Ryan Wallace 'Satisfied' With Progress of Louisville's Tight End Room

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At this point in time, it's well established that the Louisville football program has a plethora of talent at the offensive skill positions heading into the upcoming 2025 season.

Isaac Brown and Duke Watson anchor one of the best running back tandems in the entire sport, and have gotten good work from the guys behind them. Chris Bell and Caullin Lacy are a dynamic one-two punch at wide receiver, and the battle for the third starting spot has helped uplift the entire room. With USC transfer QB Miller Moss orchestrating the offense, that side of the ball is teeming with elite potential.

But one area of the offense that isn't nearly the talking point that the others are is at tight end. Because this position group might not be laden with stars like the aforementioned positions are, it has flown very far under the radar when discussions are had about the Cardinals' offensive potential.

"I think we have some really good playmakers in there," Moss said of the tight end room. "Nate (Kurisky)'s the veteran, very reliable hands, always in the right spot. Really tough, good, solid player and and person, I think Jaleel (Skinner) has some unique ability in terms of the athlete that he is. He's 6-6 and can stretch the field, can really run, and his handle on the playbook has has really come a long way, so I'm proud of him. Then we brought in Jacob Stewart in the offseason from San Jose State, and he's been a really good, reliable option. I'm excited about that room, and sometimes it's not a bad thing to fly under the radar."

With a new season of football on the horizon, tight ends coach Ryan Wallace likes where his position group is at.

"I'm satisfied with where we're at," he said. "I think we've come a long way, I think we're understanding the offense. I think we've got to continue to get better. The consistency factor is always going to be a thing, because if you're a consistent player, you're a productive player, and you're doing your job. As consistent as you can be, the better you'll be.

"We're trying to get as many guys in that room ready to go, because you don't know what's going to happen during the season. You can lose 1, 2, 3 guys, and it's going to be the next guy up, and the standards not going to change. We've got to continue to get the guys in that room ready to go, whether you're the one or the four."

Historically under head coach Jeff Brohm, an underrated aspect of his offense has been a workhorse style TE1, especially during his time at Western Kentucky and Purdue. While wide receivers like Taywan Taylor, Rondale Moore, David Bell and Charlie Jones have been focal points of his passing offenses, tight ends like Tyler Higbee, Brycen Hopkins and Payne Durham have played under-appreciated roles in making the offense as potent as it has been.

While Louisville might not have had the production at tight end that Brohm is used to over his first two years at the helm, there has been steady improvement as time has gone on. There still might not be a guy at this spot who takes the overwhelming majority of the snaps at tight end for year three, but heading into the season, there are three primary guys to watch out for.

The veteran of the room, undoubtedly, is Nate Kurisky. He's spent his entire collegiate career with the Cardinals up to this point, and the 6-foot-3, 240-pound redshirt junior has been the definition of an under-the-radar kind of guy. Over the past two seasons, despite being heavily under-utilized, he's still caught 30 passes for 253 yards and five touchdowns.

While his athletic intangibles might not jump off the page, Kurisky's versatility, knowledge of the offense and overall leadership will ensure he has a role this upcoming season.

"Nate solid," Wallace said. "He's a guy that played a lot of snaps for us a redshirt freshman two years ago, a lot of snaps last year, understands the offense. He really play all three spots, he's a versatile guy. Good leader in the room, good leader on our football teams. He's as solid as they get."

While Kurisky has the most in-game collegiate experience up to this point, there's a very good chance he might not be the starter for the season-opener against Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, Aug. 30. Instead, that will likely go to Jaleel Skinner.

Following a good true freshman campaign at Miami - catching nine passes for 129 yards and a touchdown - he's been very quiet since, logging just 2 catches for 13 yards in his second season with the Canes and first year with the Cards combined. He even had a brief entry into the transfer portal this past winter before withdrawing.

But during spring ball and fall camp, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound junior has taken a massive step forward. The former blue chip prospect has vastly improved his consistency on routine plays, while continuing to flash his elite athleticism. Because of that, he's been the tight end who has most commonly ran with the first team unit this offseason.

"He's done a really good job of maintaining (his weight), and working his butt off in the weight room," Wallace said of Skinner. "Becoming a more consistent player, learning the offense, catching the football. He's been consistent throughout the spring, throughout the summer and throughout the camps. We're excited to see where he goes in the fall."

Even with Skinner and Kurisky in front of him, don't count out Jacob Stewart to make an impact. Transferring in from San Jose State in the spring portal window, he had a prolific 2024 season with the Spartans, catching 34 passes for 287 yards and three scores.

There was a little bit of an adjustment period for Stewart to start fall camp, as he was transitioning from an air raid offense to a more pro style one. But eventually, he started to get the hang of things.

"Jake is doing a good job," Wallace said. "He's gotten reps most of the time with the second group, but has gotten a lot of reps with the ones lately. He's coming along, getting a lot more comfortable the offense. He gives us a good balance in the pass game. He's a good athlete who catches the ball well."

Other guys have shown flashes of great things in fall camp as well. Despite being the youngest players in the room, Dylan Mesman and Grant Houser have had a handful of good reps. Davon Mitchell and walk-on Hamilton Atkins have gotten a good amount of run in camp as well - especially at fullback.

It makes figuring out the order of the deprth chart a difficult endeavor for Wallace. While he does have a good idea as to who will start, who will be the first guys off the bench, and who could see the field in more niche situations, it wasn't easy to get to that point.

"Everybody in the room's got a different skill set," he said. "Depending on the situation in the game, you can get the right guy in, and we can personnel some things the right way to get the right people in.

"You try to get guys in to do what they're good at, and don't ask guys to do things that they're going to struggle with, because that's going to hurt their confidence moving forward in other ways and other things. If they're able to gain confidence doing things they're good at early on, then you build the rest of their game out."

Because of how versatile the overall room is, the actual players themselves aren't concerned with who will get the "starter" designation. They know that everyone brings something to the table, and have been using the competition in practice to only help lift up one another.

"The competition is good," Stewart said. "It's not really like, 'Oh, I'm trying to beat him.' I feel like every tight end here has a different skill set. We all do different things good. So it's basically like, whatever coach needs for that play, we got someone to do it. We have a bunch of different skill sets in the room."

And don't worry, the room still has that chip on their shoulder.

"We're a talented room, maybe the best tight end room in the country - or in the ACC - just depth-wise and with the talent we have," Skinner said. "I feel like we should be able to pull in some more recognition that season goes on, and they'll see what's going on."

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