Louisville football: Breaking down the 2023 transfer portal offensive players

Joey Gatewood – TE/WR – Auburn/Kentucky/UCF – 3-Star Transfer

Coming out of high school, Joey Gatewood was ranked as the number one athlete in the class of 2018, but five years in college has left a lot to be desired for the former Under Armor All-American.

Gatewood has had a long and somewhat confusing college career that has seen him play for three different schools at multiple different positions.

At Auburn and UK, Gatewood was viewed as a QB, but once he transferred to UCF with former Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn he began transitioning to the wide receiver position.

He never panned out at QB or WR for the Golden Knights, so now it seems like he’ll be trying his hand at TE for Louisville this year.

There’s not a ton of tape out there of Gatewood in college, but there is this that shows off the athleticism that had everyone excited.

I’m not really sure what to expect from Gatewood this year. As far as I can tell, he’s never recorded a reception in his FIVE years of college play, but TE is a huge area of need right now for the Cardinals.

The team lost Marshon Ford to the draft and Christian Pederson & Dez Melton to the transfer portal, while only bringing in true freshman Jamari Johnson.

And while I’m excited about the potential of Jamari Johnson, it’s hard to make much of an impact as a true freshman, especially at a position like tight end where you have to learn routes, run blocking, and pass blocking.

Based on the spring game, which was prior to Gatewood’s transfer, I would expect Josh Lifson to be our starting tight end, with Jamari Johnson and Gatewood coming in off the bench.

Gatewood is another high-pedigree recruit looking to figure things out under coach Brohm. I don’t have high expectations for him to make a huge impact, but his athleticism at least gives him a chance to do so.