LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – What sets Caullin Lacy apart as a punt returner isn’t just his legs. It’s his eyes.
“He sees it different,” Louisville special teams coach Steve Maslowski says.
He saw everything Saturday.
Lacy’s all-around performance was an X-factor in Louisville’s 28-16 win at Virginia Tech, the program’s first-ever win in Blacksburg, and one that keeps the Cardinals in the thick of a crowded ACC title race.
With Louisville trailing, he slipped free over the middle, caught a dart from Miller Moss on third down, and sprinted into the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown to pull the Cards within 16-14.
Three minutes later, he fielded a punt, split defenders up the middle, slowed to read the coverage, then exploded left for a 63-yard return that set up the go-ahead score.
That was the turning point — and Lacy turned it.
Lacy’s three punt returns for 106 yards may be enough to put him atop the national rankings in return average (53.0) when stats update next week. More importantly, they gave Louisville the jolt it needed
Lacy’s reputation preceded him when he got to Blacksburg. It didn’t’ matter.
“We knew how electric he was going in as a returner,” Virginia Tech interim coach Philip Montgomery said. “That return was a big one, obviously, and from a momentum standpoint, it was huge.”
Lacy’s return wasn’t just fast. It was smart.
He split defenders up the middle, crossed midfield, cut right, then left. He hesitated — almost to a trot — to let the play develop. Then he was back in gear running left, reaching the sideline and turning the corner until he dove into the end zone.
Officials said he stepped out at the 5. Either way, Virginia Tech was reeling, and two plays later, Louisville had the lead.
Punt returners are a special breed. Maslowski calls fielding a punt “one of the hardest things to do in football.”
“The ball doesn't follow a normal trajectory, right?” he said. “When it hits its peak, depending on where the nose of the ball is, it'll change its direction of flight and all that stuff. So, it's not like just being a center fielder. It's a little bit more than that. In and of itself, that makes it harder than a kickoff, where it just it follows an easy arc. Then the other part is, it's shorter kicks, right? So the gunners, the cover guys, get down there a whole lot faster. So you have to have a little more courage just to catch it, and then the vision is a little bit different when you get there.”
Louisville coaches call avoiding that initial wave of defenders, “running through the smoke.”
“It’s like Days of Thunder,” Maslowski said. “You don’t know what’s on the other side. You’ve just got to trust that once you’re through there, you’re gone.”
Lacy usually is.
Here’s how dialed in he is – during special teams drills at Louisville, players don’t change into different colored jerseys for kicking team and receiving team. But somehow, Lacy knows who the tacklers are and is able to weave his way through.
“His vision – I’ve never seen anything like it,” Maslowski said.
The final piece of Lacy’s punt return prowess is his ability to break tackles, which not all returners possess.
“He's a great asset to our team, because he practices hard, plays hard, and doesn't matter what we ask him to do, he does it,” Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm said. “He's got great return ability, so we just give him a little bit of space and man, it changes the game. It definitely changed the game today. Made a good catch on the touchdown pass. He just plays hard. And you know, I applaud him. He doesn't miss any reps in practice. He goes hard in the game, no matter whether he's getting the ball or not. That's not easy to do, so that's a testament to him and what he's all about and his makeup. So we're fortunate to have him on our team.”
He may be even more valuable moving forward. With Isaac Brown going down with a leg injury in the fourth quarter that Brohm said could keep him out for a while, the coach will need to use all the creativity he can muster. And Lacy is a player who has the kind of versatility to deliver. He has lined up at wideout, returned punts and kickoffs, even lined up at running back.
On Saturday, he had six catches for 53 yards, three third-down conversions and a touchdown, with 29 yards after the catch. He had 193 all-purpose yards, when you count his three punt returns for 106 yards and kickoff return for 33. He didn’t just flip the game, he kept it moving.
And he’s going to be key to Louisville if it wants to stay in the ACC hunt.
“He's done a great job for us,” Brohm said. “He's made multiple plays, and we need to continue to use utilize him as we progress forward.”
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
