College football’s 2017 John Mackey Award preseason watch list announced

College football has been doling out preseason award watch lists this week and on Tuesday, the 2017 John Mackey Award watch was revealed.

The nation’s best tight ends often go unnoticed and under-appreciated. Fortunately, we have college football’s John Mackey Award to honor these unsung heroes on their quests to become the next Rob Gronkowski or Tony Gonzalez in the NFL.

On Tuesday, the 2017 John Mackey Award watch list, given to the nation’s most outstanding tight end, was revealed and there were plenty of familiar names on it.

You can view the entire list here: 2017 John Mackey Award watch list.

Some notable players popped up as possible favorites to take home the award. Penn State’s Mike Gesicki has to be the favorite to win it as he returns as the top tight end, yardage-wise, from the 2016 season. He caught 48 passes for 679 yards and five touchdowns as a junior for the Nittany Lions.

Mark Andrews, one of college football’s best-kept secrets, from Oklahoma has to also be accounted for. Wisconsin’s Troy Fumagalli, South Carolina’s Hayden Hurst, Michigan’s Tyrone Wheatley, Notre Dame’s Durham Smythe and Alize Mack, Georgia’s Isaac Nauta, Massachusetts’ Adam Breneman and Ohio State’s Marcus Baugh are also names to keep an eye on.

It’s hard enough to have one tight end make the cut for the John Mackey Award watch list, but programs like Notre Dame and Wisconsin have multiple.

Next: 5 favorites to win 2017 Maxwell Award

Michigan’s Jake Butt won the award last year and it has gone to a tight end in each of the Power Five conferences in the last four years besides the Big 12. Can Andrews change that this year?