5 takeaways from Louisville football’s win over Western Kentucky
New heroes emerge at wide receiver
The talk of the country in regards to Louisville since the season ended has been star receiver Tutu Atwell. That hype was capped off just several days ago when ESPN named Atwell a preseason All American at wide receiver.
Atwell finished his night with seven receptions for 78 yards and looked just as explosive as always. Despite these stats, Atwell was the team’s leading receiver and for once did not have the most explosive plays on the day for the Cardinals.
The honor for most explosive player(s) on the day was a tie between newcomer junior college transfer Braden Smith and senior wide receiver Dez Fitzpatrick.
Smith had two huge first quarter catches to bail the team out in 3rd and long situations in a time where the offense struggled to get anything going. He had catches of 63 and 48 yards that showed off some new speed for the Cardinals offense and gave the team some much needed energy.
It has felt like Dez Fitzpatrick was prepared to take the next step for this Louisville offense ever since his monster freshman season that saw him rack up nearly 700 yards of receiving. He has not delivered a season up to those numbers since.
Saturday night was a good start, however, as he looked like a very dangerous football player finally ready to step up to the big stage for the Cardinals offense. Fitzpatrick looked like a different player to me and a true “go-getter”.
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Fitzpatrick attacks the ball and does not wait for it. I was also impressed with what he was doing after the catch. It has been known since Fitzpatrick stepped on campus that he had all the ability to be as good as he wanted. He showed that and more with his four receptions and 110 yards in Week one.
Louisville is in good hands with Atwell, Fitzpatrick, and Smith making splash plays for Louisville this season. The other projected starter, redshirt junior Justin Marshall, had just one reception for 14 yards in this one. Look for him to have a bigger impact as the season wages on.