Louisville's Defensive Line Efforts 'Revolving' Around Ashton Gillotte

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Heading into the upcoming 2023 season, the Louisville football program has a fair amount of depth on their defensive line. The Cardinals have a good mix of impact starters and quality reserves, which will help immensely in their desire to have an aggressive identity and rotate players often to keep the line fresh and consistently disruptive.

But even with the amount playmakers that the Louisville defense has up front, and how often numerous guys will get in on the action, defensive end Ashton Gillotte is in line to play a massive role in their success. In fact, co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Mark Hagen went as far to say the line will revolve around him.

"Everything is kind of revolving and goes around Ashton," Hagen said in fall camp earlier this week. "He's going to have a great season for us, we're confident of that."

This stance/approach hardly comes as a shock. The 6-foot-3, 270-pound edge rusher is arguably the top Cardinal to return from last season's squad, and one of the Cardinals' top players overall heading into 2023.

Starting 12 games last season, he logged 7.0 tackles for loss and 6.0 sacks, which was good for fifth and third respectively on the team, and leads all returners. He also tallied 23 overall tackles (11 solo) and two fumble recoveries. This offseason, Gillotte has not only been tabbed as a top-100 player in college football by On3, but has also made the watch list for the Wuerffel Trophy.

The Boca Raton, Fla. native is fueled by an incredibly high motor and standout explosiveness, which has been on full display throughout both spring ball earlier this year and in fall camp for Louisville. When Hagen first watched film on him prior to spring ball, not only was this extraordinarily apparent, but he thought that Gillotte might serve as more of an interior lineman in the new 4-2-5 scheme.

"I just saw a very, very explosive guy that's physical, can run, and is very athletic," Hagen said. "He reached out to me back in December before I'd watched a lick of tape. When I see a guy that's high 60s, low 70s going into a four-down look, I kind of initially thought this guy might be our three technique, and he certainly could do that. He is a tough, fast, physical football player."

While Gillotte will play more of a true edge rusher role this season in this new system, Hagen isn't completely averse to actually playing him on the inside of the line. In fact, if the coaching staff spots a potential mismatch against an opposing interior offensive lineman, they plan on exploiting it using Gillotte. This is due in part both because of his high-end ability, but that the team also feeds off of his high motor and energy

"What we've allowed him to do is spend more time on the edge, and then in certain situations we can move him around," Hagen said. "If we want to put him on a guy that we think is a weak link, we're gonna be able to move him around and do those types of things. He's a guy that can do it all.

"We're going to feed off of his energy, we're going to feed off of his physicality. Our guys are, collectively so far in camp, we're doing a really, really good job of it."

Not only has Gillotte been a standout this offseason when it comes to his play on the practice fields, but with the departures of veterans like Yasir Abdullah and YaYa Diaby, he has taken an increased leadership role to heart. Him, as well as some of the older guys on the team, have fully embraced being a role model to the younger players and newcomers on the team.

"He's been a great leader," defensive tackle Ramon Puryear said. "He's really stepped up with YaYa and Yasir being gone. I think he's been a great role model for the young guys. Me and him, being the older guys on the team now, we've really tried to step up. Not just on the field, but off the field as well trying to guide these guys adjusting to college. It's been really good for both of us."

Not only has Gillotte put in a lot of off the field work when it comes to his teammates, he has also done so when it comes to his own game. With his physicality already in a very good place, he has put an emphasis this offseason on the mental standpoint of the game, both for the upcoming season and a potential career in the NFL.

"The physical aspects are something that everyone thinks about how to get faster, how to be stronger, but I think especially this year going into the season, I've taken a lot of steps to mentally prepare myself to be in these situations," he said during the ACC Kickoff event last month. "Whether it's opponent prep or just watching NFL guys just seeing how they work.

"That's really what separates NFL players besides athletics. It's their understanding of the game. I'm trying to model after them and build on top of that."

Louisville is currently in the homestretch of their third week and final week of fall camp. The Cardinals will kick off their 2023 season against Georgia Tech in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. on Friday, Sept. 1.

(Photo of Ashton Gillotte via University of Louisville Athletics)

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