When C.J. Conrad came to the realization that his football playing days were probably over, he didn't have think too long about what his next step should be.

"I really wanted to be part of something special again. That's why I'm here," the former Kentucky standout said during a Zoom Q&A on Wednesday to discuss his decision to join Mark Stoops' staff as a graduate assistant.

Conrad, who starred as a tight end for the Wildcats from 2015-18, decided to stop pursuing a professional football career this spring after he was released from the New York Giants' practice squad and the coronavirus pandemic made it difficult to work out for other teams.

After four surgeries as a college player and a heart condition diagnosed just prior to the 2019 NFL Draft that hurt his stock and limited his free-agent options, Conrad decided it was time to move on to another goal.

"I always wanted to be a college coach at some point," Conrad said. "I didn't know how soon, based on my NFL getting cut shorter than I thought it would."

Conrad said former teammate Courtney Love and UK tight ends coach Vince Marrow were role models who inspired him to pursue a career in coaching.

"I watched (Love) take a GA position. Being able to connect with players right away kinda intrigued me," Conrad said.

With Marrow, the inspiration dated back to Conrad's recruitment as a high school prospect in Ohio.

"The way he can interact personally with so many people from different backgrounds, different families, and be successful with what he does," Conrad said. "I feel like that's something, eventually, maybe I move up in my career and become a position coach one day, I can be a good recruiter like he is because I've watched how good he is."

He believes he has a lot to offer the current UK staff as a player just one year removed from being on the field with the Wildcats.

"I just want to give our coaches some insight on what these guys are thinking sometimes, you know, being a guy who is fresh out of the locker room, giving perspective from that point of view," Conrad said. "... And then from the players' point of view, just being a guy who's been there, done that, and seen a lot of things. If they have any questions for me, they have my respect and I have theirs... There's kind of a comfortability there."

Although his time in the NFL was brief, Conrad learned a lot that can be shared now via coaching.

"To learn from those guys and see things that I had never seen before, it was almost like being a freshman again when it comes to that kind of stuff," Conrad said. "I thought I knew a lot, but I didn't. It was a really cool experience for me."

His biggest takeaway?

"I learned so much in the NFL about technique. That is everything," Conrad said. "I was with a guy named Brett Ellison, who just retired this year and spent 10 years in the league, maybe a guy who a lot of people don't know about, but he's one of the best blockers in the NFL.

"To watch him go about it, and then we would go lift together, and I'd say, 'Oh man, this guy is such a great blocker, he has to move some weight in there.' And he'd put on 135 (pounds) on the bar. He said, 'I'm 32 years old. I'm not lifting weights anymore.' But he would still move people off the line of scrimmage because he was such a good blocker, had such good technique. To watch those guys, they were technicians out there."

One of the big questions he faces now, after approximately two weeks on the job at UK, is whether the Cats will actually have a football season. COVID-19 has muddied the waters for the 2020 campaign, and many conferences are discussing scaling back the schedule.

"As coaches, we have to act like we're 1,000% having a season because, if you don't and we do have one, you're going to come very unprepared," he said. "So our guys are doing a great job of being very business-like. I think our strength staff is doing a great job of preparing these guys. Things are completely normal, even though we know they are not."

One position group that should excel if the season occurs is Conrad's old tight end spot. The Cats have senior starter Justin Rigg, sophomores Keaton Upshaw and Brenden Bates, and redshirt freshman Nik Ognenovic returning from last year's squad.

"I was really impressed with how they looked physically, coming off the quarantine, and how much they've done a good job of staying in shape," Conrad said. "They looked ready to go. I'm excited for them.

"That whole room, we've got four guys who could start."

Now that he's on the coaching side of the operation, Conrad was asked if he can call his former head coach "Mark" now instead of "Coach."

"No, I'm not calling him Mark," Conrad said with a laugh. But that relationship was always more open than it is wish some coaches and their players.

"By the time I was a senior, one of the things I really liked about coach Stoops was, with our senior class, he kinda treated us like, the player-coach relationship, taking our opinions," Conrad said. "... One of the things that coach Stoops is very good at is interacting with his players. If he trusts you, he's going to ask you for your thoughts."