Cataurus Hicks

#3 · WR · Sr. · Pittsburgh5′10″ · 185 lb · Miami, FL · Miami Central

Receiving yards69821st of 467 receivers Last gameW 34–11vs Georgia Tech · Oct 31

Nextvs Florida StateFri Nov 13 · 7 pm ET

via pittsburghpanthers.com ↗

Worth knowing

Cataurus Hicks spent two seasons at Louisville before joining Pittsburgh.

His most important play this season

Q4, 13:55 · Pittsburgh up 4Holden Geriner finds Cataurus Hicks for a 29-yard touchdownPittsburgh at Virginia Tech, week 5Q4, 13:55 · Pittsburgh 35, Virginia Tech 24▲13%Pittsburgh’s chance to win, 73% to 86%▲13%Pittsburgh’s chance to win, 73% to 86%H.Geriner pass complete deep right to C.Hicks caught at Hokies01, for 29 yards to the Hokies00 touchdown, 1ST DOWN, kick goodWatch from this play

All 5 of his plays on video

Every catch and target this season

102030405034307541535336

leftmiddlerightno spot

a catch, dashed to the catch point then solid afterthrown to him, incomplete

Seen from behind the quarterback; numbers are yards past the line of scrimmage. The play text only says left, middle or right, so inside a lane marks are sorted, not placed. Of his catches with a spot in the play text: left 11, middle 10, right 12.

Cataurus Hicks

WR · Pittsburgh · #3

Filling the Shoesas of Nov 4

Cataurus Hicks takes over from Raphael Williams at Pittsburgh.

698receiving yards34catches6receiving TD

TEAM RECEIVING YARDS LEADER

698

Team leader in receiving yards (698).

Read the story so far

Cataurus Hicks arrived as a 3-star prospect. Cataurus Hicks lines up at WR for Pittsburgh.

On the field, the headline is 698 rec yds, with 34 rec.

Cataurus Hicks inherited the WR job from Raphael Williams.

The number to watch: 698 — team receiving yards leader.

WR successionleap of faith

Inherited fromRaphael Williams

AI-generated narrative · may contain errors · not journalism · updated 2026-11-04

Style of play

Play style

Beats you over the top.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Cameron MillerKentucky · 2025 · 79% season match
D'Wayne EskridgeWestern Michigan · 2020 · 74% season match
Kendall ParhamUAB · 2019 · 73% season match
Jimmy WilliamsEast Carolina · 2016 · 72% season match
Taye BarberTCU · 2022 · 72% season match

Fans

No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.

Pittsburgh in the news

Cornell coach Ed Dawson diesPittsburgh Post-Gazette Oct 24

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2026	Pittsburgh	34	698	20.5	6	75
2025	Pittsburgh	24	422	17.6	4	84
2024	Louisville	12	149	12.4	0	51
2023	Louisville	1	11	11.0	0	11
Career		71	1,280	18.0	10	84

Season	Team
2026	Pittsburgh	--	--	--	146
2025	Pittsburgh	3	−5	69	--
2024	Louisville	--	--	--	--
2023	Louisville	--	--	--	--
Career		3	−5	69	146

Last game (Wk 9): 49 receiving yards, 3 catches, 1 receiving TD.

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2026 season · 9 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 59-14vs Miami (OH)	5	114	22.8	1	53
Wk 2	W 12-7vs UCF	3	64	21.3	0	41
Wk 3	W 27-13vs Syracuse	1	8	8.0	0	8
Wk 4	W 59-0vs Bucknell	3	66	22.0	0	34
Wk 5	W 35-33@ Virginia Tech	3	63	21.0	2	29	2 TD catches
Wk 6	L 17-21vs North Carolina	6	50	8.3	0	14
Wk 7	L 21-27@ Boston College	5	135	27.0	1	75	135-yard receiving day
Wk 8	L 23-52@ No. 1 Miami	5	149	29.8	1	53	Season-high 149 yds
Wk 9	W 34-11vs Georgia Tech	3	49	16.3	1	30
Total		34	698	20.5	6	75

The latest game

Oct. 24 · L 23-52 at Miami, play by play

A big game: 5 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. Pittsburgh’s last two throws to him, down 52-14 in the fourth quarter, fell incomplete.

5 of 9 targets caught
4 moved the chains
1 broken up (B. Fitzgerald)
9 of 34 Pittsburgh passes came his way

First quarterbegan tied 0-0
1st & 106
2nd & 5incomplete
Second quarterbegan down 10-0
1st & 1028 1st down
2nd & 8broken up
2nd & 1053 1st down1
Third quarterbegan down 31-7
1st & 1036 TD
Fourth quarterbegan down 45-14
2nd & 1026 1st down
2nd & 10incomplete
1st & 10incomplete
FinalL 23-52

a catch, by its yardsa touchdownthrown to him, incomplete

1
53-yard catch. Second quarter, down 31-7.

The season, game by game

Signature game

Week 8 · 2026

L 23-52

at Miami

5 rec · 149 yds · 1 TD

With G. Russo — 44.3 yards per punt · 6 punts · 1 inside the 20 · H. Geriner — 268 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 59.2

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 7 · Boston College · 1st and 10 · Q1 · EPA +6.08C.Dailey pass complete deep middle to C.Hicks caught at BC 33, for 75 yards to the BC 00 TOUCHDOWN
Week 8 · Miami · 2nd and 10 · Q2 · EPA +4.41Geriner to Hicks: a 53-yard pass.
Week 1 · Miami (OH) · 1st and 10 · Q3 · EPA +4.10Heintschel to Hicks: a 53-yard touchdown pass.
Week 4 · Bucknell · 1st and 10 · Q3 · EPA −4.04Heintschel to Hicks: a 26-yard pass.
Week 2 · UCF · 2nd and 11 · Q1 · EPA +3.20Heintschel to Hicks: a 41-yard pass.
Week 8 · Miami · 2nd and 10 · Q4 · EPA +3.02Geriner to Hicks: a 26-yard pass.

4 more plays

Week 8 · Miami · 1st and 10 · Q3 · EPA +3.01Geriner to Hicks: a 36-yard touchdown pass.
Week 5 · Virginia Tech · 2nd and 9 · Q2 · EPA +2.99Heintschel to Hicks: a 22-yard touchdown pass.
Week 6 · North Carolina · 3rd and 7 · Q2 · EPA +2.83Geriner to Hicks: a 14-yard pass.
Week 9 · Georgia Tech · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.81Geriner to Hicks: a 30-yard touchdown pass.

Where he ranks

Rec yards69821stAmong 468 receivers with 12 or more catches

Receptions34tied for 98thAmong 468 receivers with 12 or more catches

Yards / catch20.5tied for 13thAmong 468 receivers with 12 or more catches

Rec TDs6tied for 22ndAmong 468 receivers with 12 or more catches

Long catch75tied for 28thAmong 468 receivers with 12 or more catches

Fumbles lost1tied for 49thAmong 126 receivers with 12 or more catches

21st in receiving yards, among all 2,086 FBS players with a receiving row this season, any position

Receiving yards6984th in the ACC this season.

Receiving touchdowns6tied for 3rd in the ACC this season.

Conference ranks count every player in the conference with a row in that stat, any position. Career ranks count current FBS players, from the games in our log.

Opponents faced, by strength

Ratings of the games shown run from -4 to +25 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).

Receiving profile

Receiver profile · Targets, catch rate, and throw depth

How often he's targeted, and how well it works

34 rec · 698 yds · 6 TD

34 of 34 receptions matched to play-by-play

60 of 61 targets charted for true throw depth

Targets

6120% of team targets

Catch rate

56%34 of 61 targets

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

5% of targets (3)

67%catch rate

Air -2.3 · YAC 11.5 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

38% of targets (23)

61%catch rate

Air 5.6 · YAC 5.6 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

23% of targets (14)

57%catch rate

Air 13.0 · YAC 4.0 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

33% of targets (20)

45%catch rate

Air 28.6 · YAC 11.1 avg

56% catch rate on 61 targets · 20% of the team's targets · 45% catch rate on 20 deep targets (20+ air yds).

Teams and coaches

2023Louisville10-4HC: Jeff Brohm · Run-leaning

2024Louisville9-4HC: Jeff Brohm · Balanced

2025Pittsburgh8-5HC: Pat Narduzzi · Balanced

2026Pittsburgh6-3HC: Pat Narduzzi · Balanced

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 79 (#37 of 465). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

79All-Conference level #37 of 465?

11 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: yards / catch (97th percentile). Strength: explosive rate (93rd percentile). Concern: catch rate (19th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / catch#19 / 569 · 97th pct

20.5

Explosive rate#38 / 569 · 93rd pct

23.0%

TD rate#117 / 569 · 80th pct

8.2%

EPA / target#221 / 569 · 61st pct

0.51

Catch rate#464 / 569 · 19th pct

55.7%

Box-score rates (6)

Yards / catch#13 / 468 · 97th pct

20.5

Rec yards#21 / 468 · 96th pct

698

Rec TDs#22 / 468 · 94th pct

Long catch#28 / 468 · 93rd pct

Receptions#98 / 468 · 78th pct

Fumbles lost#49 / 126 · 33rd pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

84th → 61st percentile

Explosive rate

82nd → 93rd percentile

Catch rate

33rd → 19th percentile

TD rate

94th → 80th percentile

Yards / catch

97th → 97th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2026 season · 9 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home6g	3.5	58.5	16.4	0.3
Road3g	4.3	116	25.9	1.3

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	3.7	71.4	18.6	0.6
Weeks 8+2g	4.0	99.0	23.1	1.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Pat Narduzzi

Pass share

49.1%

315 pass / 326 run

Plays / game

71.2

9 games

Team sack rate

2.6%

345 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2026

34 catches in 9 games

About as many catches a game as a typical FBS receiver who plays every week.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

79 · #37 of 465 WRs

Three-star recruit. Now #37 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-ACC

Based on 2025: #43 of 64 ACC WRs

How the All-ACC base rate is computed

A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).

Starter

The No. 1,501 recruit in the country is starting at receiver in the ACC as a senior.

Cataurus Hicks

This week

Worth knowing

His most important play this season

Every catch and target this season

Style of play

Similar players