Louisville football: 5 position battles to watch for this fall
By Jacob Lane
Z receiver: Justin Marshall (R-Jr.) v. Christian Fitzpatrick (Fr.)
No matter who steps into the starting role at the “Z” receiver they are going to have their work cut out for them when it comes to providing even half the impact that Seth Dawkins did on the offense last season.
Finishing the season third in receiving yards, Dawkins provided 16 receptions for 348 yards and three touchdowns, including a monster six reception, 170 yard performance in a win over Boston College. While Dawkins never was the star go-to wide receiver, you’d be hard pressed to find a guy who provided a more important mix of production, character, and leadership.
Redshirt junior Justin Marshall and incoming four-star freshman Christian Fitzpatrick will both have their work cut out for them but each bring a very valuable skillset to the table.
Marshall is a guy who has had hype around him since the day he stepped foot onto campus, but did not officially see the field until last season. In small doses we saw glimpses of what Marshall could be with more playing time as he provided big-play potential whenever on the field. Finishing the season with six receptions for 135 yards, Marshall averaged 22.5 yards per catch and totaled five catches over 20-plus yards.
He’s an athletic freak who could easily elevate the position and provide a guy capable of not only beating corners down the field but elevate over them and make incredible catches.
Marshall will mostly compete with Christian Fitzpatrick (you can check out the receiving core’s depth chart, here), the younger brother of starter Dez Fitzpatrick and one of the most highly anticipated recruits of recent years. Louisville’s had a lot of success with freshman receivers and we once again could see that should Fitzpatrick beat out Marshall. What he lacks in college football experience he makes up for with size and raw talent.
At 6’4, 210-pounds Fitzpatrick comes in as an early enrollee who was able to participate in the limited number of spring practices in February, who has watched his brother for years from afar and now has the opportunity to replicate it but capitalize in all areas. As both wide receiver coach Gunter Brewer and Christian Fitzpatrick’s father, Greg, have said, the spring practices allowed him to get his feet under him and grasp the playbook. By all accounts that was done extremely well, and now it’s up to him to make sure he’s ready to produce when called upon.
Fitzpatrick brings everything to the table you’d want in a starter. The size, speed, power, explosiveness, route-running, and hands are all there for him and if he’s able to put together a string of strong practices he easily could step into the starting role. There’s of course the question of inexperience, but as we’ve detailed, he’s in a unique spot to step in and succeed.
Whoever does step into this role will need to likely equal or surpass the production of Dawkins, unless Satterfield and Brewer decide that production by committee is more important than one player generating such a large chunk of production. I would tend to lean towards Marshall getting the nod.