Trey McBride is the best tight end in the nation. The John Mackey Award that now bears his name testifies to that. Asked who the best tight end in the 2022 NFL Draft class is, the Colorado State star calmly tells me, “I think I’m the No. 1 tight end in the country. There’s no question about that.” Yet, McBride is not content with greatness on the field. He aspires to be the greatest version of himself off the field too.
Trey McBride aims for greatness both on and off the field
Pinned to the top of @mcbtrey, the social media handle of the hottest tight end prospect in the 2022 NFL Draft class, is a post dated 01/19/2021. “How you do anything is how you do everything.” It’s a simple quote, but one that carries a lot of meaning for the Colorado State tight end.
“My tight end coach, Cody Booth, he always preached that,” McBride tells me during a recent interview with Pro Football Network. “He’d say ‘how you do anything is how you do everything.’ That’s how you’ve got to live your life. You’ve got to be as perfect as you can. No matter what you do, you have to be as perfect as you can in every aspect of your life. He taught me a lot of things and ultimately wanted me to be the best person that I could be.”
While he learned that quote during his time in Fort Collins, it echoes a sentiment that McBride has carried with him since growing up in Fort Morgan, Alabama. One of five children of Kate and Jennifer McBride, the desire to be the best version of yourself has been instilled in him by the family environment created by two incredible women.
“My parents did a great job raising me,” McBride says. “I truly thank them for everything they’ve done. They gave me a lot of tools to be successful and how to be a good person. If you’re a good person and you work hard, good things will happen. I’m very thankful for everything they’ve done, everything they’ve taught me, and I attribute my success to them.”
Aspiring for greatness in the face of adversity
The full story of how the McBride family arrived in Fort Morgan to prejudice, and sometimes suffered somewhat of a backlash, is told brilliantly by SB Nation’s Emily Van Burskirk from the perspective of multiple members of the family. While hate can sometimes provoke an equal response, it only strengthened McBride’s resolve to be great.
“It was difficult early on,” he says. “We got a little backlash. But, you’ve got to get past that and not really care about what people think about you and your family. Ultimately, if you guys have each other, that’s all you need. We stuck together, believed in each other. Quickly, we got past that because it didn’t really matter at the end of the day.”
While finding McBride’s greatness on the field is easy to find, the off-the-field accomplishments are there if you look for them. Trey and brother Toby volunteer in the community. They’re both regularly involved in their mother Kate’s non-profit organization. Not only does McBride embrace that role, but he’s also thankful for it.
“Always try and give back any way you can. My mom has the biggest heart, always trying to help and be involved in the community. I learned that from her. We all like to give back and try and help in any way you can. I love doing that stuff, and I’m thankful that my mom ingrained that in our hearts to give back because I think it’s very important.”
Tracing McBride’s college success back to his roots
While McBride has developed into the greatest tight end in the nation while at Colorado State, the origins of his game can be traced back to his Fort Morgan roots. There might not be a more physical tight end in the 2022 NFL Draft. Some things come from a college weight room and strength and conditioning program. Others come from a more simple place.
“Growing up with three brothers, we were thrown into wrestling because we were always too hyper when we came home, and they wanted us to burn some energy,” McBride says. “We all learned to wrestle, and it was really fun practicing wrestling moves on each other.”
McBride also credits his competitiveness on the football field to the family environment.
“We were as competitive as they come,” the Colorado State tight end beams. “You always wanted to do better than your brother. You’re always competing, trying to see who can be the best. Whether it was who could drink milk the fastest, who could run the fastest, jump the highest. Whatever it was, we were competing. I really think that’s what drove me. I always wanted to be better than my brothers. It really helped shape our careers.”
Developing into a dominant blocking tight end
The early exposure to wrestling helped develop McBride’s physicality and competitive toughness. However, the 6’3″, 250-pound tight end is much more than a hit-and-hope artist as a blocker. His ability is part physicality but also part understanding. He understands what it takes to move an opponent, often bigger and heavier than he is, against their will to a place they don’t want to be. It begins with his wrestling experience.
“When you play football, you get to use that leverage that you learned in wrestling and use it in blocking,” McBride says. “Wrestling is just a 1-on-1 matchup, and that’s really what football is. You’re trying to win that 1-on-1 matchup, but 11 different times. It really helped me and taught me a lot of things as well.”
Wrestling wasn’t the only sport that helped mold McBride’s ability on the football field. In a small town like Fort Morgan, he was essentially a sports star. He still holds the basketball single-season points record and home run record in baseball. McBride credits the hand/eye coordination of baseball for his ball-tracking skills. He points to the basketball court as providing the understanding of using your teammates to create space.
All influences combined to make McBride a force to be reckoned with on the high school football field. He tallied 1,737 yards and 23 touchdowns on just 89 career receptions. The productive tight end also added 361 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. Meanwhile, he registered 310 tackles that included 60 for loss, with 14 sacks and 7 interceptions.
From dominating at Fort Morgan to becoming the most dominant tight end in college football
“Playing defense in high school really does help you,” McBride reflects on how his defensive experience helped develop his game as a tight end. “You’ve got to make those tackles. It’s not always fun. It hurts to tackle. But it teaches you how to get low, how to use your leverage, how to get off blocks. Then you use that on the offensive side. You know how to get off blocks, so you know how to keep guys on blocks.”
Despite a highly productive high school career, McBride was only ranked as a three-star recruit. Furthermore, he was listed by 247 Sports as only the 67th-best tight end in the class. Small town high schools don’t prove to be fertile recruiting grounds. However, family ties would once again play a role in his path to greatness.
“I’m from a small town, so I wasn’t super highly recruited,” McBride says. “But I was fortunate that my older brother Toby was getting recruited before me, so that got a lot of eyes on me. So I had about 20 or so offers, plenty of Power Five schools. But every time I went and visited Colorado State, it felt different to me. It felt more like home, more like a family.
“It’s where I wanted to be. Coach Bobo was the head coach there, and I believed in what he was doing, believed in his system, and I wanted to play for him. Ultimately, I decided to go to Colorado State, didn’t look back one time, had a great career there, and loved every minute of it.”
A legendary Colorado State career
From his first touchdown against Florida in 2018 — “It was incredible, I remember it vividly” — to one of the greatest seasons by an offensive player in school history, “great” doesn’t truly do McBride’s impact on Colorado State justice. Yet, in his pursuit of greatness, maybe there isn’t a better word to use. He’s been a record-breaker, a tone-setter, and ultimately a leader both on and off the field, something he takes pride in.
“Being a captain is something that is a very huge honor. It’s something that I wore proudly. I loved being a captain, leading the team, showing them the right way, and trying to be that leader. That’s something that I take very proudly, and it’s something that I was very fortunate that I was able to do. I was thankful that my teammates believed in me and could take them where they wanted to go.”
It hasn’t always been easy, of course. When the disruption of the global pandemic threatened to cancel college football for Colorado State, McBride had a brief flirtation with the transfer portal. He goes to great lengths to impress upon me that it was never about leaving the Rams but about having the opportunity to play football. Months after returning, he could have left for the 2021 NFL Draft. However, there was still more to achieve. And he achieved it in record-breaking style during the 2021 college season.
“It’s been tremendous,” McBride reflects on his final season with Colorado State. “It’s been very humbling, exciting, everything you can think of. So cool to be awarded these things. But ultimately, I can’t do it without the other 10 guys on the football field. Those guys, and my coaches, put me in great positions to be successful. It’s truly a dream come true, and I’m so thankful for that.”
McBride is a dream tight end prospect in the 2022 NFL Draft
The NFL is constantly evolving. The tight end position is no exception. As well as being able to impose their will as a blocker, NFL tight ends need to be able to stretch the field and bring value in the passing game. They’re no longer just the short-yardage security blanket that they once were. Finding a player that combines all the elements that make a successful tight end is not easy, which makes McBride a dream prospect.
“Absolutely, there’s different types of tight ends,” McBride begins as we talk about how his skill set will benefit an NFL team. “I think I’m very unique in that aspect in that I can catch the ball, but I can also be a physical run blocker. I love seeing the development of tight ends, and how different tight ends can be used. I’m very unique in that I can do a little bit of everything.”
McBride’s appreciation of the tight end position is well demonstrated as we talk about some of the best ever to do it. Tony Gonzalez and Travis Kelce are mentioned, but he describes Joel Dreesen as “a huge role model for everyone from Fort Morgan” and that “growing up, I wanted to be just like him.” How does he feel now that he’s on the precipice of following Dreesen’s route to the NFL via Fort Morgan and Colorado State?
“It’ll be a dream come true. It’s something that everyone dreams of as a little kid. You want to go play in the NFL. So when I hear my name called, it’ll be the greatest moment of my life.”
It’s been a life filled with greatness both on and off the field. However, McBride’s greatest accomplishments might still be yet to come as he heads to the 2022 NFL Draft.