Louisville senior wide receiver Caullin Lacy sustained a broken collarbone during this past Saturday’s scrimmage and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks.
This is a tough loss for the Cardinals, who brought in 30 transfers from the portal in their 2024 recruiting class. Lacy, one of four transfers given a four-star rating by the 247Sports Composite, played four seasons at South Alabama.
The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Lacy garnered fourth-team All-American honors for the Jaguars last year. He had 91 receptions for 1,316 yards and seven touchdowns. Lacy led the Sun Belt Conference in both receiving yards and punt return yards (210), and he finished seventh in the nation in receiving yards.
As a third-year sophomore in 2022, Lacy had 64 catches for 812 yards and six TDs. He also had 184 punt return yards and one TD on 22 returns. Furthermore, Lacy averaged 31.4 yards on five kickoff returns.
In 2021, Lacy caught 41 balls for 291 yards. He had 11 receptions for 98 yards in 2020.
In 47 games across four seasons at South Alabama, Lacy hauled in 207 career catches for 2,517 yards and 13 TDs. He also has 140 career rushing yards on 31 attempts for a 4.5 yards-per-carry average.
Lacy is ranked second in USA’s program history and 19th in Sun Belt history with his 2,517 career receiving yards. His 207 career receptions are the 10th-most in SBC annals, while his 447 career punt return yards rank ninth in the league’s history.
In Phil Steele’s magazine, Lacy is a preseason first-team All-ACC selection and a preseason fourth-team All-American. Steele had Louisville’s WRs ranked ninth in his National Unit Rankings.
Jeff Brohm brought in another four-star transfer WR in Ja’Corey Brooks, who played three seasons at Alabama from 2021-23. In 2022, Brooks had 39 catches for 674 yards and eight TDs.
Louisville also returns WRs Chris Bell and Jimmy Calloway. Bell had 29 receptions for 407 yards and two TDs in 2023, while Calloway snagged 20 balls for 242 yards.
The Cardinals landed an elite tight end in the portal as well. Mark Redman, a four-star transfer from San Diego St., had 641 receiving yards and five TDs for the Aztecs in 2022 and ’23. They added two other TEs from the portal in Izayah Cummings (Kentucky) Jaleel Skinner (Miami).
The most ideal scenario for Louisville would be if Lacy can return to the field in six weeks. When the Cardinals play at Notre Dame on Sept. 28, that will be exactly six weeks from the day Lacy sustained his injury.
If that six-week return comes to fruition, Lacy will only miss U of L’s first three games: vs. Austin Peay, vs. Jacksonville St. and vs. Ga. Tech. On Oct. 5, Louisville returns home to host SMU before playing at Virginia on Oct. 12.
It will have been nine weeks from the injury when the Cardinals play at Miami on Oct. 19.
FanDuel has Louisville’s season win total at 8.5 (‘under’ -178, ‘over’ +144). The betting shop has the Cardinals installed as 34.5-point home ‘chalk’ for their opener against the Governors. They share the fifth-shortest odds to win the ACC (10/1 or +1000) with Va. Tech.