Johnny Pascuzzi's transfer to Tulane paid off in a big way, as the former walk-on heads to the NFL with the Chargers.
The Tulane Green Wave had an NFL draft go by without a player being selected for the first time since the 2022 season for a myriad of reasons, including simply a roster full of younger talent. Many players were given a shot at a tryout in rookie minicamp across the league, with KC Eziomume being the only player to be signed in undrafted free agency by the Chicago Bears.
However, the Green Wave are now up to two in the league from this last season, with tight end Johnny Pascuzzi signing with the Los Angeles Chargers, as reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, after trying out during last week’s rookie minicamp.
It was not the first camp that Pascuzzi attended as he initially tried out with the Kansas City Chiefs. But after a strong pro day showing and a good singular season with the Wave, he caught the eye of the Chargers and did enough to get signed. The 6-foot-3, 237-pound pass catcher transferred to Tulane after spending his first three seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes. He didn’t play too much at Iowa, with two passes caught for 41 yards and no touchdowns.
His rise in his 2025 season with the Green Wave in which they reached the College Football Playoff shows the value of transferring somewhere with an opportunity for real playing time. After redshirting as a walk on in 2021 with the Hawkeyes, Pascuzzi only appeared in one game in the 2022 season. He played 167 snaps in 2023, and 110 in 2024 before heading Uptown. In 2025, Pascuzzi played 528 snaps of college football, surpassing his entire career total.
That showed in his stat line, where he blew his time at Iowa out of the water. Pascuzzi caught 12 receptions for 158 yards and one touchdown in 14 games with Tulane. He was athletic, and that showed off in his pro day numbers where he had a total 7.44 RAS score out of 10, which is the Relative Athletic Score developed by Ken Platt, a system that compares how each prospect does in each category with all players at that position historically in the draft.
Where Pascuzzi really shined was his speed with a 4.69 40-yd dash, which is wheels for a tight end, and an impressive 1.59 10-yd split to show his burst. He also shined in the three-cone drill specifically, which highly correlates with agility and athleticism with a time of 6.93 seconds. His 34-inch vertical was solid as well.
All of that in tandem was enough to get him a shot, and show how much one year of leveling up and getting on the field really can matter and be the difference-maker in a guy’s shot in the big leagues.