Losing your top skill players is never easy. Most programs only have to lose one or two of their top skill guys at once. For the Louisville football team, that's not the case. They lost them all. Replacing a new quarterback, new starting running back, and a top receiver is not the ideal way to start a season,
The Cardinals have three easy games to start out the season to help them figure out who is going to produce for them. They even have a bye week in the first four weeks as well. They just have to make sure that everything is set before the Notre Dame game on September 28th.
On the receiver front, they have some work to do. Jamari Thrash, their leading receiver is gone. Kevin Coleman, their third-leading receiver, is now at Mississippi State. Only Chris Bell returns from their top three receivers from a year ago, so how are the rest of the receivers going to fair?
Figuring out how the wide receivers will do for the Louisville football team in 2024
Lucky for them, they bring in a transfer who had over 1,300 yards receiving a year ago. Caullin Lacy comes in from South Alabama and should be the number-one guy out of the shoot. He caught 91 passes a year ago, so he's used to getting a high volume of targets.
Lacy is good enough to be on the Biletnikoff Award watchlist. He's going to have to pick up the slack early while some of the younger guys feel their way into the season. They don't use the tight end much, so Lacy and the receivers are going to carry a large load.
Speaking of tight end, Joey Gatewood returns this season. While he caught just nine passes last season, three of those were for touchdowns. He also had 150 yards on those nine catches, so he picks up big chunks of yards.
The receivers are a work in progress. If the Louisville Cardinals want to be back in the ACC Championship Game, they need to be good bordering on great by the time the season is at its end.