By RUSS BROWN, Kentucky Today
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) -- With Tutu Atwell and Dez Fitzpatrick having moved on to the NFL, it's no surprise that Louisville's receiving corps continues to evolve, but approaching the midway point of the regular season the picture is starting to become clearer.
And it looks as if redshirt sophomore Tyler Harrell and true freshman Ahmari Huggins-Bruce are going to be the guys coach Scott Satterfield relies on more and more for big plays as the season progresses. At least he hopes so.
That pair has already shown they are dangerous deep threats who can be game-changers. In the final minutes of Saturday's 37-34 loss to Wake Forest, with UofL trailing 34-27 facing a long field, Harrell caught a pass from quarterback Malik Cunningham near the Louisville 40-yard line and was off to the races for a 75-yard, game-tying touchdown.
"Tyler is such a fast player," Satterfield said during his Monday press conference. "I mean, once he caught his balance like that, it's a touchdown. They're not going to catch him. He's incredibly fast and it was a great catch, too. It was a ball across the middle and the umpire is kind of in the way and the umpire jumps out of the way and Tyler catches it. What a great play."
From his vantage point on the sideline, wide receiver Jordan Watkins said he enjoyed watching Harrell streak down the field after the reception.
"I turn around and then I just see Tyler Harrell running down the field. I'm like 'ain't nobody catching him'," Watkins said. "I just know that nobody's catching him once he's hit his stride and gets free. He's that fast, and it's surprising me how fast he is sometimes. Even when you think that he's fast, he steps it up even more and goes faster."
Huggins-Bruce has an even longer pass play to his credit, a 93-yarder against Eastern Kentucky when he was tackled just a few feet shy of the end zone.
Against Wake, he made two key plays, scoring on a 10-yard touchdown catch and gaining 12 yards on a reverse to the Demons' 24 in the second quarter to help set up UofL's second TD.
In addition to Atwell and Fitzpatrick, UofL lost even more production after the season had barely gotten underway. Sophomore Braden Smith was emerging as the Cardinals' most consistent receiver after finishing third on the team last year with 370 yards. But he suffered a season-ending knee injury against Florida State.
"We talked about it last week, how we're going to have to count on some more guys," Satterfield said. "We knew Ahmari was going to be one of those guys. We can move him into the slot where Braden was and utilize the speed he has. He got around the edge on the reverse and had a nice route catch on the touchdown. It's just about picking and choosing when to put him in because he's still learning the offense. He's getting better, and I thought he blocked a lot better in that game."
The next chance for Harrell and Huggins-Bruce to impact a game will come Saturday when Louisville (3-2, 1-1) meets Virginia (3-2, 1-2) at 3 p.m. EDT in Cardinal Stadium. The Cavaliers are one of the worst defensive teams in the ACC, ranking 12th in both scoring defense (27.6 ppg) and total defense (412.8 ypg), so it looks like a good opportunity for the Cards to put up some big offensive numbers.
"If we find ways to get (Harrell and Huggins-Bruce) the ball in space, it's going to put pressure on the defense because of how fast they are," Satterfield said. "They're two of our faster guys we have outside."
Eight different receivers caught passes against Wake -- four each by tight end Marshon Ford, Jordan Watkins and Justin Marshall -- and that's been pretty typical of the Cards' versatile attack so far. On the season, six different players have led UofL in either number of catches or yards.
Ford has been Cunningham's most consistent target, with 23 catches for 241 yards, a 10.48 average per reception. Watkins is next (18/213/11.83), while Harrell and Huggins-Bruce are the leaders in big plays, with averages of 32.20 and 21.11 yards per catch.
"We had great guys that left, Dez, Tutu, but I feel like all the guys wanted the challenge," Ford said. "They wanted to step up. We've all combined to make up for those players who left. I think each and every day in practice, they just want to get better. They're up for that challenge, and it's been going well."
SATTERFIELD NOT PRESSING HIS CASE TO ACC
Although he was upset with the controversial goal line play at the end of the first half against Wake, with the Demon Deacons able to run a play with four seconds left and still have time to call a timeout with one second remaining to kick a go-ahead field goal, Satterfield didn't send the film to the ACC office for review.
He said he saw no reason to.
“It speaks for itself. Everybody has seen the game,” he said.
But that doesn't mean he doesn't think the Cards were victims of an officiating injustice.
“The thing I don’t like about it is that our defense played their butts off in that scenario, held them out of the end zone and they still get an opportunity to kick a field goal," Satterfield said. "That’s the thing that aggravates you is how hard our guys played to keep them out of the end zone.
"As a coach, we have seen this over the years in college football, you get the ball inside the three- or four-yard line, and the time is down to about three or four seconds left, you've got to make a decision. Do I want to run a play? And if you do then you are willing to risk that you don't score and it's probably going to be halftime. I'm pretty sure that's what (Wake coach Dave Clawson) thought, that if they don't get it, the half is over. The clock says zero and we are getting ready to head to the locker room, and then we get called back and they get another play."
Russ Brown, a former sportswriter for The Courier-Journal and USA Today, covers University of Louisville sports and college football and basketball for Kentucky Today. He can be contacted at 0926.russ.brown@gmail.com.
"looking" - Google News
October 07, 2021 at 01:33AM
https://ift.tt/3agd3ry
Wide receivers Harrell, Huggins-Bruce looking like Cards' next playmakers - Kentucky Today
"looking" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2tdCiJt
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Wide receivers Harrell, Huggins-Bruce looking like Cards' next playmakers - Kentucky Today"
Post a Comment