C.J. Avery Has High Expectations for Louisville's Defense in 2021

(Photo of C.J. Avery: University of Louisville Athletics)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It's no secret that the Louisville football program had a disappointing 2020 season. After going 8-5 in 2019, the first year under head coach Scott Satterfield, the Cardinals took a step back and posted a losing 4-7 campaign last season.

That being said, there were plenty of positive takeaways, with most of them coming on the defensive side of the ball. Just a few years removed from sporting one of the worst defenses in all of college football, the Cardinals featured a defense that ranked 49th in scoring defense (26.6 PPG) and 39th in total defense (369.1 YPG).

Louisville has had a fair amount of moving pieces on defense, losing presumptive starters such as Russ Yeast, Lovie Jenkins and Jared Goldwire, and supplanting it with new talent from both the transfer portal and high school ranks. While next year's defense might look a tad different, starting inside linebacker C.J. Avery's confidence in that side of the ball hasn't wavered.

"I have extremely high expectations for me and this defense," Avery said. "Our goal is to be the top defense in the ACC. We improved, the numbers improved last year, and we've shown improvement throughout these years. This season, we want to be top of the ACC in defense and top of the nation as well."

There's reason to believe Avery. On top of returning him, the Cardinals also bring back Second Team All-ACC cornerback Kei'Trel Clark, who has very real potential to work himself into a high selection in the 2022 NFL Draft. Inside linebacker Monty Montgomery and outside linebacker Yasir Abdullah, who led Louisville in sacks with 4.0 and 3.0 respectively, also return.

The Cardinals are also bringing in a pair of high quality defensive transfers. First Team All-Sun Belt Georgia Southern safety Kenderick Duncan and First Team All-Conference-USA defensive tackle Jacques Turner also join the fold alongside a defensive-heavy 2021 recruiting class.

But what Avery believes is the biggest boost to the defense is not necessarily what is visible on the gridiron. Thanks in part to the continuity that associate head coach/defensive coordinator Bryan Brown has brought, what excites the fifth-year senior the most about next year's defense is the trust they have built.

"You just got to trust the other guy to do their job." he said. "That's what I'm most excited to see, just see all the hard work, all the extra work that we put in these past months, and the next months coming up, and fall camp as well, just to see how all the day comes together. It just pays off during the season."

As a result of all the positive momentum the Cardinals have generated on defense, Avery says the locker room culture has been completely transformed from the final days of the Bobby Petrino era.

"It's extremely different." he said. "I think more guys are just willing to just listen and be critiqued if they're wrong. New guys coming in, if you tell a new guy to go run through a wall, he'll do it for you. He trusts you a lot, a lot of guys in this program trust each other now. The culture is definitely building, and we have strides to go. but we're doing that each day."

Louisville will kickoff the 2021 season against Ole Miss in the annual Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday, Sept. 6.

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