How Male alum Izayah Cummings offered silver lining in Kentucky football losing streak

LEXINGTON – Mark Stoops’ moment of embarrassment against Tennessee may be the best proof yet that Kentucky football’s offense has finally found another play-making pass-catcher.

With the Wildcats needing to drive for a possible game-tying field goal, Stoops lost his cool, running onto the field to argue with an official about what replay showed to be a missed facemask penalty when Kentucky quarterback Will Levis was sacked on a third down near midfield. Instead of awarding Kentucky a first down because of the facemask, the official flagged Stoops for unsportsmanlike conduct to hand the Wildcats a fourth-and-24 play.

Surely Kentucky’s hopes of completing the comeback were finished, but someone forgot to inform Levis or sophomore tight end Izayah Cummings the game was finished.

Levis found Cummings, the Louisville native and former Male High School star, for a 28-yard completion down the right sideline. Kentucky suddenly had new life.

The drive would end four plays later without a score, but Cummings had proven there was more to the Kentucky passing game than Levis targeting star wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson over and over again.

“He’s the type of kid that will just doing anything and everything you ask him to do,” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said of Cummings after the game. “Talk about a guy that’s just taken on a role and just done everything right at all times. Battled through an injury recently. To get him back involved was the goal and the plan. I’m so proud of him.”

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Cummings finished the Tennessee game with a career-best four catches for 75 yards and one touchdown.

His touchdown came with Kentucky trailing by 10 early in the fourth quarter when Levis hit him for a 24-yard gain. Cummings drug a defender the final 7 yards into the end zone.

On the season, Cummings now ranks second on the team in touchdowns (two) and fourth in receiving yards (159) despite being listed third on the depth chart at his own position.

“I’m so happy for that kid … to transition from that wide receiver to tight end and be so positive about it, to develop as a complete player,” Levis said. “Going and blocking and putting his nose in there, being fast, running good routes. He’s been an asset for us, and he’s only going to get better. I’m excited to see his progress.”

Cummings spent his first season at Kentucky as a wide receiver. While he was a frequent target of praise from Kentucky’s coaches for his potential as a physical threat, he did not catch a pass in nine games.

During spring practice, his first chance to learn Coen’s new offense, Cummings was rarely mentioned by Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator as a potential weapon this fall. Asked directly about Cummings at one point, Coen applauded his initial quickness but said Cummings “needs to continue to play faster on a day-to-day basis.”

When tight end Keaton Upshaw was lost to a season-ending injury late in summer workouts, Cummings approached UK’s coaches about moving to tight end to help depth there.

The move quickly made him a much more intriguing piece for Coen’s offense.

“You’re looking at him right now and saying ‘Wow, that’s a very athletic guy’ because of the position he’s playing,” Stoops said. “If he was outside you might not be saying, ‘That’s an athletic guy.’ I’m not saying he’s not a good player, but not overly athletic for (wide receiver).”

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Kentucky’s tight end depth chart appears stacked for the foreseeable future.

Starter Justin Rigg is playing his final season of college football as a super senior, but Upshaw is expected to be healthy for the 2022 season. Kentucky should also return junior Brenden Bates and freshman Jordan Dingle, a former four-star recruit. Michigan State transfer Tre’Von Morgan, a 6-foot-6 receiver, recently moved to the position after missing most of the first half of the season with multiple hamstring injuries.

Coen’s offense makes heavy use of the tight ends as receivers on play-action passes. Expect him to continue to make heavy use of multiple tight end sets, opening up further opportunities for Cummings regardless of the depth at the position.

“He’s also getting more physical, he’s not afraid to block,” Stoops said. “He wants to become a complete tight end, he works hard at it, and we’ll continue to bring him along that way where we’re using him at a prototypical tight end and not just a mismatch guy, because that can get picked up on pretty quickly as well.”

Email Jon Hale at jahale@courier-journal.com; Follow him on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky football: Izayah Cummings earning bigger role in offense