Though Louisville football lost in heartbreaking fashion to Florida State this last weekend, they managed to pick up a win on the recruiting trail, earing a commitment from Miami, FL wide receiver, Cataurus Hicks. The Cards offered Hicks on August 30th and clearly made a strong early impression, landing his pledge less than a month later.
Hicks plays at Miami Central and is teammates with fellow #FlyVille23 commit, Stanquan Clark. Louisville has done an excellent job at recruiting Miami Central, which likely played a significant role in Hicks’ commitment.
What the film says
At 5’9 and 160lbs, he isn’t the most physically imposing receiver, but this offense has shown that size doesn’t always matter (see Tutu Atwell and Javian Hawkins). What matters is the attributes that allow you to make plays, and where Hicks stands out the most is his quickness. While he has impressive long speed and acceleration, I was the most impressed with his short area quickness and change of direction.
He has nifty footwork to defeat press coverage at the line of scrimmage and uses his quick feet to fool defenders while running his routes. He’s a dangerous threat after the catch and can make defenders miss. He has also flashed the ability to adjust to the ball in the air and reel in underthrown or inaccurate passes.
Hicks certainly has traits that are worth betting on, but his game still needs some refinement before stepping into a prominent role within the offense. The main area of development lies in his catching ability.
He is currently much more of a “body catcher” and needs to learn to utilize his hands to catch the ball away from his frame. Most of his catches are made in open space since he can get himself open with ease against high school defenses. However, Power-5 defenses have much tighter windows and Hicks needs to prove that he can be relied on to catch the ball in traffic.15
What the commitment means
The Cards add yet another playmaker to the wide receiver room – with Hicks’ commitment there are now four in the class of ’23. I doubt this means they are done recruiting the position and they may stand to add one, possibly two more. The current landscape of college football calls for as many offensive weapons as possible, and in order to compete with other high-powered offenses in the ACC, Louisville desperately needs to add to their firepower. Hicks can provide the kind of downfield threat that can create chunk plays as well as spread out the defense. Though he is likely more of a developmental prospect than other #FlyVille23 receiver commits, his speed and athleticism make it easy to get excited about his potential.
Louisville football currently holds commitments from 15 players in the class of 2023, headlined by five-star Rueben Owens – good enough for 17th best in the nation and third in the ACC.
