Leading up to Kentucky’s season-opener against Western Kentucky in Nashville, Tenn., on Sept. 1, Cat Scratches presents an exclusive series of positional previews to prepare you for the football season. Every day before kickoff, Metz Camfield and Guy Ramsey will bring you Joker Phillips’ philosophy for each positional group, a spotlight feature on a selected member of the group and rundown of other projected contributors. Our penultimate preview is a very competitive group: the tight ends.Joker Phillips’ philosophy“The tight end position is a unique position in football, especially in our system. A tight end has to be a guy that can really block like an offensive lineman, but also run like a wide receiver and be as nifty as a wide receiver. That’s a really unique position in our offense. He has to be a smart guy because we like to line our tight ends up at numerous positions on the football field and it only helps if he has some smarts to him.”Spotlight: Aumiller ‘settles in’ at tight end, earns starting role

This time a year ago, Jordan Aumiller’s head was swimming. Coming to Kentucky from Danville, Ky., Aumiller spent a redshirt season in 2009 playing linebacker for the scout team. He twice earned Scout Team Player of the Week honors and seemed poised to start on UK’s defense sooner rather than later.Heading into the 2010 season, things changed. His coaches made the decision to deploy his 6-foot-4, 231-pound frame at tight end. He spent spring practice trying to learn the position and headed into fall camp with barely a dozen practices under his belt. Even with minimal experience, he managed to play himself into a regular role, catching 18 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown. Aumiller, though, did not fully adjust to the role in his first season at tight end.  Now, with a full season under his belt, Aumiller is at ease.”It was a big adjustment coming from linebacker to tight end,” Aumiller said. “Now, I feel a lot more confident and I’m a lot more comfortable doing everything in the system compared to last year. I had 15 practices in the spring, then I came into camp, so I kind of felt nervous. This was my first real camp that I feel like I’ve been settled in.”Tight end had seen one of the most competitive position battles of any during fall camp, with four returnees who saw game experience in 2010. Senior Nick Melillo and sophomores Anthony Kendrick, Tyler Robinson and Aumiller hit the field every day aware of what was at stake, which made practices intense. “It’s been a stressful competition and the guys know they can’t relax at all,” tight ends coach Greg Nord said. “They have to go out and perform every day. They have to win their job every play, every drill. We’ve been able to keep the heat on them, which hopefully will translate into making them more game ready.”Although he doesn’t deny the competitiveness among the tight ends, Aumiller says that their friendships have made the battle enjoyable.”It was a lot of fun to push each other every day and we’re all good buddies,” Aumiller said. “So we know we have to go out there and bust our tail every day and do what Coach Nord asks of us.”The confidence that Aumiller has developed through a year of experience at tight end has shown throughout the competition. Nord has been waiting for one of his guys to grab hold of the job, and that’s just what Aumiller has done.”I think he’s separated himself a little bit from the other guys,” Nord said of Aumiller, “and that’s what I was looking for in camp: the one guy who is our starting tight end. You don’t have to mull it over, you know that’s your starting tight end and you know who your backup is and what your alternative plans are if something happens from there. I think he’s distinguished himself.”When talking about what has allowed him to emerge, Aumiller credits his confidence and what he has learned from Nord. The second-year coach’s arrival coincided with Aumiller’s transition to tight end and his teachings are manifested in him.”I’ve been trying to put on tape of what Coach Nord teaches us, the techniques and different things,” Aumiller said. “That’s what he always says, he wants to see us put it on tape and I was doing that on a consistent level.”Aumiller’s consistency stems from the fact that he is now well-versed in the offense and has moved on from trying to understand what he has to do to trying to learn why he’s being asked to do it.”He’s become a pro, and by that I mean he studies the game, he doesn’t accept failure, he wants to make sure he knows why we’re asking him to do something,” Nord said. “Once you start understanding that, then you can develop into a good player. If he knows why we’re asking him to use certain footwork on a block, he realizes he needs to do that.”For a tight end in UK’s offense, blocking is a must. The frequency with which multiple tight end sets are used in the running game makes the muscle that Aumiller has added in the offseason that much more important. Aumiller admits that he prefers being a receiver, but his background as a linebacker means he won’t shy away from contact.”One play you’re down blocking a big d-lineman or reaching a linebacker and then going out and running a pass route against a safety,” Aumiller said. “You have to do all different things. I definitely like running routes, but I don’t mind blocking at all.”In the passing game, the best tight ends excel at exploiting mismatches. Aumiller recognizes that and is equally comfortable against either a bigger or smaller defender.”Either one, I’ll take it,” Aumiller said. “If you have a bigger, slower linebacker I can beat him down the field on a corner route. Against someone smaller, I can win a jump ball.”Kentucky fans have been waiting three years for a player to step into the void at tight end left by current Indianapolis Colt Jacob Tamme. As luck would have it, Tamme and Aumiller are both graduates of Boyle County High School in Danville, Ky., and Nord believes Aumiller has a good chance at becoming the kind of safety blanket that Tamme was for Andre’ Woodson.”As a quarterback, you hope you have a tight end that you can get the ball to and count on to get you out of a pinch,” Nord said. “It’s usually routes that are a little bit more high-percentage than perhaps some of the other downfield throws we’ve got. Sometimes it’s easier to get the ball to a tight end. It’s not always the case, but certainly having one additional receiver there helps you.”Other contributorsSenior Nick Melillo – The converted wide receiver is currently listed second on UK’s depth chart. He missed the first half of 2010 with a high ankle sprain, but returned to make a start against Vanderbilt. He made just one catch last season but has improved significantly as a blocker.Sophomore Tyler Robinson – The Alcoa, Tenn., native played in 11 games and made three starts as a freshman, catching 11 balls for 80 yards and a touchdown. He has the combination of size and skill needed at the position and should contribute this year. Sophomore Anthony Kendrick – Kendrick, like Aumiller and Robinson, got a start in 2010. He didn’t see the field as a tight end until the final two games of the season, but started the bowl game and caught two passes for 19 yards. He is also a converted wide receiver, but his big body (6-foot-3, 264 pounds) gives him a chance to be a solid blocker as well.Freshman Ronnie Shields – Shields may have four guys with playing experience in front of him at tight end, but his athleticism has coaches high on his long-term potential. Playing for a run-based attack in high school, he has established skills as a blocker as well.LinksAumiller makes the grabs, Melillo delivers the knocks (Kyle Tucker, Louisville Courier-Journal)Waiting for a starter to emerge (Jen Smith, Lexington Herald-Leader)