2 weeks to go.....what to put a emphasis on?

"What types of things would you guys look for out of your tight end or fullback going into the season....so that maybe he can showcase those things a little more?"

Take him to a baseball diamond with a stopwatch and time him running the bases from home to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. Then time him running the bases in reverse(3rd, 2nd, 1st). A true TE/FB will turn in the same time both ways. Otherwise, he's a lineman. If you want to try and correct this, get out your camera and film him running the bases both ways and then play it back and see if you can spot the difference in the way he's running the slower time and work on correcting it.

With the same camera you can also film him running a 60 yard dash with you standing at the 30 with camera in hand. As you film him coming towards you, you can see if his shoulders are turning from side to side. As he passes by you, you can check his forward lean and if his arms are pumping in synch with his legs. As he goes away you can check to see if his heels turn out. The two of you can identify the deficiencies, work to correct them, and then check with the camera again to see if he's having success at correcting them.

In FB/TE play there are two schools of thought - the old and the new. In the old school of thought the TE and FB were pretty much interchangeable players. They were both big blockers and fast for their size. The only difference was that the TE was expected to have better hands and be taller. In the old school of thought, the TE's main pass play was right over the middle. Here the TE used his size to survive the hit by the the safety, who usually had a nickname like "Assassin". The ideal "old school" TE was Kellen Winslow, the 250 pound TE for the 1980 San Diego Chargers. In the "old school" the FB played a similar role. When he carried the ball it was usually right up the gut and he used his size to survive the hits by the middle linebackers (Who also had nicknames like "Assassin"). The protype FB's of the old school would include John Riggins (Washington Redskins) or Earl Campbell (Houston Oilers). In the old school, a FB ran for 5 yards (Unless he was in the "I" formation, in which case he only got 2) and a TE caught a pass for 8. In the new school there are no FB's at all and, sometimes, no TE's. The TE is now a speedster and emphasis is now placed on "yards after catch" (YAC) versus "survive the hit after catch". In the "new school" a TE can make an 18-25 yard catch.

So you need to identify what school of thought exists in your league (provided your boy can run the bases equally well in both directions and his form problems are worked out) and then hit that niche. His traing camp will not be very helpful in either regard (They won't film his running style or time him on the bases) so you have to fill in those gaps yourself. Once he's put on a team and if you have his form and time problems corrected (if any), identify the offense he's in, come back here, and ask your question again. Someone will have an answer on how to get him to the front of the pack. For example I'm "old school" but Mahonz is "new school", John Carbon is in the "next school of the future", and "coltscoach" is the "I" formation FB expert. So the full spectrum is covered here. Give us the specific situation and we'll come up with the specific answer.