Breaking Down Louisville's 2020 Early Signing Period
(Photo of Cardinal Stadium: University of Louisville Athletics)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - While Louisville football is coming off an otherwise forgettable 4-7 campaign, on Wednesday the program took a big step in the right direction. As part of the NCAA's 2020 Early Signing Period, the Cardinals were able to secure 21 Letters of Intent from their Class of 2021. On paper, it is part of a class the ranks among the best in school history.
Who are the signees?
The 21 student-athletes to put pen to paper are grouped as followed:
Offensive Skill Positions:
- QB TJ Lewis (Highlights & Evaluation)
- RB Trevion Cooley* (Highlights & Evaluation)
- WR Ahmari Huggins-Bruce* (Highlights & Evaluation)
- WR Demetrius Cannon* (Highlights & Evaluation)
- TE Vic Mullen (Highlights & Evaluation)
- TE Christian Pedersen (Highlights & Evaluation)
Offensive Linemen:
- OG Michael Gonzalez* (Highlights & Evaluation)
- OG Aaron Gunn (Highlights & Evaluation)
Defensive Linemen:
- DE Victoine Brown (Highlights & Evaluation)
- DE Caleb Banks (Highlights & Evaluation)
- DE RJ Sorensen (Highlights & Evaluation)
- DE Ashton Gilotte* (Highlights & Evaluation)
- DE Ryheem Craig (Highlights & Evaluation)
Linebackers:
- ILB Jaylin Alderman (Highlights & Evaluation)
- OLB Jackson Hamilton (Highlights & Evaluation)
Secondary:
- CB Kani Walker* (Highlights & Evaluation)
- CB Rance Conner (Highlights & Evaluation)
- CB Derrick Edwards III* (Highlights & Evaluation)
- S Benjamin Perry* (Highlights & Evaluation)
- S Bralyn Oliver* (Highlights & Evaluation)
- S TJ Quinn* (Highlights & Evaluation)
*Early Enrollee
Is Louisville still targeting anyone?
For those keeping track at home, the Cardinals had 21 signees on the first day of the Early Signing Period, but have 22 commits with the final prospect being outside linebacker Jaraye Williams. No, he's not a risk to flip. In fact, he might not get to sign at the D1 level at all with reports circulating that he is currently not academically qualified to enroll. Time will tell if this legacy recruit can get things turned around between now and February.
That being said, Louisville has three spots left in the class to fill as current LB KJ Cloyd counts against 2021's initial counters. With those final spots, it's believed that the program will pursue at least one quarterback and one offensive lineman. Mississippi State transfer QB Garrett Shrader has interest in Louisville, and offensive guard Armon Bethea has been a long-time Louisville target, although it's believed he will pick Arizona State.
Other transfer portal names to keep track of are former Virginia Tech offensive lineman Bryan Hudson & former Georgia outside linebacker Jermaine Johnson. Both were former Louisville targets during their respective recruitments.
Who was the best recruit to sign?
While prospects such as Trevion Cooley, Victoine Brown & Ahmari Huggins-Bruce are all elite talents that Louisville is happy to welcome, arguably the top recruit to sign with the Cardinals was Benjamin Perry. A safety hailing from Mount Carmel HS in Chicago, he is one of the top prospects in the state of Illinois as well as the Class of 2021 as a whole. He was also invited to play in the 2021 Under Armour All-American Game, and features 100 of the top prospects in the nation, and is one of two of the premier high school football all-star games alongside the All-American Bowl.
Where did Louisville excel in the Early Signing Period?
One of the coaching staff's biggest goals when they took over in Dec. of 2018 was to build up the depth of the defense. Thanks to years of roster mismanagement by the Bobby Petrino regime, that side of the ball lacked the necessary depth needed to be competitive in the Atlantic Coast Conference, particularly in the secondary as was obvious during the 2019 season.
In Satterfield's first full recruiting cycle as the head coach, his staff hit a home run when it came to recruiting for the secondary. Not only did he recruit for depth, as they signed six cornerbacks & safeties, they are all high-caliber recruits with a couple who can fight for early playing time in their first year. Four of the six are over six feet tall, with most of them being position versatile and can play a combination of corner, safety or linebacker.
Where was left to be desired?
As far as where the Cardinals missed, there are a couple areas that you can point out. First we'll start at the quarterback position. Throughout this cycle, there were a few targets that the staff pursued but ended up missing out on, such as Justin Lamson who committed to Syracuse and Shedeur Sanders who pledged to Florida Atlantic (but later flipped to Jackson State). TJ Lewis is a solid addition no doubt, but he is the only signal caller to commit in the class so far. With Puma Pass & Tee Webb transferring, the staff will need to find another QB between now and National Signing Day in February.
Another area where the Cardinals need help, and probably their biggest remaining area of need, is on the offensive line. After losing offensive tackle Zen Michalski to Ohio State, Louisville was left with just two OL commits in guards Michael Gonzalez & Aaron Gunn. As good as they are, the offensive line is another area where the program needs depth - so much so that two of the final three spots in this class could go to offensive linemen.
Who did the best job on the recruiting trail?
The majority of the Louisville coaching staff did an excellent job on the recruiting trail in spite of the odd circumstances. While they have been unable to host recruits since March when the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, they did an amazing job of getting recruits familiar with the program. While they all did exceedingly well, the one who probably had the most profound impact on the class was running backs coach Norval McKenzie. Not only was he instrumental in landing running back Trevion Cooley, one of Louisville's top signees in the class, but the same can be said for defensive ends Victoine Brown & Caleb Banks, the top two defensive linemen to sign with the Cards. He was also the secondary recruiter for wide receiver Demetrius Cannon.
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