Gunnar Helm announces plans to play for Texas

Brandon Boles

July 27, 2020 @ 10:30 PM

Four of the top 10 prospects in the state of Colorado are tight ends. Three of the four have already made their commitments to play at the collegiate level, with Heritage teammates [player_tooltip player_id="22520" first="Terrance" last="Ferguson"] heading to Oregon, [player_tooltip player_id="22524" first="Erik" last="Olsen"] going to Colorado and Cherokee Trail’s [player_tooltip player_id="22517" first="Sam" last="Hart"] going to Ohio State. On Monday, July 27, the fourth of those top tier tight ends made his collegiate decision official. Cherry Creek tight end [player_tooltip player_id="22523" first="Gunnar" last="Helm"] announced that he would go to the University of Texas in a post on social media Monday. The No. 3 tight end and No. 7 prospect in the state chose the Longhorns over Auburn, Wisconsin, Iowa and UCLA in his official decision. https://twitter.com/gunnar_helm/status/1287892180502081537 Helm was a starter for a Cherry Creek team that went on to win the Class 5A state championship game in the 2019 football season. He caught 29 passes for 370 yards and 8 touchdowns as the starting tight end. He also completed 12 of 25 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown during the season. With great size and length standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 220 pounds, Helm is versatile and can contribute in multiple ways. He can go from putting his hand on the ground and blocking in the run game or lining up like a wide receiver running routes. His hands and size gives quarterbacks a large catch radius when throwing to him, and he does a good job getting open with sharp cuts and breaks in the routes and enough speed to get up the field in a hurry. His play was a big reason why Cherry Creek was a balanced, explosive offense that averaged 187 passing yards, 180 rushing yards and 36.2 points per game during the season. Helm joins teammate [player_tooltip player_id="22528" first="Chase" last="Penry"] in making a commitment to play at the next level and is the eighth player listed in the top 10 rankings by Prep Redzone Colorado to make a commitment to college.