Louisville's Wide Receivers 'Concentrating on Learning' over Competition in Spring
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In this day and age of college football, potentially significant roster attrition is something that programs have to be keenly aware about. Thanks in part to the one-time transfer rule and name, image and likeness, it's not unheard of that a team could see entire position groups flipped upside down over the course of one offseason.
This is something that Louisville has learned firsthand at one position on offense. On top of transitioning to a new coaching staff spearheaded by head coach Jeff Brohm, the wide receiver position has seen a bunch of moving pieces.
Already sporting only eight scholarship wideouts on their 2022 roster, the Cardinals lost five of them to either graduation, the transfer portal or the NFL Draft over the course of this offseason. Fortunately, Brohm and Co. have done a solid job of building that position up once he took over, and has welcomed seven newcomers - four D1 transfers and three true freshman - at the position.
Recently, the program has been taking the first steps towards preparing for year one of the Brohm era, and are approximately one month into their five-week long spring practice period. Normally, this is a time where competition is insanely high across the board, as players begin jockeying for position on their respective positional depth charts.
That's not to say that there hasn't been competition at wide receiver. But with so many newcomers at the position, they have been more so focused on simply learning the ins and outs of the new offensive scheme and improving from both and individual and collective standpoint over the course of the spring.
"They're just trying to get one day better," wide receivers coach Garrick McGee said. "We'll start figuring that out (the depth chart) when we get close to the game. Right now, we're just concentrating on learning, and technically and fundamentally better. Learning how our concepts and schemes work. It's a good group. We're gonna have a lot of guys that can play. They enjoy being around each other. We haven't started thinking about that yet, we're just trying to learn the system and get better."
Louisville's offense is going to look at lot different than it has in recent years. Out with Scott Satterfield's run-heavy system, and in with Brohm's pass-heavy, pro style scheme that borders on being an air raid attack. As you can imagine, the wide receivers will play a crucial component in the Cardinals' first year under Brohm, especially since Louisville will have a brand new starting quarterback under center in Cal transfer Jack Plummer.
So far through the offseason and through spring ball, the position group as a whole has been fully dedicated to retaining as much information as they can regarding the system.
"Well, it's really fun coaching them, because they're interested in learning," McGee said. "They show up on time, have good attitude, good spirit and energy about themselves. They're really concentrating on trying to learn all the details that go along, and our offense is complex. We like to carry a lot of offense. We have puts on game day where we can go anywhere with the offense if we have to. So it makes it challenging for a player to learn all the stuff, the splits, the spacing, how the concepts work together, how the motions work and the signals. It does make it challenging, but they've really been doing a good job. They're grinding, they're trying."
As you can imagine, the veteran presence at the position is a newcomer, coming in the form of Georgia State transfer Jamari Thrash. Last season, the 6-foot-0, 180-pound wideout was one of the most explosive players in all of FBS football, hauling in 61 receptions for 1,112 yards and seven touchdowns as a senior for GSU. The yardage mark good was good for 13th nationally, and he was named First-Team All-Sun Belt for his efforts.
Of the ten scholarship receivers on Louisville's roster, six of them are sophomores or younger. Since arriving on campus, Thrash has taken it upon himself to be known as a leader at the position.
"Right now, the room is kind of full of young guys," Thrash said. "So I feel like my role right now is probably just to be a leader. Take my knowledge and my experience, and pour into them. So that after I leave, they'll have the ability to take what I gave them and put it into their game, and also help this offense in the long run."
He's not the only one embracing a leadership role. Louisville's most experienced returner at wide receiver, Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, has also done the same. Coming off a season where he caught 31 passes for 363 yards and a pair of scores, the junior is helping the newcomers adjust to life at Louisville.
"All of the new guys came in, hit me up," he said. "I don't really feel like an older guy because I'm still young and I'm still learning myself, but it's just been a big role for me. A very exciting role."
On top of becoming more savvy with the scheme, the wide receivers has spent time building chemistry and camaraderie away from the football field, and are now all really good friends. For the time being, the group isn't concerned with earning a certain spot on the depth chart, and are focused on just getting better.
"I can't pick one guy out," McGee said when asked who has stood out the most in spring ball. "It's a group effort. They've all became really good friends, even like Ahmari and Chris, who have been here, and you put them with Thrash, Jimmy, Kevin and Jadon. They're all good friends now. They understand we just got to get better and win as many games as we can win."
Of course, there are still going to be kinks to ironed out. The receivers have nailed some of the more scripted parts of practice up to this point in spring ball, but still have a ways to go before kickoff in the fall.
"Today was really one of the first times we walked off the field, coach (Brohm) wanted all the coaches off the field, and put them up there on their own," McGee said. "It got kind of chaotic out there, so we got a lot of work to do."
(Photo of Jamari Thrash via University of Louisville Athletics)
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