Former Louisville DE Ashton Gillotte Receives High Praise From Veteran Chiefs Teammate

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Heading into the upcoming 2025 NFL season, the Louisville football program has a good amount of former players on 53-man rosters. Of the five UofL rookies that survived the final round of preseason cuts, the one who has the greatest chance to make an impact in year one is Ashton Gillotte.

The defensive end was selected in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, and was one of three former Cardinals selected this past April. Since arriving for rookie minicamp back in June, Gillotte has turned a number of heads by those in attendance.

The latest to sing Gillotte's praises ahead of the new season is arguably his most famous Chiefs teammate.

In a recent episode of the New Heights podcast along with his brother Jason, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce - who recently got engaged to pop megastar Taylor Swift - had nothing but great things to say about his rookie teammate. Specifically, Kelce lauded Gillotte's high motor, and how that can impact his ability to make plays in the backfield.

"This guy has a motor, man. ... He's going to play his f*****g gap in the run game, and he's gonna get to the quarterback eventually," Kelce said, with his brother vehemently agreeing.

"The thing is, when guys play with motors like this, that does something to the quarterback. The quarterback's watching that on film all day, and he's just thinking in his mind, 'He's coming. I know he's coming. If he isn't here initially, I know it's happening. I know it. I know he's on the way.' I saw him flying around on special teams, he's athletic as all hell, he's got a good punch, he plays his gaps very well, he's technically sound. I got a lot of love for him."

While Gillotte is currently projected to come off the bench behind George Karlaftis and Mike Danna, if Kelce is to be believed, then the former Card is sure to take on a big role in the edge rusher rotation despite being a rookie. Especially considering that ESPN recently ranked the Chiefs' edge rusher spot at No. 25 in the entire NFL.

While the 6-foot-3, 270-pound edge rusher had a little bit of a slow statistical start to his senior campaign at UofL, he still managed to be one of the most impactful defensive linemen in the ACC by regular season's end. Starting every regular season game, he finished with 43 total tackles (23 solo), 10 for loss and 4.5 sacks.

The Boca Raton, Fla. native's best season came as a junior in 2023. Starting all 14 games, Gillotte collected 14.5 tackles for loss, 11.0 sacks, three forced fumbles and 45.0 tackles overall. His sack total led the ACC, was good for eighth in the FBS, and was ninth on the single-season sack list in Louisville history.

As you can imagine, Gillotte collected plenty of accolades for his standout junior campaign. He earned First-Team All-ACC honors and was the runner-up in ACC Defensive Player of the Year voting, while also earning Second-Team All-American nods from Walter Camp, USA TODAY, Sports Illustrated and The Athletic.

Gillotte is one of the Cardinals' top pass rushers in program history. Playing in 51 career games while starting 37 games - all over the last three seasons - his 41.0 career tackles for loss ranks fifth in school history, while his 26.5 sacks comes in at sixth.

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