We spoke with new Huskies’ TE coach, Derham Cato about what he brings to the program in his new role as tight ends coach.

Cato has actually been with the program for the past three seasons serving as an offensive analyst, so he was already well familiar with the personnel and how things are run systematically at Washington.

Here’s a few bullet points from what Coach Cato had to say today in our Q&A teleconference:

** Cato said the opportunity to coach the tight ends came “out of the blue”, but credited newly-hired offensive coordinator, John Donovan with giving Jimmy Lake his blessing in making the hire. Cato said Donovan “said he’d be comfortable” with him. And the fact that they worked together are Vandy in the past and are both “East coast guys”, helped make the decision to take the job an easy one. “It was a no-brainer”, Cato said, “The program speaks for itself.”

** Cato said that his job as analyst involved scouting opponents two weeks in advance, similar to way analysts are used in the NFL, but he wasn’t involved in recruiting and wasn’t on the sidelines during game days.

** Cato also said that he doesn’t foresee any changes to the tight end role in the Husky offense under Donovan. He said it was be “similar as in years past”, and that the tight end will be involved in the run game, pass game, and stretching the field vertically.

** One connection fans might not know about is the one between Cato and former Husky offensive coordinator, Bush Hamdan. The two had worked together at Davis and Hamdan had been the offensive analyst prior to taking the wide receivers coaching spot. When he was promoted to that role, he threw Cato’s name into the hat as a replacement.

** Cato talked about the current depth on the roster; Jacob Kizer, Cade Otton, and Devin Culp. On Culp he emphasized his athleticism, “His potential is unlimited”, he said, “He’s had an awesome off-season.” Cato also brought up the incoming freshmen and also Jack Westover; calling him a “swiss army knife”.

** The coach said there hadn’t been any discussions about using a hybrid type of guy at the tight end spots for specific plays. When asked about Ty Jones he simply stated that “He’s in Junior’s room”. But understood the suggestion of creating mismatches and having a big-body guy out there.

** I asked Cato what he likes to see in a tight end when evaluating recruits. He said he likes to see “physical, tough guys” who are strong at the “point of attack.” He also mentioned strength at blocking and being able to go across the middle without fear. Cato added that the ideal is a guy who is “6 foot 4 plus and 230 pounds plus…and NFL body-type”.

** He called the challenges right now in recruiting “unique”, but added that everyone is going through it right now.

For Cato’s full bio, go to gohuskies