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Louisville football: Predicting the Cards offensive MVP for 2019

By Jacob Lane

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - SEPTEMBER 02: Dez Fitzpatrick #87 and Jaylen Smith #9 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrate after Fitzpatrick caught a touchdown pass during the game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Lucas Oil Stadium on September 2, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - SEPTEMBER 02: Dez Fitzpatrick #87 and Jaylen Smith #9 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrate after Fitzpatrick caught a touchdown pass during the game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Lucas Oil Stadium on September 2, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Dez Fitzpatrick – Wide receiver

Redshirt junior 

During the ups and downs of last season (mostly all downs) I thought fixing the offense and getting things turned around seemed pretty simple. While the play-caller continued to call short-run plays with an offensive line that struggled to block, two elite wide receiver’s talents were mostly wasted.

This season, even with a coach in Scott Satterfield who ran the ball on 63 percent of plays in compared to passing on 37 percent of downs in 2018,  I still believe the offense is going to get it right. How do they get it right?

Get the ball to Dez Fitzpatrick. 

After recording 45 receptions, 699 yards, and nine touchdowns as a redshirt freshman, tying a freshman record for touchdowns and being named All-ACC Honorable Mention, Fitzpatrick’s statistics took a hit in his second season playing for the Cards to no fault of his own. He finished 2018 with 31 receptions, 422 yards, and just three touchdowns.

This season Fitzpatrick will be the primary weapon out wide and is in store for a big season. As we laid out before, Jawon Pass should improve mightily in the passing game and in doing so, he’ll likely get the ball to Fitzpatrick a lot. With so many other weapons on the field, including wide receivers Seth Dawkins, Tutu Atwell, Devante Peete, Tyler Harrell, Keion Wakefield, and others, defenses won’t be able to afford double-teaming Fitzpatrick.

His elite route running coupled with his athleticism and speed will allow Fitzpatrick to outwork most corners in the ACC, but it will be all about if the quarterbacks for the Cards are able to get him the ball. After a disappointing sophomore season in which he had to compete with Jaylen Smith for targets, Fitzpatrick will be the true number one and should see his catches, yards, and hopefully, touchdowns increase.

While the offense does focus more on the run game, don’t let that fool you. Fitzpatrick will easily be the most talented receiver, outside of TY Hilton, that Satterfield has ever rostered and he’ll make sure he gets Fitzpatrick the ball in order to move the chains and put points on the board.

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