Louisville Football Redshirt Tracker: End of 2024 Regular Season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 2024 college football regular season is finally in the rear view mirror. While the majority of teams are sorting through the transfer portal and early signing period, we finally have clarity across the sport in one roster building aspect: redshirts.

With postseason games not counting against a player's redshirt counter, we now officially know who can take a redshirt this season, and who burned their opportunity. As you can imagine, a lot of players for the Louisville football program earned the opportunity to take a redshirt this season.

As a reminder, a player can play up to four games in a season while still maintaining their redshirt - which allows them an additional year of eligibility beyond the normal allotment of four. Play more than that, and you've burned your opportunity to take a redshirt that season.

There are some complicating factors, such as injury waivers or older players who were granted an additional year thanks to the COVID pandemic in 2020. But outside of that, D1 players - according to the NCAA's official page - have five-calendar years to play four non-redshirt seasons of competition.

So who officially clinched a redshirt year, and who burned their opportunity? Below is our full tracker, separated by distinct categories:

*games played in parenthesis.
^entered transfer portal

True Freshman

Burned Redshirt Opportunity:

RB Isaac Brown (12)
RB Duke Watson (11)
DL Maurice Davis (5)

Earned Redshirt Opportunity:

QB Deuce Adams (1)
WR Shaun Boykins (1)
WR JoJo Stone (1)
TE Dylan Mesman (1)
OL Fred Johnson (1)
OL Ransom McDermott (1)
OL Jimmy Williams (1)
DL Xavier Porter (1)
LB Trent Carter (2)
CB Jathan Hatch (4)
CB Rae'mon Mosby (3)

Isaac Brown and Duke Watson became regular fixtures of Louisville's offense as the season went on, while Maurice Davis crossed the redshirt threshold early in the season after getting early special teams snaps. Outside of those three, every other true freshman earned a redshirt year.

Post-HS Class of 2020 players with no redshirt taken yet

Burned Redshirt Opportunity:

WR Chris Bell (12)
^TE Jaleel Skinner (12)
OL Michael Gonzalez (12)
DL Ashton Gillotte (12)
LB Stanquan Clark (12)
S D'Angelo Hutchinson (12)

Earned Redshirt Opportunity:

^RB Maurice Turner (4)
WR Antonio Meeks (4)
DL Selah Brown (0)

The majority of the players in this category were major contributors to team, so redshirts were never on the table for most of these guys barring injury.

Maurice Turner, who has already entered the portal, missed most of the year with an early season ankle injury. Selah Brown missed the entire year due to an undisclosed injury.

Antonio Meeks didn't see much action in his first year with Louisville, but that's probably due to the jump from DII Tuskegee to the ACC.

Class of 2020 players entering final year with either COVID year or normal redshirt remaining

Burned Redshirt Opportunity:

DL Dezmond Tell (11)
CB Corey Thornton (12)
S Tamarion McDonald (12)

Earned Redshirt Opportunity:

WR Caullin Lacy (4)
^WR Jadon Thompson (3)
OL Lance Robinson (0)
^DL Mason Reiger (0)

Tamarion McDonald, Dezmond Tell and Corey Thornton have played four full prior seasons and were on their COVID year, so they have officially concluded their collegiate careers.

As for the four who earned redshirts, all of them were injury-related to an extent.

Caullin Lacy opted out midway through the year after he rushed back from a collarbone injury, but announced he is coming back for 2025. Lance Robinson missed the entire season after suffering a knee injury on the first day of fall camp, but still has his normal redshirt left to come back for one final season.

Jadon Thompson only played three games after suffering a knee injury, but still had his normal redshirt left, and used that to enter the portal. Mason Reiger also has his normal redshirt left, and will be using that after not playing all year due to complications from offseason knee surgery - though he has also gone portaling.

(Photo of Duke Watson: Jordan Prather - Imagn Images)

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