Isaiah Cummings could be a needed athletic tight end for UK. (Twitter Photo)
Once tight end Keaton Upshaw went down with a preseason injury that will likely keep him from playing in 2021, receiver Izayah Cummings of Louisville offered to move to tight end — a move that coach Mark Stoops and his staff decided to make.
“Obviously he was always a tweener. He’s a very big, athletic guy, and we have a need in — really if you look at it and you watch football at the next level, they love the athletic tight ends,” Stoops said.
“There’s always the in-line guys, the physical guys, the guys that can do everything, but the super-athletic tight ends that can get open and are tough mismatches are getting more and more valuable, so we have to find the right way to use him.”
Kentucky was counting on Upshaw to be that guy in offensive coordinator Liam Coen’s new system.
“Keaton has worked so hard, and we were really looking forward to having him certainly with this offense and having tight ends and needing tight ends. Just the way we practice, it’s hard on that position. You need to be very deep,” Stoops said.
“We’re physical, we want to be physical, and we want to be balanced, but those guys take a lot of — it’s hard on them. They’re sitting in there trying to block big dudes and getting hit in the pass game, as well, and all that.
“So they take a pretty good beating at times during practice, and the wear and tear get pretty heavy, so you really feel like you want some depth there.”
2 Responses
Losing Upshaw was a real blow to this football team. I am sure thankful for Cummings stepping up to fill a much needed position. Who knows, he may be headed for a great season. I sure am pulling for him. He looks the part.
I think Cummings will be a good Tide End for Mark Stoops I think he needs to work on building his strength and work on his calf make his arm strong and he has the hight advantage but he needs to work on catching the ball more and focus on the ball then bring his shoulder down and give the defense and hit them back hard he catches I watched him in the bowl game he has potential to do it he just needs to bring his A game up I watched him at Male High School game he is very good I went to a lot of home games and one championship game in Lexington Kentucky I love there field I never been to the Wildcats football game before I only 2 Louisville game and I don’t like Louisville