3-Star QB/ATH Tom McGlinchey Talks Switch to Tight End, Leadership

A quarterback throughout his football career, once William Penn Charter’s Tom McGlinchey started making official college visits, teams began to inquire about a switch to tight end.

McGlinchey stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 230 pounds. Teams began to look at him as a matchup nightmare down the field.

“I’ve definitely heard some things about it the past couple years, but it really ramped up this offseason. After I first started getting out to schools, it really picked up around February,” McGlinchey said. “People saw my frame and they realized that maybe I could make that transition. I’ve been doing everything to show coaches and schools that I’m able to make that transition and show that I’m the athlete that I am.”

A three-star recruit, McGlinchey’s offers include Syracuse, Notre Dame and Duke. He said that it doesn’t matter to him which position he settles at: he just wants to play Division I football, and his prospective position won’t play a role in his recruiting like it does for some athletes.

“Wherever the school wants or needs me to play, I’m really flexible with that. I really just want to play division one football, and it does not really matter to me what position that is,” McGlinchey said. “If it is quarterback, if it is tight end, I think that is another strength of mine, that I have that flexibility to do both, do whatever a coach needs me to do. So I think it’s really just where they see me working in their system is where I’ll play.”

McGlinchey hasn’t played tight end to this point in his high school career — not even in 7-on-7 camps — but he worked with his brother to put together a practice tape of him catching passes, running routes and blocking.

An Easy Switch

McGlinchey emphasized the mental skills needed to play football, saying he tries to learn more about the game every season he plays.

“What I’ve heard is that the switch from quarterback to tight end is the easiest transition in football because both positions know so much, the IQs are so high, usually two of the smartest guys on the field at all times,” McGlinchey said.

“From what I’ve been practicing and know now, the tight end position maybe even has to know more because of the blocking schemes, you have to know the whole route tree, you have to know the whole run game, all those different things, while at quarterback you only have to know defense, not so much protection, the route tree, your steps, things like that.”

Heading into his senior season, McGlinchey said that while building strength and athleticism will always be a point of emphasis for him, he wants to work on his leadership, helping his teammates stay focused throughout the grind of the season.

“A goal for myself is to keep my team in it for all 10 weeks of the season. Since we are so small, I think that guys tend to lose focus closer to the end of the season, and I just want to be that leader that keeps the guys in all 10 weeks,” McGlinchey said. “Wanting to come in each day and work, make each other better, and I want to be that guy that the team can rely on in the tough times and just say ‘ hey, we’ve gotta get going, we’ve gotta walk back in and get this thing rolling.”

Click here to read about other recruits from the Philadelphia area in the class of 2026.