The Cardinal Countdown: 82 Days Until Kickoff

#82 Keion Wakefield

Class: RS Sophomore

Ht/Wt: 5-10/182

Position: Wide Reciever

Hometown: Louisville, KY (Product of Male High School)

Twitter: @BoobieWake11

Thoughts: Lots of folks have been eagerly anticipating the debut of Keion “Boobie” Wakefield since his commitment back in July of 2015. Part of it due to his UK troll (see video) but mostly due to the fact that he’s a damn good wideout.

Boobie was considered the top WR in Kentucky back in 2016 and a Top 100 wideout nationally by at least one recruiting service. Turning down offers from Cincy, UK, Purdue, WKU, and a host of other local universities Keion decided to stay home and play for the Cards, addressing at that time one of the concerns some people had about Petrino keeping local talent in state.

To the surprise of very few Keion took a redshirt his first season and was looking to get some backup PT and special teams reps heading into 2017. Unfortunately for Wakefield fall camp ended with him sporting a bum wheel, having injured his knee during camp and being forced to miss the entire 2017 season. After rehabbing all of last year Wakefield was ready to roll this Spring, testing well overall but catching the attention of the staff once again for his speed. During the Spring Petrino singled him out as a guy who was working with the return team and would likely get a shot at the job on rotation during the summer/fall. His core position is a loaded up, as per usual with a Petrino offense. Fighting for time will be a big challenge but it’s difficult to keep speed and athleticism off the field. My guess is that we see a spinning door of Josh Jackson and Wakefield early this year with Tutu Atwell getting some more time as he gains experience and knowledge of the playbook.

While I am certainly not pigeon-holing these guys into the slot position, it’s a great issue to have so much talent there that your “third string” player, no matter who it is, will be a Top 100 wideout nationally from their respective class. I really hope the new offensive approach for Puma gets the ball in their hands more often in 2018. #FeedTheStuds

Sweet Tweet:

TRUTH.

Major congrats to Donovan on an amazing season and already bringing home a ROY trophy from the NBPA. Here’s hoping he brings home the official hardware on June 25th. Well deserved young man.