Way too early Louisville football depth chart preview: Pass catchers

Starters

• X – Dez Fitzpatrick (RS senior), Y – Tutu Atwell (Junior), Z – Justin Marshall (RS junior)

Dez Fitzpatrick

Arguably the most complete receiver on the roster, Dez Fitzpatrick will return for his fifth and final season as a member of the Louisville football roster looking to take care of what he called “unfinished business”. You can pencil in Fitzpatrick as the starter at the X receiver spot, where he’ll be tasked with providing Micale Cunningham an elite talent on the outside.

Whether it’s using speed to get open on quick short/intermediate routes, displaying elite route-running ability over the middle of the field, making a strong-handed grab on a deep ball with a corner draped all over him all the way or even blocking in the run game, Fitzpatrick can do it all at a very high level.

This season the biggest task for the Louisville offense will be figuring out how to squeeze every ounce of production out of the senior in his final season, something they struggled with quite a bit in 2019. Last year Fitzpatrick caught 35 passes for 635 yards, improving mightily on his production compared to 2018, but it still didn’t meet what he did as a freshman. That combined with Louisville likely being a top 25 team and the opportunity to play alongside his younger brother, Christian Fitzpatrick, all brought back a motivated Fitzpatrick which should be bad news for opposing defenses in 2019.

Tutu Atwell

Outside of Travis Etienne of Clemson, there may not be a more talented skill position player returning to the ACC than Tutu Atwell. In 2019, Atwell was arguably the biggest breakout player in the ACC (you could argue Javian Hawkins as well) as he put together a First-Team All-ACC season, finishing with a school-record 1,272 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns.

Atwell proved to be one of the most dangerous receivers in all of college football, doing so with blazing speed in the slot. The sophomore receiver gave the new Louisville football staff an incredible weapon who allowed them to add in a ton of wrinkles in both the passing and running game.

Starting quarterback Micale Cunningham is back in the fold, and Atwell is primed to tear through the ACC as one of the country’s premier deep-ball threats. With another offseason of working together, I expect even more wrinkles added in with Atwell, whether that be with running the football on jet sweeps or potentially even getting more involved with the passing game.

The NFL will have a strong eye on Atwell thanks to his 2019 production and with a big year, he could be off to the 2021 NFL Draft.

Justin Marshall

The newest member of the starting receiver gang is likely to be redshirt junior Justin Marshall, who has waited a long time to step into the spotlight. Arriving at Louisville way back in 2017, Marshall saw the field for the first time last season and didn’t take long to show why so many were excited about his commitment coming out of high school.

While his production was limited thanks to the depth at receiver (6 receptions, 135-yards), this year that should change with Marshall stepping into the starting role left behind by mainstay Seth Dawkins. Much like Dawkins, Marshall brings a nice combination of size at 6’3, 213-pounds, muscle, and speed, and will give Cunningham another weapon capable of making huge plays down the field.

If what we saw last season is any indication of what Marshall can do with more snaps, the Louisville offense could be that more dangerous. In just five games Marshall averaged 22.5 yards per catch and of the six passes he caught all year, five of them were over 20-plus yards, showing that he is more than capable of getting open and taking advantage of targets.

Replacing Dawkins won’t be easy, and it’s likely that it comes by committee rather than coming all from Marshall, but there’s no question that the redshirt junior has the talent to be an instant impact player for the Cards in 2020.