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Luke Fickell and his Cincinnati Bearcats have gotten some nice additions this week on the pass defense side of things. But the new head coach is still in search of players on the other side of the coin. We’ve taken a look at some of the 2018 targets at wide receiver already, and today we’ll move on to part three of this little series we’ve got going. If you’d like to see the first or second part, they can be found here and here.
Shocky Jacques-Louis
First off, Jacques-Louis has an absolutely amazing name. That makes him a three-star recruit without even stepping on the field. The 6’1” wideout from Fort Myers, Florida has received 26 offers, including the one from Cincinnati. He recently decommited from Kentucky and the No. 109 recruit in the state of Florida has yet to pick another school, although he made an unofficial visit to Tennessee and attended South Carolina camp before he broke off from the Wildcats. He is also the No. 121 wide receiver in the 2018 class and coming off a year in which he caught 20 passes for 314 yards and five touchdowns.
Tyler Harrell
This Miami, Florida recruit is just barely a top 1,000 prospect for the 2018 class. Harrell, who stands 6’0 and weighs in at 165 pounds has 19 offers, but mostly from the lower end of the Division I ranks. UC is presently competing with the likes of East Carolina, Oregon State and Syracuse. A player with lots of speed, Harrell was offered a track and field scholarship by Miami earlier this month.
Jalen Jordan
UC only recently offered Jordan, sending him one at the end of May. Jordan is an extremely intriguing prospect because of his size (6’5, 210 pounds) and speed combination. Rated three-stars by 24Sports, he is the No. 142 recruit in the state of Florida and the No. 147 receiver in the 2018 class. Currently, UC is competing with seven other schools for his services, at least based on where he has offers from. Competing programs include Tennessee, UCLA and Georgia.
Paul Woods
Woods falls just outside of the top 1,000 recruits in 2018 despite being the No. 10 prospect from the state of New York. That speaks to how concentrated the talent level is in the south and out west. A three-star recruit and a possible future Rutgers Scarlet Knight, if 247Sports predictions are to be believed, Woods is the No. 153 wide receiver in the 2017 class. He may give a hometown discount to Buffalo, but is still considering 10 other schools, including UC. Woods has burned a number of cornerbacks and safeties at Canisius, turning 35 receptions into 684 yards and eight touchdowns as a junior.
Teshaun Smith
We’re back to Florida now, as Smith comes straight from Fort Lauderdale. Another three-star target for the Bearcats, Smith is just inside the top 200 recruit rankings in the state of Florida (191) and as a wide receiver in the 2018 class (189). He has great height (6’3), which makes him the more intriguing. Of the 15 other schools to have offered him, Vanderbilt is the most recent. Smith has accumulated 37 receptions and 627 yards during his last two high school seasons.
Randy Fields
Fields’ recruitment has been quiet recently, although he did visit Pittsburgh and West Virginia. At 6’3 and 185 pounds, he has the size to succeed at the next level, but UC and Pitt are the only schools to have offered the prospect from Maryland.
Woody Theork
Theork does not have the height of some of the others on this list (5’10), but he has enviable breakaway speed and can still go up and get balls. A three-star recruit, Theork is ranked the No. 189 wide receiver in the 2018 class and the No. 176 recruit in Florida. He has 15 offers, including the one he got from UC on March 7. Three other American Athletic Conference programs are also seeking him out, with East Carolina, UCF and USF offering him as well. Theork plays for Naples, which didn’t do much passing last season, with only 73 receptions accumulated by the whole roster. However, Theork had team-highs in catches (29), yards (576) and touchdowns (six).
Tune in tomorrow for the fourth and final part of our look at 2018 wide receiver targets.