Kentucky’s tight ends wasted no time making their presence felt in Will Stein’s offense.
In the Wildcats’ first game under Stein, Willie Rodriguez, Mikkel Skinner and Henry Boyer formed the kind of tight end group Kentucky fans have been waiting to see used this way for years. Rodriguez caught four passes for 48 yards and a touchdown before halftime, while Skinner finished with a team-high 61 receiving yards and a touchdown of his own. Boyer added 31 yards on one catch against Youngstown State.
Altogether, the trio combined for nine receptions, 140 yards and two touchdowns in Kentucky’s first win of the Stein era.
That kind of production is exactly why the early returns feel different. Kentucky has had plenty of tight ends come through Lexington, but for a long stretch the position has often felt underused in the passing game, more like a spare offensive lineman than a true weapon. This opener suggested something else entirely.
After the game, Stein made it clear the group is going to matter.
“We have three really good players that are all three unique players. You know, Willie’s a guy that can play in-line, play in the slot.
He can get the ball in multiple different spots. You know, Henry has really done a good job as being our in-line Y, but, you know, he caught a big one today down the sideline on a corner route.
Then Mikkel, I mean, you can do a lot of different things with him. You can hand him the ball.
You can throw him screens and treat him like a receiver or a true tight end.”
For Kentucky, that’s a welcome shift. Tight end usage has been a constant talking point around the program for years, and usually not in a good way. Fans have long wanted to see the position featured more heavily in the passing game.
The benchmark for that kind of production is still Jacob Tamme. No Kentucky tight end has caught 50 passes in a season since Tamme did it in 2007, and Stein brought him up after the game.
“I wish we had Jacob,” Stein said in his postgame comments about tight end usage. “Does he have a fifth year?
Maybe we get 14 personnel. He’s one of the greats to ever play here.”
Tamme was paying attention, too. After Kentucky scored two of its first four touchdowns in the opener, he posted “TightEndU!”
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