The Factors That Played Into Dez Fitzpatrick's Return
Just one week after the Louisville Cardinals' 38-28 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the Music City Bowl, then redshirt junior wide receiver Dez Fitzpatrick announced that he would be returning for his fifth and final year in a Louisville uniform. The announcement came after there had been rumblings that he would forgo his final season and declare for the NFL Draft.
The decision was not one he took lightly, as he put in a lot of consideration for his future plans. He also resorted to outside council as well on the matter.
"Obviously I had thoughts on leaving and I had thoughts on staying before I made a decision," he said following Wednesday's spring practice. "I had talked to Coach Satterfield & Coach Brewer, and the ultimate decision was set."
But what played into the his decision to come back for one last ride? In the end it came down to these factors of consideration:
- The opportunity to play with his brother
- Having a WR coach with NFL experience
- The Music City Bowl win
- Unfinished business
In the past recruiting cycle, head coach Scott Satterfield was able to land a commitment from Dez's younger brother Christian. He had decommitted from Washington State, then committed to the Cards a week later during the 2019 season. Dez said the prospect of playing alongside his younger brother attracted him due to the fact they they had never played with each other in any level of organized football.
"It was a big factor," he said. "Definitely for one year will be pretty cool to play with each other."
Another reason he decided to return to Louisville was due to wide receivers coach Gunter Brewer. He believes that continuing to work with a position coach who has NFL coaching knowledge will be beneficial to him once he decides to head to the next level.
"Coach Brewer grades me hard. I told him to grade me like an NFL receiver. So I have a whole bunch of X's on my sheets," he joked. "Sometimes I get mad, but then I'm just like - okay, he's just grading me hard."
Brewer and Fitzpatrick even made a trip up to the 2020 NFL scouting combine and had the chance to speak with several NFL WR coaches. After learning that the terminology they use is the same that Coach Brewer uses, he thinks it will give him an upper hand.
The win against Mississippi State in the Music City Bowl also played into his line of thinking on if he wanted to return or not. More specifically, he thinks that they have more to prove and have raised the standard for themselves.
"I know that we have more in the tank, and I truly believe that this team will do more next season, he said. "We set our standard last year, the goal for this team is to exceed that standard now."
Which ties into the final factor. Given the state of Louisville Football at current moment, he thinks that the team can compete for an ACC & National Championship. Which is the reason he originally committed to Louisville in the first place, and leaving before accomplishing that would be unfinished business.
"When I committed here, I always wanted to win an ACC Championship, I always wanted to win a National Championship," he said. "Leaving without that, I kind of felt like I came to do that.
Surprisingly, the one factor that did not play into his decision to come back was the feedback he got from NFL scouting and draft representatives. That's because there wasn't any.
"I didn't really get any feedback [from the NFL] honestly," he said. "I was just talking with Coach Brewer a lot, we had a lot of one-on-one conversations. I also talked to coach Satterfield, obviously family conversation as well."
Fitzpatrick will enter his final season with 106 receptions for 1,756 yards and 18 touchdowns over his career, the latter of which is tied for sixth all-time in school history with Deion Branch.
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