Clev Lubin Striving for Improvement On and Off the Field

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Spring ball in full swing for the Louisville football program, and there are a bunch of new faces around the facility. Earlier this offseason, the Cardinals brought in 32 transfers via the portal, and 16 of their 20 commitments from their 2026 high school recruiting class are already on campus.

As you can tell, a lot of effort was spent on bringing in fresh blood for year four under head coch Jeff Brohm. However, in recruiting, some of the best gets are the ones you already have.

Louisville did a fantastic job at retaining some of their top players from the 2025 season who still have eligibility remaining. One of those guys was Clev Lubin. Heading into the 2026 season, not only is the defensive end arguably UofL's top defensive player, he's likely the second-best player on the entire team - behind only running back Isaac Brown.

Lubin's return for next season was a little bit surprising, primarily because if he did move on from Louisville, many assumed it would be for the NFL. However, on Jan. 2 - the first day that the transfer portal window was open - the 6-foot-3, 260-pound edge rusher announced that he would be running it back and returning for his final season in college.

It was definitely hard for Lubin to bypass the NFL this time around, but for him, it boiled down to simply wanting to progress as a player.

"Definitely took a lot of thinking, especially with the opportunity to go to NFL," Lubin said earlier this week. "You dream about it when you're young, but just living in the moment, understanding that coming back with just another opportunity continue to show who I am as a player, who I am as a leader, and then just developing everything in my game. There's always room for improvement.

"You're always competing with somebody, no matter who it is. That perspective of just every day, I got to get better. Every day I got to compete, whether it's the guys here, whether it's a guy in another school, or like a guy in the NFL that one day I want to be there. So just taking my game to the next level, and competing at a higher standard than I reset for myself."

That's not to say that Lubin put together a bad 2025 season. In fact, he was one of the most dominant pass rushers in the ACC, earning Third-Team All-ACC honors. Coming over as a transfer from Coastal Carolina, he started all 13 games, finishing 61 total tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and five pass breakups.

The advanced stats loved Lubin's play as well. According to Pro Football Focus, not only did he generate the most quarterback pressures by a Louisville player in the PFF era with 64, it was the sixth-most in all of the FBS this season and tied for the fourth-most in the Power Four,

So what more can Lubin actually improve on? If you ask him, there's "a lot of room for improvement." Primarily, with being more aggressive, and turning more of his pressures into tackles for loss and sacks.

"Just being more aggressive," Lubin said when asked what more he wants to improve on. "Firing off the ball more, just making sure I can finish more plays. I feel like there's a lot of opportunities out there last year that I left on the table, and I feel like there's a lot of room for improvement for me, just all around.

"I feel like I've done a lot, and just being consistent has been my best thing for me in college football. I feel like I've done that at a very high level no matter where I've played, no matter where I've been, and that's my only plan for this year. Just be as consistent and just improve at every aspect of my game.

It goes without saying that, regardless of how much more Lubin can improve, he's already a force of nature on the field. That being said, not only is he striving to be better on the field, he's consistently working to become better away from the field in terms of his leadership.

Not long after his arrival on campus last spring, Lubin's leadership intangibles were clear from the onset. They only improved as the season went on, to the point where he was the face of the defense both on the field and in the huddle. Being in the early stages of preparation for the 2026 season, these leadership qualities are once again on full display.

"The things that you don't get from everybody on the team, and you can't do that, is some leadership," co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Mark Ivey said. "I didn't coach D-Line last year, but anytime I needed something emphasized, I would leave the linebacker group real quick, go right down there to number 50, and tell them what I needed, and I didn't have to worry about it happening. The guy has a lot of emotional energy.

"He's committed to not just being a football player, but helping our whole team get better through leadership. He's got a certain standard, and I don't want to slow that down. So when he starts saying some stuff, I get out of the way and him do his thing, because it's always going to be more coming from a player. Coaches are supposed to do that, right? But if a player is willing to do that, if a player is willing to go up to his buddy and say some things that might not be what they want to hear, it's going to mean a lot more so. I'm not diminishing his role as a player. Man, he's physical, active, he plays little bit pissed off, so I like him. But he's also a great leader. It's just great to have him around, period. "

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram for the latest news.

More Cardinals Stories