Going into Saturday’s season opener, three upperclassmen are slated to be the Red’s starting wide receivers. Senior Owen Peters and juniors Eric Gallman and Alex Kuzy are listed as the top three in the position for the tilt at Marist.
Peters, who played in nine games in his sophomore campaign, already has 782 yards throughout his Cornell career, putting him on track to reach 1,000 this year. 455 of those came last season. Reaching that milestone would make him the 24th Cornell receiver to do so in the program’s 131-year history.
Peters recorded upwards of 65 receiving yards in four games last year, including a career-high 112 against Harvard. He also led the team in receptions, with 29.
Gallman has been somewhat plagued by injury over his first two years with the Red, missing eight games his freshman season and two in his sophomore year. As a freshman, he showed immense promise in his first two games before missing the remainder of the year.
Last season, he was fourth on the team in receptions with 33 — across all 10 career matchups, he has recorded at least one reception. He also boasts 268 career yards.
Kuzy played in four games in the 2018 season, the first year in which he saw game action. Being the wide receiver listed as a starter for this weekend with the least experience, Kuzy will go into this match looking to prove he deserves the starting job.
Three more wide receivers that might take the field this Saturday are sophomore Devan Cross and juniors Turner DePalma and Phazione McClurge.
Cross received playing time from his freshman year, recording two receptions and 12 yards; DePalma has seven receptions and 54 yards across his first two seasons.
McClurge moved to the position over the offseason — prior to this year, he had played 18 games with the Red as a center back.
With some uncertainties still looming as to who will receive what levels of playing time, head coach David Archer ’05 might try out different combinations of these players on Saturday.
The Red takes on Marist in Poughkeepsie this Saturday at 12 p.m. to start its season.