime deficit to stun the Trojans 33-30. It was Penn State’s second-biggest comeback since James Franklin took over as head coach a decade ago.

The biggest play of the game came two minutes into the second half, when Warren lined up from a trick formation in the middle. He snapped the ball to backup quarterback Beau Pribula, who threw a lateral left to Allar. The Trojans were not fooled and had Warren covered. But he still jumped over USC safety Zion Branch to snag Allar’s 32-yard touchdown throw.

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Tyler Warren makes a miraculous catch for Penn State TD on trick play

Tyler Warren makes an improbable catch from Drew Allar to reduce Penn State’s deficit to USC.

Warren played almost every position in high school, including punter and holder; he even kicked the sides. But Warren admitted he hadn’t hit the ball in a game since he was 8 years old in Little League Flag Football. The staggering score fueled Penn State’s rally, as Warren finished with 224 receiving yards, the second most in school history — at any position.

“I’ve talked about him being the best tight end in college football,” Franklin said afterward, “but the reality is he’s now part of the conversation (as) one of the best players in all of college football.”

The performance reminded Atlee football coach Matt Gray of a game against Henrico when Warren ran for two touchdowns, passed for another and blocked a punt while playing defense on nearly every down.

Gray took the Atlee job in February 2016 and began scanning the roster to figure out who his quarterback could be. One of Gray’s assistants told him that his future quarterback was actually still in high school and playing basketball “like every game” in the eighth grade.

Months later, Gray met Warren in the weight room, where he performed a series of pull-ups non-stop.

“I took him aside and told him, ‘I like the things you can do in this weight room. We’re going to try to develop you as best we can. It seems like you have a good work ethic. But that one thing I don’t can estimate is how tough you are,” Gray recalled of their first conversation. “He looked at me without any hesitation and said, ‘I’ll just have to show you.’

“At that moment I thought, ‘I think we have something here.'”

Warren played quarterback for Gray as a freshman and also became an all-state punter.

“There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do for us,” said Gray, who laughed as he watched Warren make plays all over the USC game, noting to himself, “Yeah, that’s what I know there.”

Warren was also an all-state center fielder while hitting in the middle of Atlee’s lineup. A few years earlier, in 2015, Warren came one game away from leading Mechanicsville to the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, hitting three home runs in the Southeast Regional qualifying tournament.

However, the hardwood is what ultimately led Warren to Penn State. Warren initially committed to play football for Virginia Tech before his junior season. But other than that, he didn’t get much attention from college recruiters.

“Teams had questions about his athletic ability and whether he could transition from quarterback to tight end,” Atlee basketball coach Rally Axselle said. ‘Was he strong enough? Could he run fast enough? How athletic was he?’

So Warren put together a compilation of his basketball highlights from his junior season, featuring a series of electrifying dunks. Warren sent the video around and the football offers poured in, including from the Nittany Lions.

“The dunks were the most important thing, but it showed his overall athleticism,” said Axselle, who joked that Warren could do pretty much everything on the basketball court except dribble with his right hand. (Warren added that as a pitcher he was also never able to throw strikes consistently.) “It’s crazy how much that (video) changed his recruiting trajectory.”

Warren’s trajectory now has him becoming a coveted prospect in the upcoming NFL draft. ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. currently ranks Warren as the No. 22 eligible prospect.

“When I came to learn a new position (going to Penn State) … it was about refining his skills as a tight end,” said Freiermuth, who was struck by how much Warren had improved in his training and adjustment over the offseason to Kotelnicki’s. schedule. “I know he had the chance to leave after last year, but it was a very smart decision for him to come back and show what he can do when he is the center of the attack. He has a very bright future for themselves.” in the NFL.”

An NFL personnel official said Freiermuth’s comparison of Warren to Kelce is a step too far, given how easily Kelce gets open and how dynamic he is with the ball. But the director also noted that Warren is a better blocker than Kelce was coming out of Cincinnati 11 years ago. The executive instead sees similarities with second-year Green Bay Packers playmaker Tucker Kraft, who leads the NFL’s tight ends this season with 10.2 yards per reception after the catch and ranks second with an average of 14.3 yards per reception.

“A very reliable, very versatile player,” the director said of Warren. “Athletic, tough, competitive. … He’ll be an NFL starter pretty easily.”

That will have to wait. Warren is Penn State’s asset for the time being. And this weekend, Ohio State’s problem.