Without many of us noticing, the SEC’s tight ends have quietly become more and more involved on offense than ever before.

A position formerly used as a sixth offensive lineman who occasionally kept defenses honest in play-action situations is now being used more and more as a vital receiver in the SEC’s emerging pass-happy offenses.

The numbers don’t lie. In 2012, only two tight ends finished among the top 40 in the SEC in total receptions; in 2013, three cracked the top 40 in catches, although none cracked the top 30.

Last year, however, four tight ends cracked the top 40 in receptions, seven cracked the top 50 and three broke into the top 25. That is a difficult trend with which to argue. Tight ends are becoming more athletic, more versatile and as a result more important than ever before.

Ole Miss tight end Evan Engram, arguably the SEC’s best at the position as it stands today, was recruited as a receiver who has since bulked up and moved to tight end at the college level. But while he’s a bit thicker and a bit stronger than he would be had Ole Miss kept him at wideout, he’s still a receiver by nature with a receiver’s skill set. He just combines that skill set with his large frame and long arms, and uses that combination to dominate the middle of the field like he owns the property.

Other productive tight ends from last season, like Vanderbilt’s Steven Scheu and Arkansas’ Hunter Henry, have played the position dating back to their high school days, but they’ve added a little flavor to the position during their SEC careers. Both are used predominantly as possession receivers, guys who will run simple routes inside of 15 yards to give their quarterback an option if the first read (likely the team’s No. 1 wideout) is covered.

Henry and Scheu thrived in this role a year ago, a somewhat new role in the SEC that was formerly filled by a team’s secondary wideout. Well, I suppose it still is, it’s just that Henry and Scheu are those secondary wideouts who just happen to line up at tight end.

And by lining up at tight end, they are able to draw matchups with linebackers who’d rather be plugging running lanes or rushing the passer much more than running stride for stride with an opponent in pass coverage. Tight ends like Henry and Scheu are not as fast as a team’s No. 2 wideout, nor do they run as crisp of routes, but they can certainly create separation from a linebacker to complete a 10-yard out route to the sideline.

It’s just that tight ends were never really used in such a way until recently. However, their role as pass catchers in addition to extra blockers has inspired an even greater talent pool at the position in the form of recent signees.

Georgia’s Jeb Blazevich, a four-star tight end who joined the Bulldogs last year, only caught 18 passes but averaged nearly 15 yards per reception in doing so. Just think, he’ll only get better in the coming years, and if Mark Richt can find another quarterback cut from the same cloth as David Greene, Matt Stafford or Aaron Murray, Blazevich will collect all-conference honors all the way to the 2017 (or ’18) NFL draft.

What’s best for the SEC’s tight ends is that as they enter their fourth year as emerging pass catchers throughout the conference is that they retain much of the league’s talent at the position from last season. Only two of those seven top-50 SEC pass-catchers — Arkansas’ A.J. Derby and South Carolina’s Busta Anderson — are gone from last year, and a guy like Blazevich didn’t even crack the top 50 last year, leaving room for the position group to further ascend up the SEC’s pass-catchers’ list.

So for a position that receives little respect for quietly making a major impact on Saturdays, the culture change is nearly complete. It’s happened at the NFL level, where tight ends like Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham are superstars, and it’s happening in the SEC as well.

Upon losing wideouts like Amari Cooper, Sammie Coates, Bud Sasser, Malcome Kennedy and others, 2015 could be the year of the tight end in the SEC.