Louisville Makes Top Ten for Elite ‘25 DE Zion Grady

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Jeff Brohm has hit the ground running out on the recruiting trail since taking over as the head coach of the Louisville football program. While most of the recruiting efforts from him and his staff since December have been focused on the portal and incoming freshman class, they have also spent plenty of time identifying elite long-term targets.

One such target is Troy (Ala.) Charles Henderson defensive end Zion Grady, who is one of the top prospects in the Class of 2025. He announced his top ten schools on Sunday, and the Cardinals are still in the running for his commitment. Alabama, Georgia, FSU, Tennessee, Auburn, Oregon, Michigan, Texas and USC also made the cut.

Louisville’s recruitment of Grady is one that got a bit of a late start when compared to other finalists, as they only offered a scholarship back on May 26. However, the love that he has been shown by Cardinals fans played a big factor in UofL being named a finalist.

“Louisville came on late and their fans honestly have shown me so much love and have given me so many reasons why I should consider the program,” Grady told On3.

Being able to get in the mix for Grady is a massive development for Louisville. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound edge rusher ranks as high as the No. 7 overall prospect in the class according to 247Sports’ in-house rankings, and is No. 16 overall by the 247Sports Composite. With a compositing rating of 0.9891, he would be the second-highest ranked prospect in the modern recruiting era to ever sign with the Cardinals, trailing only Class of 2003 running back Michael Bush’s 0.9942.

As you can imagine, Grady put up monster numbers during his sophomore campaign at Charles Henderson. He racked up 108 total tackles, a whopping 22.0 sacks, 27 quarterback hurries and three forced fumbles. He was named the Alabama Class 5A lineman of the year, and helped the Trojans go 12-2 with a berth in the state championship game.

Louisville has yet to land a commitment in the Class of 2025. In the more immediate 2024 cycle, the Cardinals sport a 15-man class of 13 scholarship commitments and two preferred walk-ons.

(Photo of Zion Grady via Montgomery Advisor)

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