WKU Defensive Line Presents Challenge for Louisville
Western Kentucky might be the lone non-conference game on Louisville's schedule this season, but they are far from a pushover.
The Hilltoppers return a majority of their key pieces from a team that finished 9-4 overall including a win over Western Michigan in the Servpro Responder Bowl. This includes their top two defensive playmakers, and one of the best defensive end tandems in college football.
The conversation unquestionably begins with DeAngelo Malone. The Atlanta native logged 21.0 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks during his junior campaign, both of which are top 15 marks in FBS. He was voted as the 2019 Conference-USA Defensive Player of the Year & 2020 Conference-USA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
"He's got tremendous quickness and speed, thats the first thing that stands out," head coach Scott Satterfield said during his weekly pregame presser. "He can run plays down from behind, but he's also quick enough that if you run at him he can avoid the block and get in the backfield."
The 6-foot-4, 230-pound defensive end also has plenty of experience against the Cardinals. During Louisville's 38-21 victory over WKU at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. last season, Malone collected 10 tackles (4 solo & 1.5 for loss, half a sack and a quarterback hurry.
"We'll be cognizant of where he is lines up," Satterfield said. "He's a guy that's going to be playing at the next level for sure."
But Malone is not the only Hilltopper defensive end who spends a lot of time in the opponent's backfield. Redshirt junior Juwaun Jones completes a high-caliber 1-2 punch on the bookends of the defensive line, as the Sugar Hill, Ga. native also had double digit tackles for loss with 12.5 and 7.0 sacks to boot.
Like Malone, the 6-foot-3, 270-pound defensive end also had a noteworthy game against Louisville a season ago. Jones only had six tackles, but led the team in both TFLs and sacks with 2.5 and 1.5 respectively.
For any team, this duo would already be a handful. But considering the Cardinals lost both their starting offensive tackles during the offseason, newly inserted starting left tackle Adonis Boone & starting right tackle Renato Brown won't have the luxury of easing into their new roles when the season begins.
"These tackles we got this game are going to get tested big time by these two defensive ends they have," offensive coordinator Dwayne Ledford said.
Louisville is set to kickoff the season against the Hilltoppers at home on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 8:00pm on the ACC Network.
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