How Liam Coen can Create Mismatches with Izayah Cummings

This spring is a fresh start for Izayah Cummings at Kentucky.

The Louisville Male product played a prominent role in the passing offense during Liam Coen’s first stint in Lexington. The former wide receiver changed positions to tight end and caught 14 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns. His role was essentially eradicated following Coen’s departure. He dropped a pass near the end zone in September and never saw a target the rest of the 2022 season.

Now that Coen is back, he’s being used early and often out of necessity this spring. Three tight ends have been sidelined by injury, forcing Cummings and true freshman Khamari Anderson to take all of the reps. It’s actually exactly what he needs. Kentucky’s offensive coordinator wants Cummings to slim down this spring. He’s using a tried and true weight-loss method.

“Run, run and run. Run in the sun, do as much as I can, extra layers on me for practice and get in the weight room,” Cummings said Tuesday morning.

“You can definitely feel it. You gotta do every rep you can 100 percent and they’re going to see it on film that you’re obviously trying. Some plays might look off, but you’re going to try to do it at 1 person, no matter what. Even with that type of fatigue, you just gotta hydrate and be ready for work.”

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Izayah Cummings is a Mismatch Problem

There’s a method to Liam Coen’s madness. He already has plenty of big bruisers in the tight end room. He doesn’t need another who is already lighter in the britches. Cole Cubelic described how Izayah Cummings can be a difference-maker for Liam Coen’s offense while previewing the Wildcats’ spring season on The Cube Show.

“The definition of a tweener: if you want to say overgrown X or undersized tight end, he is right there in the middle. We’ve seen a lot of teams have a lot of success with that kind of guy,” Cubelic said.

They can be successful if used in the right scenarios. Coen can line up Cummings in a variety of ways to confuse the defense prior to the snap.

“A lot of teams find a way to either get those guys to attempt to be a blocker, and can be enough at the line of scrimmage at the point of attack, or they keep them out of harm’s way and just utilize the athleticism and then they become bigger out on screens and perimeter throws where they are a bigger body to get in the way and give you some blocking outside. I think he can fit right into that and Liam Coen’s going to use a lot of 12 personnel, some 13 personnel — one back, two and three tight ends.

“Cummings can be one of those guys that all of a sudden the defensive coaches are up in the booth, ‘Alright, what do we identify this guy as?’ Because they can move him in-line, but they don’t have to. They can split him out. ‘Who do we want matched up, therefore what personnel groupings do we want in the game?'”

If an opponent wants to go light, Cummings can slide down and help over-power the defense in the run game. If the defense is playing big, a lighter Izayah Cummings can leak out for a big play down the field.

Cole Cubelic Likes the Kentucky Blueprint

The SEC Network analyst knows ball and he knows the Cats well. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the upcoming season. It’s the deepest wide receiver room he’s seen at Kentucky in 20+ years, thanks to the potential Dekel Crowdus and Anthony Brown bring as fourth and fifth options. However, keeping the quarterback healthy is a variable that can throw things off, which is why a backup quarterback and a right tackle are two positions to watch when the transfer portal reopens.

Another reason he’s confident in the Cats? Mark Stoops is batting about .750 in the transfer portal and over .500 when hiring new assistant coaches to complement the core.

“As long as Mark Stoops and Vince Marrow are there, this thing’s gonna be okay,” said Cubelic. “There’s your blueprint and your talent acquisition. We can get by with that. We can make a lot of good things happen with that.”