All summer when people would talk about this Louisville offense and you got to the topic of Wide Receiver, who were the names you heard? Parker, Copeland, Rogers, Quick, Clark, maybe even Harris? And yes, that is a ridiculous group of receivers, no doubt. But did anyone ever mention Kai De La Cruz (formerly Kai Dominguez) ??? Probably not, and he showed on Sunday that he is here to be included in that list of names. I will admit it, I didn’t even have anything to say about him in my wide receiver breakdown to begin the season. I had not seen too much of him, and UofL’s site did not even have much information. So I just chalked him up to maybe a special teams player that may catch a pass or two in games.
Well he definitely made his impact on Sunday against Ohio with 4 catches for 116 yards and 2 touchdowns. Here is one of those touchdowns, with great video by thecrunchzone.com.
Because of his red mohawk, De La Cruz has gotten the nickname “Ketchup”, which is another condiment nickname to go along with Damian Copeland, who is “Honey Mustard.” Speaking of Copeland, seeing De La Cruz have a breakout game made me think that he could be our Damian Copeland from last season. Copeland’s first couple seasons were quiet, mainly due to injuries, and then he had a breakout season as a junior, which is what De La Cruz is now. Copeland came out of nowhere to be very reliable and actually led the team in receptions with 50. With all of the attention on everyone else I mentioned, will De La Cruz find himself open a lot this season?
Obviously, De La Cruz does not have to have 100 yards receiving every game. But if he can just become consistent and be another weapon for Teddy? Wow, look out. You thought we were deep at wide receiver before? Now just add some ketchup to the mix, and enjoy!
Here is his post-game interview.
