Louisville Lining Up Visits Following First Day of Portal Window

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Portal madness has begun.

On Friday, college football's 14-day transfer portal window officially opened up. The hundreds of players who had previously declared their intent to enter were able to do so, and subsequently began to set up visits to prospective schools.

Considering the amount of players that they have to replace this offseason, as expected, Louisville got to work lining up visits. On the first day of the portal, the Cardinals were able to schedule visits from seven transfers.

Two transfers were able to make it to campus for a visit on the first day. Kentucky defensive ends (and twin brothers) Jerod and Jacob Smith took visits to campus on Friday night, according to 247Sports' Chris Hummer.

One of these visits involves one of the top players in portal. North Texas wide receiver Wyatt Young, the sixth-ranked transfer receiver and No. 32 overall player in the portal (On3 Industry) will visit Louisville following a trip to Oklahoma State, per Hummer.

Three of the first five visits are from offensive lineman. Georgia Southern tackle Johnnie Brown III will visit on Jan. 2-3, his teammate in tackle Robert Wright Jr. will visit on Jan. 3-4, while Pitt center Lyndon Cooper is right behind him on Jan. 5, according to Hummer.

UAB wide receiver Iverson Hooks is also set to visit Louisville following several prior visits, per On3's Hayes Fawcett, but does not have a date locked in yet.

Jerod Smith was productive rotational lineman for the Wildcats this past season. Playing in all 12 games, the 6-foot-4, 275-pound edge rusher logged 27 tackles (18 solo), 5.0 tackles for loss (fourth-most on the team), a sack and a forced fumble. As for his brother, Jacob, he played 17 special teams snaps this year.

Young was one of the most prolific wide receivers in all of college football this season, earning First-Team All-AAC honors. Playing in all 14 games for the Mean Green while starting the final eight, the 6-foot-0, 195-pound receiver caught 70 passes for an astounding 1,264 yards and 10 scores. The latter two marks led the American, while the yardage mark was third in the FBS.

Brown was one of the best offensive linemen in the conference, earning Third-Team All-Sun Belt honors. Starting all 13 games with 12 of them coming at left tackle, the 6-foot-3, 315-pound redshirt junior allowed only three sacks and 20 total pressures in 477 pass block snaps plus 824 total blocking snaps.

Wright put together a very good redshirt sophomore season for the Eagles. The 6-foot-4, 295-pound lineman appeared in 12 games and started the final 11 at right tackle, allowing just five sacks and 17 total pressures in 436 pass block snaps and 752 blocking snaps overall.

A multi-year starter at center for the Panthers, Cooper has been a consistent asset on the offensive line. The 6-2, 310-pound lineman started all 13 games during his redshirt junior season, allowing just three sacks and 15 total pressure in 566 pass block snaps and 886 total blocking snaps.

Hooks was one of the best pass catchers in the American this past season, earning Second-Team All-AAC honors. Playing in 12 games with seven starts for the Blazers this year, the 5-foot-10, 175-pound receiver had the second-most receptions in the conference with 72, logging 927 yards and seven touchdowns in the process.

In their third season under head coach Jeff Brohm, Louisville went 9-4 overall, including a 4-4 mark in ACC play and a 27-22 win over Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl. The Cardinals have won at least nine games in all three seasons under Brohm, doing so for the first time since 2012-14.

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