Louisville 'Making Progress' in Battle for Third Starting Receiver Spot

The Louisville football program heads into the 2025 season with one the best one-two punches at wide receiver in all of the ACC.

Coming off of a career year in 2024, preseason All-ACC selection Chris Bell has looked the part of an NFL-caliber wide receiver in fall camp thanks to his unique blend of physicality and speed. While Caullin Lacy only played in five games last season because of a broken collarbone and subsequent redshirt, his shiftiness and burst in camp has resembled his 2023 form when he was one of the most prolific pass catchers in the sport.

Bell and Lacy are sure to get the overwhelming majority of the targets from USC transfer quarterback Miller Moss this upcoming season. But of course, in modern pass-heavy football, teams usually roll out three wide receivers onto the field at any given time.

With the first two starting spots having been locked up essentially since the the start of the offseason, the primary storyline with Louisville's receiving corps is who would be the one to take that third spot. Over the course of spring ball and fall camp, the Cardinals have gotten a lot of good work from the rest of the players in the wide receiver room.

"Behind (Bell and Lacy), that receiver position is improving. ... There's four or five guys that are right there in the mix," head coach Jeff Brohm said following the final practice of fall camp. "I think, once again, just being consistent, doing the small things right, running the right route, being precise, making the adjustments, getting lined up quick, being able to communicate and adjust to the defense, catch the ball clean and not get it knocked out, catch the ball and get vertical after. All those things just got to constantly show up, and just got to work through that. But I think we're making progress."

While Brohm says that "four or five guys" are in the mix for that third starting spot, three of these players have positioned themselves the best over the course of the offseason: returner Antonio Meeks, plus transfers Dacari Collins and TreyShun Hurry. With UofL's season-opener less than two weeks away, the odds-on favorite to start against Eastern Kentucky alongside Bell and Lacy has actually been Meeks.

A transfer from Tuskegee last offseason, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound receiver got minimal run in 2024. He caught just three passes for 42 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown in the Sun Bowl.

But during the current offseason, Meeks seems to have finally become acclimated to the D1 level. In the open practices over both spring and fall, he was the one who was most commonly running with the ones with Bell and Lacy, putting on display much improved speed, catching ability, and overall feel for his routes.

"Antonio really understands what we're doing," Brohm said. "He's a consistent player for us. I think when he goes hard, understands what he's doing, he can make plays. Finding ways to kind of make the contested catches catches is what he kind of continues to need to work through. But when he can get open, and we make an accurate throw, he's going to make the play. So I like what we've seen, I think he is a great teammate. He's going to need to make plays for us."

While Meeks got the bulk of the first team reps in the open fall practices, either Collins or Hurry could still make a run at that final starting spot. Between these two, Hurry seemed to have the better showing in the open sessions, wowing the crowds in attendance with his smooth movement and large catch radius.

Despite transferring in from San Jose State, it's not a surprise to see Hurry handle the adjustment to the power conference level well. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound receiver caught 28 passes for 481 yards and two touchdowns, in spite of the fact that he played behind unanimous All-American Nick Nash and Second-Team All-Mountain West selection Justin Lockhart.

That being said, Collins already has extensive ACC experience, playing his first two years at Clemson before spending the last two at NC State. At 6-foot-4 and 215-pounds, he's also the tallest wideout on the roster. Not to mention coming off of a career year, catching 24 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns.

Collins did have a bit of an rough start to camp, as he did drop a handful of passes in the open sessions, and doesn't move quite as fluidly as everyone else. In his defense, he did rebound nicely towards the end of the seven open practices, and the staff has said good things about both him and Hurry.

"They definitely have solid frames, and I like their like their games a lot," Meeks said of Collins and Hurry. "I feel like they can help us in the pass game, whether we see different formations, different combos, 11 personnel, 10 personnel. I feel like they definitely can add on to what we we're trying to do."

But just because Collins, Hurry and Meeks are the primary candidates for the third starting spot, that hasn't been from a lack of trying by everyone else in the receiver room.

The quarterbacks and coaches were making a cognizant effort to get Kris Hughes more involved, and the former walk-on seems to have taken a step forward. When asked who had made the most progress from the start of the spring to the end of fall camp, Moss was quick to point out Minnesota transfer T.J. McWilliams. Brock Coffman, Bobby Golden and evan walk-on Jaedon King has some good moments in fall camp as well.

"Obviously, that group is led by two veterans in Chris Bell and Caullin Lacy, but there's some younger guys that have really made plays and gotten a lot better, at least throughout the time that I've been here," Moss said in the final week of camp.

Whoever winds up with that final starting spot, they will have more than deserved it. Since the start of the offseason, Louisville wide receivers coach Deion Branch has fostered an incredibly competitive environment that is meant to challenge his guys, regardless of experience, and get the best out of them.

"Every day I tell my guys in our room, we're competing in here," Branch said. "Every day, I'm charting everything that they're doing: drops, M.E.'s, all that. Guys that are making all the mistakes, wherever you are now, and you're going to fall down. Guys behind you, I'm going to put the guys in that actually know what they're doing. So far, that room has been highly competitive. We've been having a lot of fun. We're flying around. I put a lot on my guys."

Louisville's 2025 season will get underway on Saturday, Aug. 30 vs. Eastern Kentucky from L&N Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 3:00 p.m. EST.