Louisville Report

2023 Louisville Football Position Breakdown: Wide Receiver

The Cardinals overhauled their wide receiver room over the offseason, and have the potential to have one of the best passing attacks in the ACC.

Matthew McGavic

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As we inch closer to the start of the 2023 college football season, Louisville Report will break down each individual position on the Cardinals' roster. Next in our positional breakdown series, we take at look at the running backs.

Position Roster Movement:

Returning (2): Chris Bell, Ahmari Huggins-Bruce
Departing (6): Jaelin Carter (Graduation), Tyler Hudson (NFL Draft), Josh Johnson (Graduation), Chance Morrow (Transfer - Buffalo) Braden Smith (Transfer - Cincinnati), Dee Wiggins (Transfer - Cincinnati)
Incoming (7): Jimmy Calloway (Transfer - Tennessee), Kevin Coleman Jr. (Transfer - Jackson State), William Fowles (HS), Cataurus Hicks (HS), Jahlil McClain (HS), Jadon Thompson (Transfer - Cincinnati), Jamari Thrash (Transfer - Georgia State)

Projected Depth Chart:

Wide Receiver (X)

  1. Jamari Thrash (6-1, 180, R-Jr.)
  2. Chris Bell (6-2, 225, So.)
  3. William Fowles (6-3, 205, Fr.)

Slot Receiver (Y)

  1. Ahmari Huggins-Bruce (5-11, 170, Jr.)
  2. Kevin Coleman Jr. (5-11, 180, So.)
  3. Jahlil McClain (5-10, 180, Fr.)

Wide Receiver (Z)

  1. Jadon Thompson (6-2, 185, Jr.)
  2. Jimmy Calloway (6-0, 190, R-So.)
  3. Cataurus Hicks (5-10, 170, Fr.)

Breakdown:

For the second offseason in a row, Louisville finds their wide receiver room getting flipped on its head. With Tyler Hudson heading to the NFL, Jaelin Carter graduating and Braden Smith hitting the transfer portal, three of the Cardinals' top four wideouts by season production are now gone. Last season, they combined for 1,362 yards and five touchdowns.

However, even with that trio on the roster, the position was incredibly disappointing for Louisville in 2022. Cardinals wide receivers combined to produce only 1,906 receiving yards and seven touchdowns, and 1,034 of the yards and two of the touchdowns came from Hudson alone. Some of this had to do with former head coach Scott Satterfield's run-heavy approach and tight end Marshon Ford commanding a lot of attention, but still.

For that reason, new head coach Jeff Brohm was incredibly decisive when it came to navigating the transfer portal. He brings with him - as many know by now - an offensive system that leans heavily on the passing game, so a revitalizing the receiving corps was of the utmost importance. Fortunately, it seems that Brohm was able to bring in talent at the position that will help make Louisville competitive in year one under his reign.

The focal point of next year's passing attack, without a single doubt, is going to be Jamari Thrash. Last season at Georgia State, he caught 61 receptions for 1,112 yards and seven touchdowns, with the yardage mark good for 13th nationally. His 18.39 yards per reception was good for 19th in the FBS, and third among the 31 receivers with over 1,000 receiving yards.

Thrash is a receiver who can beat the defense in a multitude of ways. As you can imagine, his calling card is blazing speed, which he put on display with regularity at GSU and multiple times during spring ball for Louisville. But he also possesses incredible concentration on the ball with defense closing in on him, has a good catch radius, and has an underrated route running ability.

Then there are a trio of receivers who should help give Louisville one of the better starting receiver groups in the ACC. The top option in the passing game behind Thrash should be Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, who is one of just two scholarship returners from last season. His production last season as a sophomore dipped a bit from his standout freshman campaign, catching 31 passes for 365 yards and two scores, but that was mainly due to the fact that Satterfield didn't utilize him nearly as much as he should have.

Considering Brohm's offense puts a premium on some of the best offensive skill position players at his disposal, Huggins-Bruce has potential to be one of the best slot receivers in the ACC. He is shifty, has a good feel for the middle of the field, and also has plenty of speed himself.

If Thrash and Huggins-Bruce are the top two options in Louisville's passing attack, then Jadon Thompson and Kevin Coleman Jr. should be the next two. Coming from Cincinnati, Thompson has a unique skill set in that he is one of the taller receivers on Louisville's roster, but has speed that you wouldn't expect from someone of his height (as evidenced by the fact that he doubled as UC"s kick returner last season). In his final year as a Bearcat, he tallied 27 receptions for 393 yards and one touchdown.

But with Thompson having to miss all of spring ball due to injury, Coleman took advantage of the additional opportunities and stepped up in a massive way. It was already impressive enough that caught 32 passes for 475 yards and three touchdowns in his true freshman campaign at Jackson State last season. But outside of Thrash, Coleman was arguably the best receiver during spring ball. He has some of the best agility in the position group, which lead to some nasty juke moves in spring practice, and probably is the second-fastest receiver on the team, behind Thrash.

After that quartet, Chris Bell and Jimmy Calloway should be the go-to depth pieces. As a true freshman, Bell had flashes that demonstrated what he could be capable of later on down the line, and is the biggest body in the receiver room. Calloway was mainly a bench rider in his three seasons at Tennessee, but had a handful of impressive catches in spring ball that suggest he can be ready to contribute when his number is called.

Behind the guys with collegiate reps, Louisville has a trio of incoming freshman receivers. Jahlil McClain is a candidate to take a redshirt considering he was the only one that wasn't an early enrollee, but William Fowles and Cataurus Hicks could carve out some early playing time. Fowles is the tallest receiver on the roster and was consistent in the spring when balls were thrown his way. While Hicks did have issues with drops at times in the spring, that was countered with a handful of impressive snags, and he has lightning quick reflexes.

A wild card at this position could be walk-on Elijah Downing. He received a fair share of reps with the ones and twos during spring, and held his own during this time. He could be someone that gets put on scholarship come fall.

The talent and potential that Louisville currently has at wide receiver is undeniable. But the biggest question regarding the position heading into next season is if they can continue building the necessary chemistry with all the newness surrounding the offense. With all the new faces at receiver, a brand new starting quarterback and a new system to learn for all parties involved, the passing game had times during spring ball where it looked slightly disjointed.

Fortunately, quarterback Jack Plummer's prior experience in this system has helped him be an additional coach on the field for his pass catchers. Not to mention that both he and his receivers in question dedicated themselves in the spring to both getting as familiar with each other as possible and learning the scheme itself, as opposed to concentrating on winning their respective position battles.

Overall, the wide receiver room for Louisville is in a much better state than it was roughly half a year ago. The receivers will still have to apply themselves when it comes to actually learning the scheme and building chemistry, but Brohm was able to infuse a disappointing position in 2022 with the necessary talent it needed to be competitive in 2023. In a league that is full of high-caliber quarterbacks and pass catching talent as a whole, Louisville has the potential to be one of the most prolific.

Other Position Breakdowns:

(Photo of Jamari Thrash: Scott Utterback - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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Matthew McGavic
MATTHEW MCGAVIC

McGavic is a 2016 Sport Administration graduate of the University of Louisville, and a native of the Derby City. He has been covering the Cardinals in various capacities since 2017, with a brief stop in Atlanta, Ga. on the Georgia Tech beat. He is also a co-host of the 'From The Pink Seats' podcast on the State of Louisville network. Video gamer, bourbon drinker and dog lover. Find him on Twitter at @Matt_McGavic

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