Thirteen passes were all returning tight end Kurt Hammerschmidt was able to haul in last season.

But between Hammerschmidt, Ernst Brun — who redshirted — and Ricky Howard, who missed the entire season after tearing his ACL, 13 catches is all the three tight ends on the ISU football team’s spring depth chart have total.

“I think we’re improving every day,” said tight ends coach Luke Wells. “Right now, we’re trying to see what all we can do. We’ve got good competition in the group right now, especially with our first three guys.”

Wells said as of right now, Hammerschmidt would get the start in a game between the three, but from there, “we’re playing by committee.”

The tight end corps, Wells said, will also be more involved in the offense this year. This is different from last season, which followed the departure of Collin Franklin, who bore a majority of the duties at the position in 2010.

“As long as we can get the rock in whatever play and go north and score touchdowns, I’m perfectly fine with that,” Hammerschmidt said. “If they want us to be physical in the backfield or out in space, we can do that too.”

One of the standouts emerging from a redshirt season is Brun, who currently sits at the No. 2 slot on the depth chart.

“We knew Ernst was a good receiver, Ernst has got really good ball skills,” Wells said. “At the end of the fall, we talked about, ‘Hey, you’ve got to improve your blocking, you’ve got to be more involved,’ and he’s doing that.”

Brun said when he showed up in late July last year — when he came from Mt. San Antonio Community College in Walnut, Calif., — he was as raw as any newcomer.

“When I first came, I wasn’t coachable, I wouldn’t give in, my mental toughness was real bad,” Brun said. “Now, these first six practices have been good for me. I haven’t been too much of a discipline problem.”

Wells said Brun’s first step towards the turnaround came with his willingness to learn the intricacies of the offense when he first arrived.

“He understood it very well and the tight ends of our offense have to know a lot,” Wells said. “Second to the quarterback, they’ve got to know more than anybody, and he picked it up well mentally.”

Howard, who sits at No. 3 on the depth chart, is expected to play a different role this season as well as share tight end duties.

“He looks like a traditional fullback,” Wells said of Howard. “He loves contact, he loves putting his face on people and he’s catching the ball as good as anybody we’ve got right now.”

Wells said Howard, who weighs in at 257 pounds, will play fullback in some of the schemes that will be run by the offense next season.

“I think that’s his role, it’s something he likes,” Wells said of Howard filling in at fullback. “Ricky’s kind of a ‘throwback guy;’ he’s a guy that loves contact; he gets excited about that.”

As for the tight end position as a whole, its play will be critical to the production of the offense.

“If we’re going to move the ball, our tight ends and our backs have got to catch more,” Wells said. “That’s something that we’re going to stress this spring.”