{"id":396875,"date":"2026-01-09T08:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T08:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/396875\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T08:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T08:31:07","slug":"te-willie-rodriguez-announces-return-to-kentucky-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/396875\/","title":{"rendered":"TE Willie Rodriguez Announces Return to Kentucky in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s officially, official. Tight end Willie Rodriguez<\/a> is returning to play for Will Stein<\/a> at Kentucky. <\/p>\n

Rodriguez, a Kentucky native and Covington Catholic product, was a big four-star recruiting win who Tennessee tried to pry away from the Bluegrass. He stuck to his roots and has contributed ever since. After playing in every game as a true freshman, he caught 23 passes for 310 yards and one touchdown in 2025. <\/p>\n

Rodriguez ranked third on the team in receiving. He was the first Kentucky tight end with 300+ yards in a season since CJ Conrad in 2018. <\/p>\n

There were early signs we shared on KSR Plus that things were trending toward a return, but things can change quickly when the transfer portal is open. In this case, nothing changed. Rodriguez is back for his third year. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a really good player. The vision is we\u2019re going to throw him the ball, and Willie knows that. I\u2019ve shown him many ways,\u201d\u00a0offensive coordinator Joe Sloan said last month<\/a>, drawing laughter from the audience of media members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWillie is a really good talent. He\u2019s a really good talent. I think when you look at both Coach Stein\u2019s offense at Oregon and what we did at LSU, the tight end has been a focal point of the offense in the passing game. I think you can create really good matchups with tight ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not just lip service from the new Kentucky offensive coordinator. Stein has one of the most productive tight ends in America playing for him in Eugene. Kenyon Sadiq<\/a> earned First Team All-Big Ten honors after picking up 531 yards and leading Oregon in receptions (46) and touchdowns (8). <\/p>\n

Sadiq is a special talent, but Rodriguez can present similar mismatches for opponents in the SEC. After clamoring to see the tight end used more in the Kentucky offense, the Cats have a coach and a player who can make it happen. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Want more Kentucky Transfer Portal Coverage? Join KSR+<\/p>\n

KSR has been delivering UK Sports news in the most ridiculous manner for almost two decades. Now, you can get even more coverage of the Cats with KSR+. In the middle of a busy transfer portal season for the Kentucky football program, now is the perfect time to join our online community. Subscribe now for premium articles, in-depth scouting reports, inside intel, bonus recruiting coverage, and access to KSBoard, our message board featuring thousands of Kentucky fans around the globe.\u00a0Come join the club right now for 50% off an annual subscription.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s officially, official. Tight end Willie Rodriguez is returning to play for Will Stein at Kentucky. Rodriguez, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99,109828],"class_list":{"0":"post-396875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-willie-rodriguez-24-covington-catholic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}