Gunnar

Helm

After waiting in the wings behind current Panthers starter J’Tavion Sanders, Helm (6’5/241) stepped into the starting role in 2024 and hit the ground running with 60 catches for 786 yards and seven scores. Texas’s offensive approach was designed to get the ball out of Quinn Ewers’ hands quickly, juicing the stats of the short-area targets in the offense. Still, Helm catching more passes than first-round pick Matthew Golden and fellow 2025 prospect Isaiah Bond is more than a little impressive. Helm struggled at the combine with a sluggish 4.84 Forty, middling agility drills, and a dreadful 30” vertical. He did, however, release a picture of his brutally bruised ankle after the weekend, saying he suffered a sprained ankle during the Forty. Helm likely isn’t an elite athlete, but his combine might need to be thrown out. A crafty route-runner with soft hands, Helm could be an easy-button target for rookie quarterback Cameron Ward in Tennessee, giving him a rosy long-term outlook in PPR formats.

Helm (6'5/225), a rising senior at Cherry Creek HS in Englewood, Colorado, picked the Longhorns over Iowa, UCLA and Wisconsin. The expectation of multiple recruiting analysts heading into the announcement was that he would pick Texas, so this isn’t a stunning development. Helm is the 15th verbal commitment in Tom Herman’s 2021 class, and the first tight end. He’ll help account for the eventual graduation of senior Cade Brewer, who started each of the nine games that he played in last season.