Miami Transfer Safety Gilbert Frierson Commits to Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - On top of wide receiver, another area that new Louisville football head coach Jeff Brohm has focused on in the transfer portal has been the secondary, and they have landed yet another defensive back.

Gilbert Frierson, a safety who spent the first five years of his collegiate career at Miami before entering the transfer portal, announced Friday that he has committed to the Cardinals. He has a single season of eligibility left.

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound safety/linebacker hybrid saw action in 10 games this past season for the Hurricanes, but it was exclusively in a reserve role. He logged three tackles for the season, as well as a pick-six against Bethune-Cookman.

That being said, Frierson has shown in the past that he can be an impactful playmaker. He had his breakout season in 2020 when he started 11 games for the Canes, tallying 53 tackles (29 solo), 9.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks and four pass deflections in the process. He followed that up with a 2021 campaign that featured 12 appearances and three starts, in which he finished with 41 tackles (24 solo), 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack.

A former top-200 prospect in the Class of 2018, the Coconut Grove, Fla. native redshirted his first season, then had a minimal role in 2019. In five years and 43 games with Miami, he collected 113 tackles (61 solo), 14.5 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, two interceptions and eight pass deflections.

With Louisville presumably making the switch to a 4-2-5 defense, defensive back was a position where the Cardinals would need more bodies, and Brohm has so far been successful at landing transfers here. Safeties Devin Neal and Myles Slusher will be coming over from Baylor and Arkansas, as will former Texas A&M cornerback Marquis Groves-Killebrew.

Frierson is the 10th player to transfer to Louisville over the course of the offseason. He also joins quarterback Jack Plummer; wide receivers Jadon Thompson, Jimmy Calloway and Kevin Coleman Jr; and defensive linemen Stephen Herron and Rodney McGraw.

Louisville finished the 2022 season with an overall mark of 8-5 (4-4 in ACC), including a 24-7 win in the Fenway Bowl over Cincinnati.

(Photo of Gilbert Frierson via Getty Images)

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