UB's Jake Orlando ready for sixth year of college football (2024)

Jake Orlando has worked with four different head coaches in the last four years. He suffered a season-ending injury in September 2023. He’s entering his sixth year of college. He’s ready to make the most of his second season with the University at Buffalo football team.

He knows what to expect on a day-in, day-out basis with the Bulls and college football, cementing Orlando’s spot in UB’s lineup. He brings a quiet yet physical presence and a seasoned perspective to UB’s offense and its tight ends room.

Orlando earned his undergraduate degree in communications from Massachusetts in the spring of 2023, and he didn’t just join the Bulls for the ride when he transferred that summer.

He wanted the opportunity to play just a few miles from home, and to play a strong role in UB’s offense.

“That was the biggest thing for me, when I hit the portal and got a Buffalo offer, I was like, ‘Here’s an opportunity I want to take advantage of,’” said Orlando, who is working on a master’s degree in education. “I grew up going to games here, as a kid, and I can finally play here. My parents will be able to come see me play. My friends will finally be able to see me play. They didn’t have the opportunity to do that, before this.”

Instead, he got two more years of eligibility to create that chance.

What’s happened in 5 years

Orlando redshirted as a freshman in 2019 at UMass, then earned a second year of eligibility due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. He caught six passes for 54 yards and a touchdown in 21 games in two seasons, then joined the Bulls last year as a graduate transfer.

“I’ve picked up a lot of different things from the four staffs I’ve played with, and just with more experience, I know what to expect more,” Orlando said. “The preparation changes, too. The way I treat everything. The way I treat my body, from a film perspective, and my thought process is a lot different than it was two to three years ago.”

That thought process? Go play football, have fun, don’t worry about getting hurt, and don’t think about the end. Wisdom, though, came from all that experience.

“But six months from now, that could be the last game I’ve ever played,” he said. “Don’t take any day for granted, and treat every day like a pro.”

Orlando is one of several UB players using a sixth year of eligibility, including nickelbacks Solomon Brown and Caleb Tate, wide receiver Javien Cuff, safety Marcus Fuqua, defensive end C.J. Bazile, center Dom Polizzi, offensive lineman Caelan Shepard and defensive tackle Daishon Folsom.

The Bulls even have a seventh-year player, defensive end Antonio Colclough, a transfer from Monmouth who played at James Madison and spent a redshirt season at Temple in 2018.

UB coach Pete Lembo calls the advent of the sixth- or seventh-year player in college football “the new normal.” At least for now.

“I’m coaching Jake, and Shepard and guys like Folsom, and I was joking with them after practice that some of these guys have been around so long, they owe Jesus a dollar,” Lembo said.

“It’s a combination of redshirting, and now you can play four games as a freshman and still redshirt. You have the Covid year, which is just about to cycle out, so it’s interesting times. But along with that comes responsibility because those guys are older and should be more mature and more seasoned, and they’ve seen more in their careers.”

A player, a leader

UB was one of the first programs to contact Orlando after the 2022 season and tight ends coach Ron Whitcomb was Orlando’s primary recruiter. Whitcomb saw a versatile player who was willing to adapt to new methods.

Orlando played two seasons at UMass for head coach Walt Bell, a season at UMass under current head coach Don Brown, last year at UB under former head coach Maurice Linguist and has worked with Lembo since his hire in January.

Plus, as a sixth-year player, Orlando takes a leadership role among UB’s tight ends – not the rah-rah, let’s-go stereotype of a leader, but more leading by actions.

“He is a guy I never have to worry about,” Whitcomb said. “Being an older guy, he can share with his teammates things like, never take things for granted, the opportunity you have, regardless of where you are on the field or what year you are.”

Orlando returns to the Bulls after a broken right foot limited him to four games in 2023. He describes himself as a combination tight end, a 6-foot-6 player who can block and catch, and who brings athleticism and physicality to UB’s offense.

He had four catches for 28 yards last season and is one of eight tight ends on UB’s roster. Orlando, Andrew Schnackenberg and Evan King, a transfer from Hampton, are the only ones with FBS or FCS playing experience.

Lembo has a better descriptor for Orlando.

“He’s obviously our starting tight end, and there’s no secret to that, but there’s great versatility to what we can do with him,” Lembo said. “We can attach him. We can put him in the back field. We can spread him out, and when you are using a tight end, that’s what you hope to do, in terms of being able to stress the defense.”

Whitcomb has a goal for a player who’s clearly wise to the ways of college football: He wants Orlando to play to the fullest of his capabilities.

“If he does, I think we’re going to look back and say that he had a really nice year, and that would be a really special thing, being a local guy coming back home,” Whitcomb said.