Tight End

LEXINGTON - Sophomore tight end Jordan Aumiller of Boyle County seems to have emerged from a six-way battle to earn the starting spot for Kentucky. He caught 18 passes for 193 yards and one touchdown last season while making the Southeastern Conference all-freshman team. Kentucky coach Joker Phillips said Monday that Aumiller has started to separate himself as he tries to be UK's season-opening starter for the second straight season. l “Jordan Aumiller has been as consistent a player that we have had, not only at the tight end position, but on the football team,” Phillips said.

Redshirt freshman tight end Jordan Aumiller of Boyle County sprained his foot sometime during Saturday’s win over Louisville and his status is “day to day” as the Wildcats prepare to host Western Kentucky Saturday. Kentucky coach Joker Phillips says he’s not sure when Aumiller, he had two catches for 23 yards — including one on UK’s final series — got hurt because he did not tell anyone until after the game. “He’s got to keep making plays.

LEXINGTON - Greg Nord says there is not one particular thing that enabled sophomore Jordan Aumiller to win the starting tight end job at Kentucky for the second straight year. “I think he has picked up on the offense. He has gotten stronger and he has come to work every day and played better. I have been really pleased with the way he has improved his game,” said Nord, Kentucky's tight ends coach. “He's improved a lot of things. Being stronger after dedicating himself to a summer with (strength coach)

LEXINGTON - He's no longer No. 1 on the depth chart, or even sure exactly when he'll be healthy enough to challenge for significant playing time. Yet when practice ends, junior tight end Jordan Aumiller always tries to find time to go catch extra passes on his own. “I try to get out there whenever I can just to catch some extra passes. It helps out, or it sure can't hurt,” said Aumiller. He made a significant impact at Kentucky in 2010, his redshirt freshman season after he had been moved from linebacker the previous season.

Kentucky was outscored 31-0 in the second half by South Carolina and had less than 50,000 fans at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday night, but that didn't keep Atlanta tight end Darnell Dowdell from enjoying the game-night atmosphere. “It was already in the back of my mind to maybe commit to Kentucky when we came up, but just the whole atmosphere made me want to go ahead and do it,” said Dowdell. That's why Dowdell became the 13th player to verbally commit to UK's 2013 recruiting class.

LEXINGTON - Bud Dupree had over 1,000 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns in his senior season at Wilkinson High School in Irwintown, Ga., which is one reason the thought he could be a playmaking tight end at Kentucky. However, he also had 62 tackles and 10 sacks that season, which is the reason the move to linebacker at UK has not been that difficult for him. He made the move just before the Wildcats' opening game last season and had 21 tackles while playing in all 12 games. He had 2 1/2 sacks last season, broke up two passes and had one fumble recovery.

Tight end Sean Stackhouse of Jacksonville, Fla., has given what he calls a "soft verbal" to the University of Kentucky. "I really like Kentucky. I know it's far away from Florida and everything, but they are a school on the rise. Their recruiting classes have been real good," Stackhouse told Scout.com recruiting analyst Rob Gidel. The 6-4, 255-pound Stackhouse, who plans to major in communications, says he wants to make sure Kentucky will keep him at tight end. "It's a soft verbal," Stackhouse said.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - As the losses continued to mount for Kentucky this season, Jacob Tamme would think back to his Boyle County High School playing days for inspiration. However, Tamme might have felt like he was playing for the Rebels again Saturday. He caught four passes for 55 yards and two touchdowns - all in the first half - against Tennessee. Even though Kentucky eventually lost 37-31 after leading 17-7 in the first half and 31-22 entering the fourth quarter, Tamme still hopes this signals the start of better days for the Wildcats.

Patrick Bugg can't remember when he has looked forward to a football season more than this one. More comfortable than ever at his new position and confident in his Eastern Kentucky team's ability to turn things around, Bugg can't get started soon enough. "I can't wait," he said. "This is my first true season of being comfortable and knowing what to do. " The Harrodsburg High School product enjoyed a productive 2004 season in his first year as a tight end, but he said he is much more at ease at the position as he prepares for his junior year.

LEXINGTON - With three senior tight ends returning, Kentucky assistant coach Steve Ortmayer expects better production this season. T.C. Drake and Maurice Grinter took most of the snaps at tight end last year and Ross Bogue figures to be more of a factor this year as well based on what Ortmayer has seen during spring practice. However, Kentucky still has not had a tight end show he can be the receiving threat Jacob Tamme was before his graduation after the 2007 season. Last year Grinter had 12 catches for 162 yards and two scores, Drake 12 receptions for 204 yards and Bogue one for eight yards.

As expected, Kentucky got another verbal commitment today from an Ohio prep standout - tight end Darryl Long of Westerville South High School. He was expected to pick the Wildcats Saturday and the 6-4, 225-pound Long, ranked as the nation's 22nd best tight end prospect by Rivals.com, gives UK offensive coordinator Neal Brown the the big target he likes in his offense. His list of offers included Louisville, Missouri, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Indiana, Boston College, Purdue and Duke.

He has 17 scholarship offers and is ranked among the nation's top 30 tight ends by several national recruiting services, but Westerville (Ohio) South High School standout Darryl Long insists he has a “lot of interest” in Kentucky as he prepares to make his college choice Saturday. His list of offers includes Louisville, Missouri, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Indiana, Boston College, Purdue and Duke. “I am still looking at all my options, but I like Kentucky,” said the 6-5, 217-pound Long.

LEXINGTON - If Kentucky football fans were happy with this year's recruiting class, tight ends coach Vince Marrow says just wait because even better days are ahead. “We had six weeks to do this. Giving us a whole year, it's going to be pretty special, pretty interesting. I'm very fired up. I know everybody else is fired up. Like I said, we've already got some of the top 10 guys on board that want to come now (next year). So it's going to be a good thing,” said Marrow. The coach, who came to UK from Nebraska, has strong connections in Ohio.

LEXINGTON - Kentucky coaches were almost as giddy over UK's national signing day success as fans have been. Coach Mark Stoops and his staff recruited eight of the 10 highest-rated players in the recruiting class, including consensus four-star defensive end Za'Darius Smith and four-star receiver Ryan Timmons, despite having less than two months to recruit. Kentucky's class likely will be ranked 30th or higher,  a big step up for a program that has just three top-50 class in the previous 11 years.

Boyle County seniors Blake Mason and Keegan Kendrick are making their college choices official today, signing with their schools on the first day of the national signing period. Mason will be signing with Campbellsville University, and Kendrick will sign with Lindsey Wilson College. “I just really liked the campus. The coaches treated me really well and talked to me about how everything could go if I went there,” said Mason, who was recruited as a tight end. “Everyone looked at me as a tight end. A couple of schools might have mentioned being a defensive end, but it was mainly tight end.” Mason earned All-Area honors last season at tight end, catching 22 passes for 324 yards and four touchdowns, and blocking for a run game which averaged 228 yards per game.

With national signing day looming Feb. 6, there was a flurry of Kentucky recruiting related activity over the weekend. Here are some of the highlights: Franklin County receiver Ryan Timmons and his mother attended the UK-LSU basketball game. It was his second trip to UK in three weeks, and first time to bring his mother to a basketball game. He's apparently down to Kentucky, Ohio State, Florida and Illinois. Safety Marcus McWilson of Youngstown, Ohio, a top 200 recruit, de-committed from Nebraska and could be close to giving a commitment to the Wildcats after making a visit over the weekend.

The first time Steven Borden met Neal Brown was a few months ago, when the Texas Tech offensive coordinator made a visit to Kilgore College in Waxahachie, Texas, to watch him practice. The 6-3, 250-pound tight end, who is the son of professional wrestler Sting, said he talked to Brown perhaps one other time before he met him last weekend on his official visit to Kentucky, where Brown is now the offensive coordinator. “Texas Tech was kind of unsure about me for a while because they had never really had a chance to see me practice.

Kentucky was outscored 31-0 in the second half by South Carolina and had less than 50,000 fans at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday night, but that didn't keep Atlanta tight end Darnell Dowdell from enjoying the game-night atmosphere. “It was already in the back of my mind to maybe commit to Kentucky when we came up, but just the whole atmosphere made me want to go ahead and do it,” said Dowdell. That's why Dowdell became the 13th player to verbally commit to UK's 2013 recruiting class.

LEXINGTON - Bud Dupree had over 1,000 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns in his senior season at Wilkinson High School in Irwintown, Ga., which is one reason the thought he could be a playmaking tight end at Kentucky. However, he also had 62 tackles and 10 sacks that season, which is the reason the move to linebacker at UK has not been that difficult for him. He made the move just before the Wildcats' opening game last season and had 21 tackles while playing in all 12 games. He had 2 1/2 sacks last season, broke up two passes and had one fumble recovery.

LEXINGTON - He's no longer No. 1 on the depth chart, or even sure exactly when he'll be healthy enough to challenge for significant playing time. Yet when practice ends, junior tight end Jordan Aumiller always tries to find time to go catch extra passes on his own. “I try to get out there whenever I can just to catch some extra passes. It helps out, or it sure can't hurt,” said Aumiller. He made a significant impact at Kentucky in 2010, his redshirt freshman season after he had been moved from linebacker the previous season.