Transfer WRs Dacari Collins and TreyShun Hurry Standing Out Early in Louisville's Fall Camp

Heading into the upcoming 2025 season, the Louisville football program sports one of the best wide receiver tandems in the ACC.

Chris Bell is coming off of a career year where he caught 43 passes for 737 yards and four touchdowns, and was recently voted to the Preseason All-ACC Team. A collarbone injury limited Caullin Lacy to just five games in 2024, though he showed flashes of his 2023 form when he caught 91 passes for 1,316 yards at South Alabama.

Even with that in mind, following spring ball earlier this year, the Cardinals thought that it was necessary to bolster the wide receiver room in the spring transfer window. Eventually, they landed two portal wideouts: NC State's Dacari Collins and San Jose State's TreyShun Hurry.

While Louisville might be less than a week into their fall camp, but the transfer duo is already turning heads from both coaches and fans alike in the practice sessions.

"Those guys are doing good, they're doing real good," wide receivers coach Deion Branch said. "I think, me personally, they're a little ahead of schedule."

Collins has the most power conference experience between the two, playing his first two years at Clemson before his last two with the Wolfpack. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound wideout is coming off of his best season at the college level, catching 24 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns in 12 starts for NC State.

The Atlanta native had an impactful true freshman campaign for the Tigers, catching 16 passes for 221 yards in nine games and three starts. But after playing just three games in 2022 as a sophomore, he hit the portal and transferred to NC State. In Collins' first year with the Wolfpack, he caught 14 passes for 212 yards and two scores.

But don't count out Hurry potentially winning the battle for the third starting wideout, though. Despite playing behind unanimous All-American Nick Nash and Second-Team All-Mountain West selection Justin Lockhart, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound receiver still caught 28 passes for 481 yards and two touchdowns.

The Palmdale, Calif. native spent the first two years of his collegiate career at the FCS level with Weber State. After logging just two catches for 26 yards as a true freshman, Hurry's breakout year came in 2023, tallying 29 receptions for 384 yards and a score.

Considering these are the two primary candidates to start alongside Bell and Lacy, one would think the spirit of competition would get very overwhelming here. But instead, ever since both stepped foot on campus, they have been assisting each other in their efforts to get acclimated to their new home.

"We're working together, pushing each other and studying together, anything like that," Hurry said.

These efforts to lift each other up have certainly paid off through the early goings of fall camp. Regardless of which unit Collins and Hurry have been running with, the duo has already made a handful of plays in the first three practices. Their early efforts have even drawn the attention of their teammates.

"They definitely have solid frames, and I like their like their games a lot," wide receiver Antonio Meeks said. "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."

In fact, the only somewhat difficult endeavor for Collins and Hurry up to this point has been getting to know the notoriously complex Jeff Brohm playbook. But even then, they don't view it as an obstacle, but rather an opportunity to get better and show what they can do.

"It wasn't overwhelming (learning the playbook), I say just happy," Collins said. "Happy to have a lot of options, different routes and stuff to run, and give myself opportunity to get open and get involved."