Retooled Louisville Secondary Impressing Early in Fall Camp
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the three years under head coach Scott Satterfield, Louisville has established themselves as an offensive-minded football program. Every season since he took over in 2019, the Cardinals have posted a top-25 offense, and averaged 446.2 yards per game last season.
But a large factor as to why Louisville only finished 6-7 in 2021, among other reasons, was due to their performance on the other side of the line of scrimmage. This was particularly the case in the secondary, as the Cards gave up 245.6 passing yards per game, ranking 95th in FBS in this category.
Satterfield and the rest of his staff recognized that this area of the field desperately needed bolstering, and were aggressive in recruiting both the high school ranks and the transfer portal. Fast forward to August, and while the program is only a couple days into fall camp, the retooled secondary is standing out in part because of its newfound depth.
"That's the biggest improvement that we made from a recruiting standpoint from what we needed last year," defensive coordinator Bryan Brown said at Louisville's Media Day. "Guys got hurt, and guys ended up moving on, but we have a lot of depth there now. This is the most depth we've had since I've been here, and that helps you call football games. When you have depth in the secondary, guys can cover guys and be tight in coverage and things of that nature."
Of course, Louisville does bring back veterans as well. Cornerback Kei'Trel Clark is back following a season-ending knee injury last year, and was recently voted to the preseason All-ACC Team. Starting safety Kenderick Duncan also returns, as do guys like safety Josh Minkins, and cornerbacks Chandler Jones and Trey Franklin. Even the redshirt freshman like Rance Conner and Derrick Edwards have taken steps forward, according to Brown.
But the infusion of new talent to thus group is what could allow the secondary to take a huge step forward in 2022. Coaches have raved about safety M.J. Griffin since he arrived earlier this offseason from temple. Quincy Riley was one of the best Group of Five corners last year at Middle Tennessee State, and FSU transfer corner Jarvis Brownlee Jr. has incredible upside.
So far in the first few days of fall camp, the depth at both corner and safety has been breeding incredible competition.
"Honestly, the competition is crazy," Griffin said. "We have a lot of great athletes, a lot of people can move around and a lot people who are fast. You have to bring it every single day. It you don't, it's gonna show. I just think the competition is really, really good right now, and it gets everybody better every day."
Early promising individual returns on the practice field aren't a guarantee that the back end of the defense is going to perform at a higher caliber than they did last year, but the unit's overall cohesiveness could. Not only have several of Louisville's defensive backs demonstrated a high level of athleticism and execution, they been building chemistry on and off the field.
"It's probably one of the best (secondaries) I've seen since I've been here," Minkins said "We're all on the same page, and we always meet together. Everybody's bought in to what we want to do, and I just like to see everybody make plays. I want to see if I go out there and be comfortable. Having a rotation is good for us, because when we tire, you can take a breather. Just having people to make plays, it's what you want."
Time will tell if the secondary as a whole will keep this pace up throughout fall camp, but at a minimum, it's hard not to be optimistic that they will perform better than they did last year. Louisville's season could depend on them taking a massive step forward.
The Cardinals are set to begin the 2022 season on Saturday, Sept. 3 when they travel to upstate New York to face Syracuse.
(Photo of Kei'Trel Clark: Sam Upshaw Jr. - Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
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