Ever since Vince Marrow arrived on the scene in Lexington as UK’s Tight Ends Coach, he has always had a room of guys who could contribute here and there when needed. For the most part, guys like CJ Conrad and Justin Rigg were one-man wrecking crews that carried the load at the tight end spot.
However, Marrow believes that this year’s tight-end group is the best in his decade-plus tenure at Kentucky, and for good reason. There are a handful of capable guys who could get valuable reps at tight end this year.
When asked about who the BBN can expect to be the primary tight end, Coach Vince Marrow had to rave about his position players.
Marrow said, “I have a serious problem right now, and I’m really being serious. I was talking to a scout (Assistant GM for the Chiefs), and Dane [Key] happened to come in my room, and he asked Dane, ‘Hey, how good are the tight ends?,’ and Dane said what I just said a week ago. I could close my eyes, and we got 12 personnel, and I can pick any four of them guys.”
There is a plethora of talent in the tight end room, and Marrow sees true potential in each and every one of his guys. As mentioned earlier, while there has been a a lot of talent at tight end, there has been a top dog, TE1 going into each season.
This season, Marrow believes anyone can and will see the field with some significant minutes. Marrow went on to explain, “With Khamari [Anderson] being a freshman, he’s coming along. If that was four years ago, Khamari would be our starter, but I think what people forget about, you know, I read the paper, and I see projected starters, and they got [Josh] Kattus and [Brenden] Bates.”
The praise didn’t stop there, however. Marrow had more to say about the quality of the tight end group, next talking about sophomore Jordan Dingle.
“Did y’all see Jordan Dingle play last year? Jordan Dingle’s a pretty good tight end. Now that he’s back (and he was pretty good out there today), it’s just a good problem to have.”
Setting a Good Example
Part of why the tight end room has expanded into this loaded group of young talent is because of the leadership within the group. Marrow opened up about what it’s like to have locker room leaders for his tight ends.
“With Bates being the veteran there, we have three really good young guys, and Izayah Cummings, now that Liam is back. Izayah Cummings was probably the best tight end in training camp. So, it’s a good problem to have.”
With the leadership of experienced upperclassmen, the newcomers are able to be molded into the contributors that we are now all so familiar with, which obviously bodes well for Marrow and the tight end lineage at UK.
To put it simply, why have one superstar tight end when you can have several? With Coach Vince Marrow hitting the recruiting trail and the transfer portal hard, UK has managed to develop an excellent core of tight ends who can help reawaken the Kentucky football offense this fall.
Related
