A bull rider and Derek Shay are to thank for Kentucky's tight end production -- and Josh Kattus is grateful

There was no offseason story bigger than Vince Marrow‘s departure, Mark Stoops‘ lifelong friend and day-one confidant at Kentucky inexplicably trading out the blue for red to join Jeff Brohm’s staff at Louisville. He was the tight ends coach in title with the Wildcats, but his status as the associate head coach, recruiting coordinator and NFL liaison carried the most weight in Lexington — and hit the program the hardest when he left. After all, his specific position group never had an individual finish with more than 318 yards or 30 catches in a single season — both marks hit by the only guy to eclipse 1,000 career yards at UK, C.J. Conrad.

No one else has been close. In fact, Brenden Bates played here for six years as a five-year letterwinner and only totaled 26 catches for 272 yards, yet he’s currently carving out a role in the NFL. The story of the tight ends in Lexington under Marrow has been the lack of targets and inconsistent production, despite the name recognition and hype year after year.

To start year one of the post-Marrow era in Lexington? 13 combined receptions for 180 yards between two tight ends, Josh Kattus leading all pass-catchers with eight receptions and 112 yards himself, followed by Willie Rodriguez with five catches for 68 yards — both scoring a touchdown for the lone passing scores of the season. The former is on track to crush the single-season record under Stoops with 448 yards and the latter could finish just behind Conrad’s best mark with 272 yards.

They’re finally passing to the tight ends, folks, and the guy leading the way is grateful, crediting new position coach Derek Shay and bull riding for the increased production.

Wait, what?

“I mean, I think the addition of Coach (Derek) Shay. He’s done an incredible job,” Kattus said of the new tight ends coach in Lexington during an appearance on the Mark Stoops Show this week. “He’s a younger coach, but he’s experienced. He’s coached some really talented tight ends in the past — some of them being in the NFL right now. He has brought a lot to the table. He’s taught us a lot of new things.”

The hands-on teaching has been excellent, but it’s something else that separates Shay as a coach. There is a want-to with him after transitioning from senior offensive analyst to leading the position group after making previous stops at Bowling Green State, McNeese State, LSU, Missouri and Marshall.

His passion has been contagious.

“I think just his mentality each week inspires us,” Kattus continued. “And one thing I’ll say about him — not to expose him, but just watching how much this game means to him. He’ll have us all in our little tight end huddle right before the game, and he’ll tear up just like talking about how much this game means to him.

“That fires you up as a player, that makes you want to go pull your heart out for him. I’m really, really thankful for how he’s been developing us. We got a really close-knit group of guys in that tight end room.”

What’s bull riding got to do with anything? Tuff Hedeman was a former professional in the sport, arguably the best of all time and known for being one of the few to ever ride infamous bull Bodacious for eight seconds.

He had an old saying that Shay uses with the Kentucky tight ends every practice and game: “The bull don’t care.”

Let the ass-kicker explain.

“There’s a lot of stuff he’s cleaned up, you know? I mean, he’s helped us in the run game, he’s helped us in the passing game, and then also, mentally — we kind of have a quote that we put on our board each week. It’s, ‘The bull don’t care,'” Kattus said. “Early in camp, he showed us the story of this famous bull rider. I don’t know all the details, but he was maybe in Texas or something. He was the best of the best. I think the story said he was like the Joe Montana of bull riding. He won this big championship, and the next day, he packed up his bags. He didn’t celebrate, he moved elsewhere, and he was going to go on and continue to do what he was doing.

“When they asked him why he did that, he answered, ‘The bull don’t care what I did last week.’ I think we take that really personally in the tight end room. It’s like, okay, you have a good day at camp, you have a good practice, you have a good game, whatever. But the bull is going to try to buck you off the next week. I just think the mentality that he’s brought into the room has been incredible.”

The tight ends combined for five catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns against Eastern Michigan, but what will they do coming off the bye week at South Carolina on September 27? Those bulls in Columbia certainly won’t care what they’ve done up to this point.

It’s on the Wildcats to grab ’em by the horns when the opportunity presents itself. The unit’s new leader has them in position to do just that.