After years of hype, Kentucky football’s tight ends are finally being featured

Kentucky football’s most productive pass-catching tight end for the past three seasons will be playing against the Wildcats rather than for them Saturday.

The program’s long-time tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, who promised big seasons from his position group on a near-annual basis, is coaching for the Wildcats’ archrival this season.

But somehow, three games into the 2025 season, Kentucky’s tight ends are poised for their most prolific season in almost 20 years.

“They’re good players,” new tight ends coach Derek Shay said. “I know that’s a simple answer, but they’re good players. …It’s not about me. I mean, those guys are really good players. And they’re playing at a high level because of who they are.”

Senior Josh Kattus leads Kentucky with eight catches for 112 yards through three games. The eight catches already have tied his career high for an entire season. He is just 13 yards from the career high he set in 2022.

Kattus’ one TD reception ties him for the team high with sophomore Willie Rodriguez, who ranks fourth on the team with five catches for 68 yards. Rodriguez caught his first career touchdown in the win over Eastern Michigan earlier this month.

“We got to go out and make plays, and I think we all did a decent job of that in this fall camp,” Kattus said. “That’s ultimately what it is: Can the OC trust us to go and make a big play when our name’s called? And we put that on film. We got to keep doing it the rest of the year.”

Saturday’s matchup with South Carolina represents a timely reminder of how different the tight ends usage has been for Kentucky this season.

Former Bowling Green High School star Jordan Dingle will suit up against his former team for the Gamecocks after catching 43 passes for 615 yards and four touchdowns in four seasons at Kentucky.

Dingle led UK tight ends in catches each of the past three years but saw his production decrease from 2022 (20 catches, 220 yards, three touchdowns) to 2023 (12 catches, 270 yards) to 2024 (nine catches, 71 yards, four touchdowns) as UK’s passing attack struggled. After briefly entering the transfer portal following the 2023 season before electing to return to UK, Dingle left the program for good in December in search of an offense that might better suit his skillset as a pass catcher.

Through four games at South Carolina, he has caught four passes for 63 yards, less than both Kattus and Rodriguez have at Kentucky this season.

Kattus, Rodriguez and Dingle were each recruited to Kentucky by former tight ends coach Vince Marrow, who now serves as chief of staff at Louisville. Marrow was never shy about feeding into the annual calls from fans for Kentucky to throw to the tight ends more, but only one UK tight end during Marrow’s 12-year tenure caught more than 20 passes in a season.

C.J. Conrad’s 30 catches for 318 yards and three touchdowns in 2018 remain the only season for a UK tight end with that many catches or receiving yards since Jacob Tamme’s final season in the program in 2007.

Kattus is on pace to eclipse those numbers this year, and Rodriguez is not far behind. But why exactly did Kentucky start featuring its tight ends more after Marrow’s and Dingle’s departures?

“When we’re drawing up plays you don’t always know where the ball is going to go all the time,” UK coach Mark Stoops said. “You really don’t, and it’s worked out that way. They’re good players. They really are. They’ve made tough catches.”

Stoops dismissed the theory that Kentucky has needed to use the tight ends as extra pass blockers less often due to improvements along the offensive line, opening them up for more targets, but there are at least a few likely factors contributing to the increased usage.

UK coaches were open during preseason camp about the lack of a go-to option emerging at wide receiver. With questions at that position, it made sense to target Kattus and Rodriguez even more.

“They’re two of the more dependable guys we have on our team,” offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said. “From a standpoint of when practice is done, they’re always in there getting extra work, making sure they know what they got to get done. … I think it’s a reliability factor, and I think it matches what our identity is offensively.”

Hamdan noted that his second season at Kentucky working alongside offensive line coach Eric Wolford has led to a greater comfort in what formations the offense is most comfortable running the ball. The preference appears to be plays with multiple tight ends on the field.

The continuity extends beyond the coaching staff, too.

In the first two games, UK featured transfer starters at seven of 11 offensive positions, but Kattus and Rodriguez are the rare returning contributors with a year of experience in Hamdan’s offense under their belts. The ascension of redshirt freshman quarterback Cutter Boley to the starting role — he happens to live with Kattus and Rodriguez — has added to that cohesion.

“I think the ball’s just kind of found them this year so far, and it’s just kind of came their way,” Boley said. “They’ve been the read on a lot of plays, and we’re going to continue to do so. We’re going to continue to find the tight ends and use them a lot.”

Kattus in particular has been a revelation after three previous years at UK where he showed promise but too often failed to rein in his natural aggression, resulting in holding or personal foul penalties. Included in his eight catches this season are multiple highlight-reel-worthy grabs over tight coverage.

Rodriguez has built on an encouraging close to his freshman season with even more potential for growth. His one real blemish this season was a fumble at a key moment in the opener versus Toledo.

Illinois transfer Henry Boyer has played extensively as a run-blocking tight end, too. He does not have a reception this season but had a touchdown grab overturned due to a procedure penalty.

A fast start for the position does not guarantee future success, but it would be silly to characterize the production so far a fluke.

Facing Dingle and South Carolina this week offers another chance to prove the role of Kentucky’s tight ends has changed for the good. If they remain productive throughout the season, playing a huge role against Marrow and Louisville in the regular season finale would surely be gratifying.

“We’ve got to look for ways to not wear them out, if you will, and keep those two, as well as Boyer, healthy, because in that personnel group, we’ve had success,” Hamdan said. “They’ve been critical. They’re physical in-line guys that are athletic enough down the field. A tight end who has the ability to do both is as valuable to an offense as anybody.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 6:30 AM.

Jon Hale

Lexington Herald-Leader

(859) 414-6776

Jon Hale is the University of Kentucky football beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He joined the Herald-Leader in 2022 but has covered UK athletics for more than 10 years. Hale was named the 2021 Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year. Support my work with a digital subscription