Louisville Wide Receiver Transfers Hudson, Wiggins Having Smooth Transition
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In this day and age of collegiate athletics, the transfer portal is something that all programs have to deal with, for better and for worse. The Louisville football program is no stranger to this, as 11 players entered the portal this offseason.
Couple that with normal roster attrition, such as graduation or declaring for the NFL Draft, and position groups have the potential to look completely different from one year to the next.
For the Cardinals, wide receiver was the most impacted by roster turnover, as four players departed the program - the most out of any position group. Jordan Watkins, Justin Marshall and Demetrius Cannon all transferred, while Shai Werts graduated.
Related: Who's In, Who's Out and Who's Back for Louisville Football in 2022
Louisville did retain guys like Braden Smith, Tyler Harrell and Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, but head coach Scott Satterfield was going to have to do a good job replacing the talent out wide that left - namely Watkins and Marshall. And that's exactly what he did.
On top of signing three quality prospects out of high school, Satterfield also landed a pair of impact transfers at wide receiver: Miami's Dee Wiggins and Central Arkansas' Tyler Hudson.
While both have been on campus for a relatively short amount of time, and spring practice only just began earlier this week, the two transfers out wide are having a smooth transition from their former schools thus far.
"The environment's been great," Wiggins said. "I'm coming along with my teammates, especially in the receiver room. We come together, we're working every day Monday through Sunday, we're catchings jugs, we're going over plays every day trying to build that excellence in the receiver room."
Wiggins comes from Miami with a solid amount of experience against Power Five competition. In 27 total games, he has 62 receptions for 791 yards and seven touchdowns. Ironically enough, one of the best games for the 6-foot-3, 195-pound wideout came in 2019 against Louisville, logging 85 yards and two touchdowns.
But don't sleep on Hudson, either. He might be coming from the FCS level, but he is a proven commodity. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound wideout was named a Second Team AP FCS All-American, finishing the 2021 season with 62 receptions for 1,242 yards and eight touchdowns. The yardage mark setting a school record and ranked fourth in all of FCS.
"I'm having a great time right now," Hudson said. "It was a little bit of a smoother transition than I thought it was gonna be. I thought it was gonna be a little rough ... I didn't think it was going to be as friendly as it has been so far."
They're also picking up where they left off on the gridiron. Spring ball for the Cardinals isn't even through the first week yet, and both Wiggins and Hudson are already catching Satterfield's eye.
"For the first day, I really didn't see any mental busts," he said after the first practice session of spring ball. "We kept it to day one installs, so there wasn't a ton of offense today, but Huddy (Hudson) made about six or seven catches today, Wiggins caught some balls. They were flying inside and getting safeties blocking them.
"To me, they picked up as if they had been here for a while. That was good to see for the first practice. They both have good size and good length, and some pretty good long speed as well."
Spring practice for Louisville will last for the rest of the month, and culminate with the first ever spring game in the Satterfield era. Kickoff is set for Sunday, Apr. 3 at 4:00 p.m.
(Photo of Tyler Hudson: Marvin Gentry - USA TODAY Sports, Dee Wiggins: Glenn Beil - USA TODAY Sports)
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