2025 Louisville Football Position Breakdown: Tight End

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As we inch closer to the start of the 2025 college football season, Louisville Cardinals On SI will break down each individual position on the Cardinals' roster. Next in our positional breakdown series, we take at look at the tight ends.

Position Roster Movement:

Returning (3): Nate Kurisky, Dylan Mesman, Jaleel Skinner
Departing (4): Izayah Cummings (Transfer - App State), Jamari Johnson (Transfer - Oregon), Duane Martin (Graduation), Mark Redman (Graduation)
Incoming (4): Grant Houser (HS), C.J. Jacobsen (Transfer - Utah), Davon Mitchell (Transfer - Oklahoma), Jacob Stewart (Transfer - San Jose State)

Projected Depth Chart:

Nate Kurisky (6-3, 240, R-Jr.)
Jaleel Skinner (6-5, 230, Jr.)
Jacob Stewart (6-5, 230, Sr.)
Davon Mitchell (6-3, 259, R-Fr.)
Dylan Mesman (6-5, 240, R-Fr.)
*Hamilton Atkins (6-4, 250, R-Fr.)
C.J. Jacobsen (6-5, 235, R-So.)
Grant Houser (6-6, 230, Fr.)

*walk-on

Breakdown:

From the 2023 season to the 2024 season, the tight end position for Louisville took a big step forward. When Jeff Brohm took over as the head coach, he inherited a tight end room that was largely used as run blockers under previous head coach Scott Satterfield - which is the exact opposite of how Brohm uses his tight ends. As such, the entire position logged just 35 receptions for 377 yards and five touchdowns during the 2023 season.

Fast forward to the 2024 season, and thanks to the combination of returners being in the system for a year and recruiting transfers/high schoolers that fit your system, and the tight ends wound up becoming a much bigger fixture of the offense. By the end of last season, UofL tight ends caught 55 passes for 580 yards and seven touchdowns. Had Jamari Johnson not fractured his ankle midway through the season, these numbers likely would have been even greater.

Considering that the tight end spot has been an underrated fixture of Brohm offenses from his time at Western Kentucky and Purdue, seeing this position make a noticeable improvement from year one under Brohm to year two was a great sight to see. However, there has been a good amount of roster movement at this position since the end of the 2024 season.

Starting tight end Mark Redman graduated, plus Johnson and his super high ceiling wound up transferring to Oregon. Additionally, starting fullback Duane Martin also graduated, while Izayah Cummings transferred to Appalachian State.

But even with all this attrition, heading into year three under Brohm, there's a still good chance that we could see the tight end position take another step forward.

Louisville has two players that are primarily competing for the starting role, but as of right now, Nate Kurisky is the odds-on favorite to be the day one starter. He already has starting experience, getting 10 starts in 2023, finishing that year with 18 catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns. Kurisky started 2024 behind Redman and Johnson, but after the latter went down, he took on a bigger role in the offense. In fact, he snagged 10 catches for 95 yards and three touchdowns over the final six games after logging only two catches for 17 yards over the first seven.

Ever since Brohm and his staff arrived at Louisville, they have commended Kurisky for being an extremely cerebral player. Then during this past spring ball, he regularly displayed the good separation and pass catching ability that he flashed over the past two years. He did the bulk of his damage over the middle, but also seems to have made a lot of progress on out-breaking routes. Then of course, he's the best pass-blocking tight end on the roster. Put it all together, and he could be in line for a breakout caliber season.

Speaking of which, the same could potentially be said for the other tight end who is fighting for the starting job in Jaleel Skinner. A former top-150 prospect, he showed early promise as a true freshman at Miami, catching nine passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. However, he's been quiet since then, logging only a nine-yard catch in year two with the Canes, then just a four-yard catch last season with the Cardinals.

So why is Skinner in the mix to be a starter? He's finally turning his potential into consistency. He's by far the most athletic tight end on the roster, but during spring ball and fall camp last year, he would routinely struggle to make simple plays. This past spring, not only was he much more reliable in making said routine plays, he also continued to flash his elite playmaking potential, even hauling in a touchdown in the spring game. Not to mention he has position versatility in that he's lined up both as an inline blocker and out wide, and also had a rep in spring ball where he came out of the backfield. Even if he's not a starter, expect him to be utilized plenty, and even in some 12 personnel groupings with Kurisky.

As it currently stands, Kurisky and Skinner are somewhat interchangeable at No. 1 and 2 on the depth chart. That being said, there's also a third tight end that, once fall camp rolls around, has a chance to insert his name into that mix. In part because of injuries at this position (more on that later), Louisville dipped into the spring transfer portal window to land a few tight ends - including San Jose State's Jacob Stewart.

Despite being in an offense that featured a unanimous All-American receiver and another receiver who was All-Mountain West, while also splitting reps at tight end with another player, Stewart still managed to log 34 receptions for 287 yards and three touchdowns. He has very reliable hands (just two drops on 46 targets in 2024), while taking the majority of his reps in the slot. While not a great blocker, which limits his overall situational usage, he's got an argument as the best pass catcher in the tight end room.

Another tight end that Louisville grabbed in the spring transfer portal waas Davon Mitchell. Originally a five-star prospect in the Class of 2025, he reclassified to the 2024 cycle - where he was still the No. 154 prospect in the nation - and spent his true freshman campaign at Oklahoma. With Mitchell, it goes without saying that he has plenty of potential and a high ceiling due to his talent level - it's just a matter of putting it all together.

Sooners head coach Brent Venables noted that he struggled to adjust to college as a spring early enrollee, and while he did make progress this past fall, he didn't see the field at all as as a true freshman despite OU having a thin tight end room. Then this past spring, he was still buried on the depth chart, and Oklahoma's spring ball roster even listed him at 275 pounds. If Mitchell can take advantage of a fresh start at Louisville, he has a very bright future ahead, although his role in 2025 fully depends on what he does in fall camp.

Another tight end who is young but has a high upside due to his talent level is Dylan Mesman. A four-star prospect in the Class of 2024, he redshirted this past season, with his only in-game action being four run blocking snaps vs. Austin Peay. Already a good blocker, he looked like he was making good progress as a pass catcher early in spring ball, but sat out the final couple weeks due to injury.

Additionally, Grant Houser, Louisville's lone high school tight end commit in the 2025 cycle, did not see any action in the spring due to a knee injury. Considering he spent the entire spring in a massive knee/leg brace, it's safe to assume that he will not be playing the upcoming season. On top of that, walk-on Hamilton Atkins, who had shined at times during the spring and even taken reps at fullback in place of the graduating Duane Martin, got banged up in the latter stages of spring ball.

Because of the three aforementioned injuries, not only did Louisville bring in Stewart and Mitchell in the spring portal window, they also brought in Utah transfer C.J. Jacobsen. However, considering that Jacobsen did not play a single snap during his two seasons with the Utes, this was likely a depth add in case the injuries to both Mesman and Atkins linger until the fall.

Overall, Louisville's tight end room is in a good overall spot. While there might not be an unquestioned TE1 (such as Tyler Higbee, Brycen Hopkins and Payne Durham on previously Jeff Brohm teams at WKU and Purdue), there is a solid collection of playmakers at the top of the depth chart - all of which have the capabilities of having a breakout 2025 season. That being said, depending on how bad the injury situations get, depth is a tad bit of a concern here.

2025 Louisville Football Position Breakdown: Tight End

Position Roster Movement:

Projected Depth Chart:

Breakdown:

Other Position Breakdowns:

More Cardinals Stories