Rocky Beers didn’t plan to finish his college career in Norman. He planned to finish it somewhere that fit the most honest version of himself: a 24-year-old with one year left after four seasons, three schools and a season-ending injury who still believes he hasn’t played his best football.
When OU emerged as that spot, the family connection became a bonus, not the reason. His sister, OU women’s basketball All-SEC center Raegan Beers, helped make things familiar, but it was OU football's need at tight end and the clock ticking on his eligibility that made him sign.
“She had some influence in the process, for sure, but I wouldn't say she was the determining factor,” Beers said. “I was looking to go to a bigger school in the SEC or the Big 10, where I could go against the best of the best, and that was here with a wide-open tight end room. I didn't want to have too much competition on the back end of my career at 24, just trying to come in to make an immediate impact.”
Beers has already lived through military discipline at Air Force, a mid‑program rebuild at Florida International University and a breakout season at Colorado State that ended with a broken foot and 388 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 31 catches. He has spent his career in places where the unknown outweighed the infrastructure. Now, he’s in a program that already has a playbook and culture he’s ready to plug into.
He joins OU’s tight end room after its production was limited in 2025. Jaren Kanak led the room with 533 yards on 44 catches after converting from linebacker, while the rest of the tight ends — Kaden Helms, Carson Kent and Will Huggins — combined for 82 yards and the position group’s lone touchdown.
While Beers hopes to bring experience to OU’s tight end room, his sister is just as eager for him to build the same connection with the university and its people that made Norman feel like home for her.
“I have loved my experience in this program here and in Oklahoma and in Norman,” Raegan Beers said to the Tulsa World on Jan. 16. “So I’m just glad that he’s going to have that same experience of just getting to know this place and these people because it really is an incredible place to be and to go to school and to play football and to play basketball.”
Another bonus came following his commitment when tight ends coach Jason Witten, who played the position for the Dallas Cowboys for 16 seasons, accepted an offer to coach the position. Beers grew up watching Witten on Sundays and values taking lessons from him in Norman.
“I was pretty ecstatic,” Beers said. “I think my dad was even more ecstatic because he was really the one watching him growing up. Coach Witten was in the NFL till I was in high school. But I was pretty excited to have his knowledge and his enthusiasm for the game in our room.”
Witten, who inherited Beers and fellow transfer Hayden Hansen, sees a room defined less by depth chart disputes and more by urgency, with both being fifth‑year players. Hansen totaled 254 yards and two touchdowns on 30 catches at Florida in 2025, well surpassing the previous group’s average player impact of 153.8 yards and 0.25 touchdowns on 13.8 catches.
“Rocky and Hayden were already signed here when I joined the staff, but I see what the organization saw in those young men,” Witten said. “I think they're eager as fifth-year players to take advantage of every opportunity. So I really like their work ethic to start the offseason. … It’s going to be an open-room competition. I think that's going to bring out the best in our group.”
Inside the locker room, Beers’ reputation arrived with him. Rising junior running back Lloyd Avant, who also transferred from Colorado State, describes Beers as a tight end who erases excuses for an offense with his blocking and receiving abilities.
“Rocky is my guy. Just him coming over here and me coming over here, (we’re) bringing that Colorado State … discipline and just bringing the mindset that we're coming to get to work together each day,” Avant said. “I mean, physical guy, all-around tight end. I would say he's a do it all on the field, (from) special teams to offense to blocking and running and catching the ball.”
For one year, Beers will be a versatile tight end and a teacher for the Sooners, bringing a Colorado‑State‑bred work ethic, an Air Force‑trained sense of structure and a veteran’s understanding of how little time he actually has. He’s not here to mirror Raegan’s story; he’s here to write his own in the same place that helped her become the player she is.
This story was edited by Joshua McDaniel.
