Clev Lubin Off to Explosive Start to 2025 Season for Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Like every other power conference program in college football, Louisville hit the portal hard over the offseason in preparation for the current 2025 season. While the Cardinals did return a good amount of impact playmakers, they also banked on some of these newcomers to make a difference as well.

Through the first two games of the season, it's hard to argue that Clev Lubin has been the most impactful transfer newcomer for the Cards.

“Well, he's done a great job," Brohm said of Lubin after Friday night's victory against James Madison. "We do have some veterans, and even the ones that have been here really improved, stood out and have done a great job. The newcomers have stepped in and been great teammates. To me, that was the key to our victory."

The defensive end from Coastal Carolina came to Louisville as one of their most touted transfer additions. His 12.0 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks last season not only led the Chanticleers, but were fourth and third, respectively, in the Sun Belt. He also collected 44 total tackles (24 solo), three pass breakups, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery for a touchdown, earning First-Team All-Sun Belt honors.

That 2024 season at Coastal Carolina, as you can imagine, was a career-year at the D1 level. But through the first two games of the season, Lubin has been living in the opponent's backfield, and is on pace to have the best season of his collegiate career.

Starting both games against Eastern Kentucky and James Madison, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound edge rusher has already collected 14 tackles, including four for loss, 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble. All of these statistical marks lead the team.

During fall camp, Lubin was turning head aplenty, and said that he was ready to "play at a high level" for Louisville. Between what he was able to accomplish at his previous stops, and his efforts in spring ball and fall camp, he's not surprised that he's handled his transition to Louisville well.

"Truthfully, I just think it's because I'm a baller," he said. "These are the moments that I wanted to come here for. I knew Louisville had the program for it, and I think the pieces that we have are showing up every weekend so far. We just got to continue to do that. Got this bye week, get rid of the miscues, and just continue to grind things out and figure out how we could get better the next week."

This past Friday in Louisville's matchup vs. James Madison, he was arguably the player of the game. Not only did he finish with 10 tackles, two for loss, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble, the latter was the play that helped momentum stay in favor of the Cardinals.

With 13:20 left in the fourth quarter of a tie game, James Madison faced 3rd and 10 on their own eight. Lubin blazed past the tackle, and strip sacked quarterback Alonza Barnett III, who was standing in the end zone. Fellow edge rusher A.J. Green fell on the ball for the touchdown, giving the Cardinals a 20-14 edge. They eventually won 28-14.

"Honestly, I knew it was either a safety or we popped the ball out," Lubin said of his play. "I'm just happy that we were able to get up on that ball, score that touchdown. That was really big for us. That changed the momentum of the game. They were up, came out, did that, changed the game, and obviously able to score. Little things like that, give the team confidence, and that was the boost that we needed coming out of halftime, especially after they came down and scored on us."

Lubin's not the only one on that side of the ball who had been operating at a high level so far this season. After limiting EKU to just 150 yards in the season-opener, Louisville's defense is the main reason why they came out on top with a victory over JMU, holding the Dukes to just 263 yards of offense. Despite the Cardinals trailing 14-6 early in the third quarter, they didn't bat an eye, and just kept their focus on one play at a time.

"We're a real resilient group," Lubin said of the defense. "We got a lot of guys who've been through a lot of things, whether it's on the field or off the field. We all come in ready to dominate. So even though they scored on us, we knew we were going to continue to set the tone, and the offense was going to have our backs sooner or later. I know they struggled early, but at the end of the day, we got too many good offensive pieces, and they were going to figure it out sometime."

Louisville heads into their bye week, and will not be back in action until Sept. 20 against Bowling Green. Kickoff time and television designation has yet to be determined.

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