DeVante Parker ready for high-octane season

DeVante Parker could have left college for the NFL draft after this winter's mass exodus from the University of Louisville football program.

The U of L receiver had just compiled 855 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns as a junior, capping his season with 104 yards and two scores against Cincinnati and 142 yards and a score against Miami.

Both games were on national television, and both offered glimpses of what Parker can do when healthy, even in the buttoned-up offensive scheme that U of L ran under former coach Charlie Strong.

Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater led the lengthy list of players who left Louisville to enter the NFL draft, and Strong's staff, the coaches who recruited, signed and developed Parker at U of L, all left for other jobs.

So when the 6-foot-3, 208-pound Ballard High graduate opted to return to U of L for his final season, he gave the Cardinals instant credibility at the receiver spot, and he appears to be in line for a major 2014 campaign.

"He's really special," new U of L coach Bobby Petrino said. "He has a combination of size and strength. He can really control his body and make different catches in the air. The thing that excites me as much as anything is his ability to run after the catch."

A mid-season shoulder injury frustrated Parker last fall, a detail he told The Courier-Journal in January when he announced that he'd return to school.

In Greensboro, N.C., on Sunday for the ACC Football Kickoff, Parker offered more reasoning behind his choice.

"I want to get my degree," Parker said, maintaining the quiet, quick delivery that he always speaks with. "It's for my family."

Once he decided he'd be back, Parker started working with new quarterback Will Gardner. The preseason all-ACC receiver will be the focal point of the passing offense this fall and Gardner's top target.

Petrino, Parker said, "likes to score points," an attribute that he happily accepts after some "frustrating" seasons in Louisville's offense under former coordinator Shawn Watson.

"They're trying to move me around more than we did last year, just putting me in different positions," Parker said. "At times (last season) did get frustrating. Sometimes I'd catch the ball one time in a game or none at all. But I never really said anything.

"They were always putting their foot on the brake. They didn't want to score anything."

Parker was a surprise choice to attend the ACC Football Kickoff alongside linebacker and fellow senior Lorenzo Mauldin.

Not for any reason other than Parker's shyness. The reserved and soft-spoken receiver prefers Twitter to talking. He wasn't uncomfortable during Sunday's media obligations, he explained, there was just a lot of people talking to him.

The questions that coaxed a grin out of Parker circled around his love of the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants. He also explained he's nicknamed Spider-Man because of his sticky hands.

The rest of the occasion was all business, all quiet, unassuming, straightforward business.

That's how Parker operates, and his teammates say he's going about his off-season workouts the same way.

He'd like to refine his route running and catching consistency before he enters the rigors of the 2015 NFL draft process, which starts in January and lasts the excruciating eternity that is the four months before the draft.

By then, he said he'll be ready to go. That's what coming back to U of L this fall was all about. He'll just have a degree to go with it and, he hopes, some big numbers.

"I would say (this season) will be more fun," Parker said. "This staff, they like to score. That's what we're looking forward to. That's what I'm looking forward to."

Reach Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_CJ).