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Spring Briefing: Is Kentucky Finally Going to Throw it to the Tight Ends?

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Spring Briefing: Is Kentucky Finally Going to Throw it to the Tight Ends?


It’s a Kentucky football fan’s favorite question. Will the tight end be a featured part of the passing offense?

The adoration for the position began when they became a reliable option for Hal Mumme’s Air Raid. James Whalen was an All-American. He was followed in succession by Derek Smith, whose connection with high school teammate Jared Lorenzen was one of a kind. Jacob Tamme was outstanding during the Rich Brooks era. Over his final two seasons, he caught 88 passes for 1,005 yards and eight touchdowns.

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C.J. Conrad was the Tamme equivalent for the Stoops era. The four-star talent played as a true freshman, then caught 11 touchdowns over his final three years, even though he wasn’t a heavily targeted pass-catcher. Since then fans have been asking, “When is Kentucky finally going to use the tight ends?”

They’ve actually been used more than ever since Liam Coen brought a pro-style offense to Lexington, albeit primarily as blockers. The next group of tight ends has plenty of promise as road-graders and pass-catchers, albeit with lighter numbers in the 2025 season.

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Kentucky Completely Flipped the Wide Receiver Room

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The Tight End Room

Josh Kattus (6-4, 248, Senior)

He was one of the lowest-rated recruits in Kentucky’s heralded 2022 recruiting class, and now he’s one of the last ones standing. The Cincinnati Moeller product immediately made an impact for his nasty mentality in the trenches, then became a household name with a 70-yard reception vs. Louisville. The statistics have slowly diminished since that eye-opening freshman campaign, but last season he scored three touchdowns, including the game-winning fumble recovery in the end zone at Ole Miss.

Willie Rodriguez (6-4, 251, Sophomore)

The Covington Catholic product was a sought-after recruit that Tennessee tried to pry from Kentucky at the eleventh hour. An impressive athlete, he played in all 12 games as a true freshman and earned three starts. His first career reception was a 25-yard gain in the fourth quarter of a Top 10 win over Ole Miss. Rodriguez caught three passes for 53 receiving yards at Texas and appeared to create a connection with Cutter Boley in the process.

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Henry Boyer (6-6, 265, Junior)

A former high school All-American, Boyer is a big-body tight end who spent the first three years of his career at Illinois. Primarily used as a blocker, you can think of him as an extension of the offensive line.

Mikkel Skinner (6-3.5, 220, Freshman)

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Kentucky’s highest-ranked recruit in the 2025 class is not in Lexington for Spring Practice. However, he’ll bring a new skillset to the room when he arrives this fall. Unlike most athletes his size, Skinner can make plays in space. If used correctly, he can create mismatches in the passing attack.

Top Storyline: Can Kattus be a Leader for Kentucky?

Blue Collar culture is the name of the game this offseason for the Kentucky football program. In order to achieve a culture reset, you need to rely on the players who have been in the program and had success. There is no “face of the program,” but you can expect to see Josh Kattus front and center often.

Kattus has the intangibles that Stoops wants in his leaders. It’s hard to be a leader if you’re not performing well. After a surprising freshman season, he was penalty-prone as a sophomore, and then asked to be a superhero as a junior. We’ve seen what he’s capable of in flashes. A consistent Kattus at the line of scrimmage and in the middle of the defense can provide some much-needed stability for the offense that underwent drastic personnel changes this offseason.

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What to Watch: Year Two Leap or Sophomore Slump for Willie Rodriguez?

Willie Rodriguez is not the first freshman tight end to wow Big Blue Nation with his combination of size and athleticism. He produced on special teams with big hits and even returned a kick for 20+ yards. When the ball was thrown to him, Rodriguez got a first down and then some.

Growth is the name of the game. Will the hype be too much for him to handle, or will he develop into the best of the bunch? Plenty of his predecessors popped in year one. The follow-up act is the hardest part. Hopefully for Zach Calzada, Rodriguez can become a steady, reliable target that can consistently turn 8-yard throws into 20-yard gains.

Bold Prediction: Kentucky WR Take Away from 12 Personnel

Kentucky tight ends combined to catch 25 passes in 2024, just 14.9% of the team’s receptions, but they were used often. The base package for the Cats was 12 personnel (2 tight ends). Kattus logged the fifth-most run-blocking snaps on the team last fall.

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12 personnel became the primary package partly out of necessity. The numbers in the wide receiver room were light, and the tight ends could subsidize the inefficient offensive line play. In 2025, Kentucky will only have four scholarship tight ends on the roster, and one of those is a true freshman. There are a dozen wide receivers on the roster. Furthermore, tight end and inside linebackers are probably the two most injury-prone positions in football. This group will rarely be at full-strength.

Kentucky used 12 personnel as much as any team in college football last fall. You will certainly see Boyer and Kattus mixing it up in the trenches often, but Hamdan must curtail his personnel groupings with his roster, and frankly, they’ve invested more heavily at wide receiver than tight end. Expect to see the offense more spread out in 2025.



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Several people hurt in Western Kentucky Parkway multi-car accident, officials say

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Several people hurt in Western Kentucky Parkway multi-car accident, officials say


MUHLENBERG, Ky. (WFIE) – Kentucky officials says there are multiple people injured in a three-car accident on Western Kentucky Parkway.

According to a post made by the Central City Fire Department, three vehicles were involved in a crash between the 64 and 65 mile markers eastbound of the parkway.

They say both the eastbound and westbound lanes are closed at this time. The closure should last around 3 hours.

Two people were extricated from a vehicle. Four adults and three juveniles are being taken to the hospital. No update has been given on their conditions.

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They say a mass casualty incident was declared, and Ohio County Fire and EMS were called to the scene due to the number of patients.

We will update you when we learn more.

Several people hurt in Western Kentucky Parkway multi-car accident, officials say(Central City Fire Department)



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2027 top in-state prospect talks about his Kentucky unofficial visit on Tuesday

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2027 top in-state prospect talks about his Kentucky unofficial visit on Tuesday


Kentucky’s recruiting efforts in the 2026 class have hit a current rough patch, but things are looking promising in the 2027 class, as the staff has already casted a very wide net in the class, with a number of top targets in the fold. As they’re continuing to pursue mostly national targets, a local star is now on the staff’s radar.

2027 in-state guard Braxton Keathley, one of the state’s top prospects even regardless of class, took an unofficial visit to Kentucky on Tuesday for the game against NC Central. Keathley is native of Martin County, KY, and has took the state by storm as he has really stuffed the stat sheet. Just recently, he dropped a triple-double of 34 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds last weekend.

The Kentucky staff has certainly seemed to take notice really quickly. He’s also getting plenty of other interest, too, including having frequent contact with Louisville, LSU, Purdue, South Carolina, and Florida State, plus offers from Eastern Kentucky, UT Martin, Ohio, and Bowling Green, among others. Keathley sat down with Kentucky Wildcats on SI to talk about his recent visit to Kentucky. What were his impressions of the staff? He shared a conversation he had with them before Tuesday’s game. He also had some interactions with others, too.

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“They really talked about how well I scored it and how they’ve been hearing about me for a long time,” Keathley said of his conversation with the Kentucky staff. “One of the (Kentucky) assistants mentioned he had a coaching friend tell them that they better jump on me quick cause I was really good. I had several fans come up to me and take pictures. Jack Givens welcomed me and talked to me for a little bit and said he’s highly impressed with my game and plans on coming to a game soon. A couple of other UK players came up, they were really nice and said they been keeping up with me.”

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Braxton Keathley | Photo via Jessica Adkins

As a Kentucky kid, Keathley says he been a fan of the Wildcats since he was little, even getting to train with Tyrese Maxey this summer, and he also had some great things to say about what he saw from fellow Kentucky natives and current Wildcats Trent Noah, Jasper Johnson, and Malachi Moreno. “I looked up to players like Tyler Herro, SGA, Tyrese Maxey, Devin Booker, Malik Monk and Reed Sheppard. I got lucky that I got to train with Maxey for a week in August,” Keathley said. “I saw Trent Noah last night having great energy and keeping a smile on his face during warmups. You could tell he loved every minute wearing that Kentucky uniform. He cares and it shows. I saw Jasper and Moreno warming up hard. The one thing about it, and my dad always told me, it’s a different place. You got to be special to play there and be willing to accept everything that comes with wearing that jersey.”

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Interestingly enough, Keathley’s dad coached former Kentucky greats Anthony Epps and Wayne Turner after their time at Kentucky, so Keathley has a family history of being around all that comes with the passion of Kentucky basketball. What did Keathley’s dad learn about the two former Wildcats he got the privilege to coach? “He said they carried a chip on their shoulder and were great leaders always humble but tough. and I have to do the same.” Now, for Keathley, it’s about climbing the ranks nationally. “A couple (recruiting services) don’t have me ranked yet and that’s ok. I’m going to walk in the gym every night and know I outworked you and I’m going to outplay you,” he said. “I’m going to compete like every game is a championship. I’m going to to play with the same passion that the fans have. I’m always all in there’s no going back or in-between.”

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Keathley has so much passion for his community in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, and he has plans of doing big things at Martin County. He also shared a message Trent Noah’s dad had for him during their interaction at Tuesday’s Kentucky game. “Something he said that really stuck out. ‘Us mountain people have got to stick together.’ He’s right, Eastern Kentucky has great people and basketball players. Kentucky basketball as whole, we got to stick together through the highs and lows. That’s what we do.”

That’s a great message from a parent of a current Wildcat who was in his shoes before, being a fellow native of that part of the state. The Kentucky staff is certainly going to keep an eye on him as he continues the impressive run he is on so far this season, because he just continues to catch more and more people’s attention with his play.



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Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduces legislation for U.S. to leave NATO – UPI.com

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Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduces legislation for U.S. to leave NATO – UPI.com


Dec. 10 (UPI) — U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican serving a House district in Kentucky, introduced legislation for the United States to pull out of NATO.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, posted on X that she would be a co-sponsor of the Not a Trusted Organization Act, or NATO Act. Utah Republican Mike Lee introduced the same legislation in the Senate earlier this year.

“NATO is a Cold War relic,” Massie said in a statement Tuesday. “We should withdraw from NATO and use that money to defend our own country, not socialist countries.

“NATO was created to counter the Soviet Union, which collapsed over 30 years ago. Since then, U.S. participation has cost taxpayers trillions of dollars and continues to risk U.S. involvement in foreign wars.”

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He added: “Our Constitution did not authorize permanent foreign entanglements, something our Founding Fathers explicitly warned us against. America should not be the world’s security blanket – especially when wealthy countries refuse to pay for their own defense.”

NATO was founded in 1949 by 12 members as a military alliance involving European nations, as well as the U.S. and Canada in North America. There are now 32 members, with Finland joining in 2023 and Sweden in 2024.

The NATO Act would prevent the use of U.S. taxpayer funds for NATO’s common budgets, including its civil budget, military budget and the Security Investment Program.

Article 13 of the North Atlantic Treaty allows nations to opt out.

“After the Treaty has been in force for 20 years, any Party may cease to be a Party one year after its notice of denunciation has been given to the Government of the United States of America, which will inform the Governments of the other Parties of the deposit of each notice of denunciation,” the treaty reads.

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During the last NATO summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, President Donald Trump told reporters he agrees with NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense treaty.

“I stand with it. That’s why I’m here,” Trump said. “If I didn’t stand with it, I wouldn’t be here.”

Article 5 was invoked for the first time after the 9/11 attacks in the United States, leading to NATO’s involvement in Afghanistan.

The Kentucky Republican, who calls himself a “fiscal hawk” and a “constitutional conservative,” has been at odds with Trump on several issues, including fiscal spending, foreign policy/war powers, government surveillance and transparency.

Trump has also been critical of NATO.

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During his 2016 election campaign, Trump called the alliance “obsolete.”

He urged nations to spend at least 3.5% of gross domestic product on core defense needs by 2035.

In June, NATO allies agreed to a new defense spending guideline to invest 5% of GDP annually in defense and security by 2035.

Five nations were above 3% in 2024: Poland at 4.12%, Estonia at 3.43%, U.S. at 3.38%, Latvia at 3.15% and Greece at 3.08%. In last is Spain with 1.28% though Iceland has no armed forces and Sweden wasn’t listed.

Some Republican senators want stronger involvement in the alliance, including Joni Ernst of Iowa and Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi. Wicker is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

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For passage, a House majority is needed, but 60 of 100 votes in the Senate to break the filibuster and then a majority vote. Trump could also veto the bill.



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