Blake Bosma is awaiting his next trick at the NFL level

Blake Bosma is a magician.

While that term can often be applied to athletes in a figurative sense, Bosma is the David Blaine of Western Michigan football. Crowds of teammates would gather around the tight end, who regularly baffled onlookers with a deck of cards and the mastery of sleight of hand.

Firmly clench a card in front of Bosma, and he'll alter the suit and number of the card you're holding when you flip it around. Sometimes, he will make an entire deck change to the same card. On other occasions, he makes a card appear in an unsuspecting volunteer's hand out of thin air.

Bosma's specialty is card tricks, but he's worked magic in other settings before. In fact, one of his more stunning tricks from his senior season at Western Michigan involved turning a 6'3", 240-pound tight end into a punt returner.

When assigned the punt returner role last fall, Bosma's initial purpose was to provide a reliable set of hands, calling fair catches to ensure Western Michigan possession. But as time progressed, the tight end gained more comfort in the role and attempted several returns late in the season.

"We had a handful of challenges in the punt return game, so I went up to our return coach and said, 'I returned in high school. I'll just fair catch it if we need to. The possession is the most important thing for our team,'" Bosma recalled. "Them trusting me was really important. If they didn't trust me as a player, they wouldn't have put me back there. Coach (Darren) Paige trusted me, and I'm sure he had some weird looks when he said, 'Let's put Bos back there to return punts,' but I think it was cool to see how it benefited us as a team."

Bosma's stint as a punt returner shows he's never been afraid to shuffle the hand he's dealt. At West Ottawa High School in Holland, Michigan, he primarily suited up as a wide receiver. And quarterback. And running back. Oh, and also linebacker and safety on defense. And additionally, serving as the primary return specialist and long snapper on special teams.

The young prospect rarely took a single snap off from the time he qualified for varsity as a freshman. However, as a senior in the fall of 2020, Bosma nearly transitioned from playing every snap to playing zero.

Initially, the COVID-19 pandemic axed the entire football season in the state of Michigan. With one final opportunity to showcase his talents before colleges, Bosma was willing to go desperate lengths to capitalize on a dream. So he moved to South Carolina prior to the start of his senior year.

He briefly practiced with his new high school in the Palmetto State, but shortly after the move, the state of Michigan reinstated football. The concept of loyalty always resonated with Bosma, so he turned back to The Mitten and finished school at West Ottawa where he started — despite them coming off an 0-9 season.

"Athletically, the best decision was probably staying in South Carolina, but being able to finish what I started was really cool," Bosma said. "Looking back on it, I'm glad I did that, but who knows how my story would be different if I would have stayed in South Carolina?"

Bosma's high school career concluded in 15-consecutive losses, which made the recruitment process difficult despite his individual accolades. The star wide receiver collected 80 receptions for 956 yards in a pandemic-shortened six-game season to put a bow on his high school career. Those numbers warranted some offers, but Bosma did not want to compromise his belief he could suit up at the FBS level.

"I had the option to go to some [Division III] schools," Bosma said. "I didn't want to say 'settle' for that — I know I would still be pushed there, but I wanted to challenge myself. I had a [Division II] offer and that was the only offer I received. I decided walking on at Western was my best opportunity."

Western Michigan defensive coordinator Lou Esposito, who previously worked with West Ottawa's head coach, heard about Bosma and provided him an opportunity as a preferred walk-on student-athlete. Upon arriving in Kalamazoo, Bosma held down a roster spot, but his position was the ultimate uncertainty. He won scout team player of the year taking reps anywhere from tackle to running back to receiver.

"I saw this kid who was a walk-on, and he was a little bit different than the other freshmen at the time," former Western Michigan tight end Austin Hence said. "He wasn't too shy. He felt comfortable and you got to see his true colors early on. You got to see his personality early on. The one thing that stood out to me about him was he was always willing to call out people if they weren't doing something right. He never felt out of place doing that."

After observing the scout team superstar in a variety of roles, Western Michigan ultimately decided to plug him at tight end — a position which Bosma immediately fell in love with.

"It's a completely different position than receiver," Bosma said. "I enjoyed my years as a receiver, but I think tight end is the best position on the field. You do the most out of everybody. You have to be able to do anything and everything. It's one of the best positions in all of sports, and it's challenging. In recent years it's been more respected and more utilized. Looking at tight ends today, they're used in every aspect. Even Kyle Juszczyk — more of a fullback but can do everything on the field, and that's someone I really enjoy watching. Then there's Isaiah Likely — some say he's best as a receiver, but he's a great blocker and can really hold his own."

With his long-term role secured, Bosma immediately took a leadership position, bringing the tight end room closer together as a competitive disc golfing team off the field, while leading by example on the practice field — learning the playbooks and terminologies of under four different offensive coordinators and two different head coaches while at Western Michigan.

Prior to his second season on campus, Bosma shed his walk-on status and was rewarded with a scholarship. However, the scholarship offer was coupled with immediate adversity as Bosma broke his finger five days before the 2022 opener at Michigan State. Still, the tight end battled through it and captured the first five receptions of his college career on a Friday night opener in East Lansing.

From that point onward, Bosma's value to the team was clear.

Bosma served as a steady contributor at tight end from 2022-25, racking up 102 receptions for 1,110 yards and 10 touchdowns. From a statistical standpoint, the 2024 season reigned supreme. Bosma attained All-MAC honors that year behind a 403-yard, 6-touchdown campaign — highlighted by a hat trick which fueled a 48-41 upset over Buffalo.

"It's cool looking back at my journey and seeing where I was," Bosma said. "I was under-recruited. They said I was too small, that I didn't fit the mold of a tight end and not really that of a receiver either. It's really cool to see how I proved those people wrong. I really appreciate Coach Espo believing in me and accepting me as a preferred walk-on."

Most impressively, in today's era of nonstop transfer portal activity, Bosma accomplished every collegiate feat while donning a Western Michigan uniform. That decision paid off for the tight end, who played an integral role in guiding Western Michigan to a MAC championship in 2025 — the program's first in nine years.

Bosma's numbers took a hit in his final go-around, but that was more the result of a seismic shift in offensive strategy. Western Michigan understood its strength was a power run game, so Bosma traded in his receiving gloves for blocking hands as the Broncos employed a ground-oriented offense, becoming increasingly reliant on the run game during a 10-1 stretch to conclude the season.

"[Offensive coordinator Walt] Bell does a great job of continuing to do what helps the team," Bosma said. "He saw our success in the run game and teams weren't really able to stop it. Toledo came at us with a different type of defense to be able to stop the run, and we were still able to beat them. That showed Coach Bell that no matter what teams throw at us, we're gonna be able to run them over and grind them out. I was okay with that as long as we were winning, and winning's the most important thing for me."

Western Michigan found its rhythm under this approach, claiming six-straight victories to conclude the season. In one of those games, the Broncos became the first team to produce three 100-yard rushers in a single outing since 2017. In another contest, Western Michigan's sturdy blocking paved the way for tailback Jalen Buckley to generate 172 rushing yards in less than 10 minutes of action.

"As a tight end, knowing that we're gonna run the ball probably 75 percent of the time is not something that every tight end wants," Bosma said. "But I think it was really enjoyable for me to know you're next to one of the best o-lines and you're gonna dominate teams in that aspect. No matter what a team thinks you're gonna do — they can know your run and you're still gonna run it and get positive yardage and explosive plays."

Without tangible statistics to attach to run blocking, Bosma did not repeat as an All-MAC selection in 2025. However, the final two years at Western Michigan showcased the varying types of roles a tight end can master. Even though Bosma's receiving numbers didn't jump out on the page in 2025, his teammates believe the intangibles he displays are his ticket to the NFL.

"He does the things that don't show up on the stat sheet," Hence said. "He knows what's going on before the ball is being snapped. He knows where to look. He knows where the blitzes are coming from. I think he has that Travis Kelce-type nuance where he's not gonna outrun you or do anything crazy, but he's gonna create separation. If the ball's in the air and it's 50-50, it's his ball. He knows how to read zones and find the gaps and when it is man, how to run his route to get open. It really shows when he's playing."

Ever since walking off victorious at the 2025 Myrtle Beach Bowl, Bosma has trained for an NFL future, entering the process with a similar confidence he utilized to successfully transition from a walk-on to a scholarship athlete at Western Michigan. And as one who pulls off tricks with both decks of cards and positional versatility, he is ready to showcase something more up his sleeve in an effort to make it to the national stage.

"I've always had that confidence, and sometimes it's a challenge between confidence and cockiness," Bosma said. "It's important to have confidence. No matter who bets against you and what people think, I've always been able to prove that the hard work pays off. The adversity that I've had to handle, I've always made it through and God has always been there every step of the way. Trusting Him is a great way to relieve that stress of, 'Am I gonna make it or am I not?'"

The 2026 NFL Draft is set to take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from April 23-25, with undrafted free agency directly after.

Bosma can be followed on Twitter @blake_bosma and Instagram blakeboz86.

Thank you to Bosma, Hence, Western Michigan athletics photographers Ashley Blanchard and Griffin Rowe Cohen, and Western Michigan SID Adam Bodnar for their time and contributions.