UK receiver averaging infinite yards per catch ready for a larger role

Jon Hale | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Kentucky football | Eddie Gran pleased with bye week OC Eddie Gran breaks down the lessons learned during UK's bye week.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – No player in college football history has made more of his chances with the ball in his hands than Kentucky wide receiver Zy’Aire Hughes.

A glance at Kentucky’s official receiving statistics first looks like a misprint.

Games played: one. Touchdowns: one. Yards per catch: Infinity.

“He’s a special talent, and everybody wants to talk about how fast he is but that’s just an extra benefit to his game,” UK wide receivers coach Michael Smith said. “I think he’s a good wide receiver. He catches the ball well, he’s got great hips. … You have a bye week and you go back and reevaluate where you are and what you can do better as a coaching staff and as an offense. All the players, we evaluate them and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to start getting this guy the ball.’ Hopefully we’ll start doing some of those things with him down the road.”

Hughes’ statistical anomaly comes thanks to the Wildcats’ trick-play touchdown in the week-three win over Murray State.

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Running back Benny Snell took the snap out of the “wildcat” formation and pitched ahead to quarterback Terry Wilson, who was running in motion behind the line of scrimmage from where he was lined up as a wide receiver. Wilson then handed off to Hughes on a reverse, and the McCracken County graduate streaked the opposite direction for a 43-yard touchdown.

Snell was credited with a touchdown pass on the play, Wilson with a reception for minus-six yards and Hughes with 49 receiving yards and a touchdown but no catch.

It is the only offensive touch of Hughes’ career to date.

“It always feels good to get an opportunity,” Hughes said after the game. “Many more to come.”

Hughes did not appear in any of Kentucky’s next three games though even as quarterback Terry Wilson struggled to connect with the Wildcats’ top receivers. The bye week offered UK coaches a chance to evaluate other options, and Hughes, as well as Iowa basketball transfer Ahmad Wagner, appear to be in line for more snaps at the position moving forward.

“We kind of talked about it earlier: Some of those younger guys that maybe by week six, seven or eight, they could help us,” UK offensive coordinator Eddie Gran said Tuesday. “Ahmad made two or three catches today and [Hughes] has really been working hard at his craft. I’m really excited about those two guys. Those are two guys that when we talked about that, they are improving and things are starting to click.”

The need for Wagner, who has not played football since high school after three years of basketball at Iowa, for extra practice time before contributing was obvious before the season.

It was less apparent for Hughes, who has been on the UK roster for three years now, but he spent the 2017 season as a cornerback and only this fall started to really feel at home as a wide receiver.

“You just had to continue to learn the position and learn what we’re doing,” Smith said. “And he’s done that the past couple weeks. That’s why you’re starting to see him play a little bit more.”

At McCracken County, Hughes spent the majority of his time as a quarterback for three years before moving to running back as a senior. In his high school career, he totaled 4,914 passing yards and 46 touchdowns to go with 2,779 rushing yards and 53 touchdowns in his career. He also caught 89 passes for 1,128 yards and 10 touchdowns.

At UK, he spent a redshirt season in 2016 playing scout team receiver but grew frustrated with his progress on offense and with the input of UK coaches decided to try playing defensive back. He totaled one tackle in seven games, mostly on special teams, in 2017.

He moved back to wide receiver in spring practice.

“I think he was most comfortable with that and we discussed it,” UK coach Mark Stoops said. “He is talented with the ball in his hands. You know there’s a lot of other facets of the offense. We love Zy’Aire. He’s a great kid and works hard and he’s dynamic and he’s got some speed, so I’d like him to put it all together to help us some because we need that speed at wide receiver.”

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On the season, Kentucky is averaging just more than 10 yards per completion. That number dipped to 8.3 yards per completion in the loss at Texas A&M.

Kentucky ranks 106th nationally in passing plays longer than 20 yards (15) and 119th in passing plays longer than 30 yards (4). One of those four 30-plus yard passes was Hughes’ trick-play touchdown.

Wilson and UK coaches have been blunt in the wake of the Texas A&M loss about the need for the quarterback play to improve in order to boost an anemic passing attack, but a improvement from the wide receiver corp would certainly help as well.

Now finally comfortable at the position, Hughes appears poised to provide a needed influx of speed. And if more opportunities mean his eye-popping yards-per-catch and touchdown-ratio statistics come back to Earth, that’s OK with Hughes.

“I’m just excited for the ball,” he said. “I just want it. I see the opportunity.”

Jon Hale: jahale@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @JonHale_CJ. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jonh.