How Louisville football flipped its roster through the transfer portal

Your one-stop shop for Louisville football transfer portal movement.

Louisville football is fitting right in during these unprecedented times in college football.

Where the transfer portal, NIL, and the coaching carousel meet is Jeff Brohm and his newly assembled staff fresh off a Big Ten West Championship and eager to prove their merit in the transfer portal.

The staff largely kept together one of Louisville’s best recruiting classes ever (27th via 247Sports and On3), and has begun to absolutely go on a tear in the transfer portal.

Louisville is currently ranked 12th in 247Sports’ transfer rankings and is tied with Colorado in regards to average rating.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at what Louisville football has done to supplement its losses and improve talent and depth in certain areas.

Louisville football transfers OUT

Here’s a look at the players who have transferred away from Louisville since the start of the 2022 season, and where they ultimately landed.

Caleb Banks	DE	R. Fr.	6’7	285	Florida
Henry Bryant	DT	R. Fr.	5’11	277	Georgia State
Max Cabana	OT	Fr.	6’6	285	Universite Laval
Jeremiah Caldwell	S	So.	6’3	180	Miami(OH)
Rance Conner	CB	R. Fr	5’10	186	Georgia State
Trevion Cooley	RB	So.	5’10	211	Georgia Tech
Zach Edwards	DE	R. So	6’3	265	Troy
Aaron Gunn	OG	R. Fr	6’3	312	James Madison (*DL)
Nicario Harper	S	R. Sr	6’1	210	Illinois
Khalib Johnson	QB	R. Fr.	6’2	220	Undecided
Dorian “Debo“ Jones**	LB	R. So.	6’0	236	Cincinnati
Luke Kandra	OG	So.	6’4	314	Cincinnati
Dez Melton	TE	R-So.	6’3	230	San Diego State
Jalen Mitchell**	RB	R-Jr.	5’10	214	UConn
Monty Montgomery**	LB	R-Sr.	5’11	220	Ole Miss
Chance Morrow	WR	R-Fr.	6’5	210	Buffalo
Christian Pedersen	TE	R-Fr.	6’6	230	Florida International
Allen Smith	LB	R-So.	6’2	228	n/a
Braden Smith**	WR	R. Sr.	5’10	185	Cincinnati
James Turner**	PK	Sr.	6’1	200	Michigan
Mark Vassett**	P	So.	6’4	220	Colorado
Dee Wiggins**	WR	R. Sr.	6’6	205	Cincinnati

Two players, quarterback Khalib Johnson and linebacker Allen Smith, have not yet chosen a landing spot.

As for the biggest losses for Louisville football?

I’d say thus far, the losses of kicker James Turner, punter Mark Vassett, and linebacker Debo Jones will prove to be the biggest impact losses.

Besides Jones, Smith, Wiggins, and offensive lineman Luke Kandra are the defectors that followed the previous staff to Cincinnati.

Linebacker Monty Montgomery (Mississippi) and running back Jalen Mitchell (UConn) are the final two players with starting experience to transfer out.

But, what about the guys coming in? Let’s take a look.

Louisville football transfers IN

Louisville has secured 22 transfers in for the 2023 season, including 15 that have played at least 2 seasons of college football.

Brady Allen	QB	Purdue	6’5	215	Fr.
Keith Brown	LB	Oregon	6’1	220	Jr.
Jimmy Calloway	WR	Tennessee	6’0	190	Jr.
Kevin Coleman	WR	Jackson State	5’11	170	Fr.
Storm Duck	CB	Penn State/UNC	6’0	200	Jr.
John Paul Flores	OG	Virginia	6’4	308	R. Sr.
Gilbert Frierson	S/ LB	Miami (FL)	6’1	210	R. Sr.
Marquis Groves-Killebrew	CB	Texas A&M	6’0	180	Fr.
Isaac Guerendo	RB	Wisconsin	6’0	200	Sr.
Stephen Herron	EDGE	Stanford	6’4	238	R. Jr
Cam’Ron Kelly	S	Virginia/UNC	6’1	210	Sr.
Vincent Lumia	OT	Duquesne	6’3	290	R. Sr.
Rodney McGraw	EDGE	Penn State	6’5	255	So.
Eric Miller	OT	Purdue	6’7	305	Gr.
Devin Neal Jr.	S	Baylor	5’11	201	Jr.
Jack Plummer	QB	California	6’4	215	R. Sr
Lance Robinson	OT	Houston	6’2	290	Jr.
Trevonte Sylvester	OT	Houston	6’5	285	R. Fr.
Jadon Thompson	WR	Cincinnati	6’2	187	Jr.
Jamari Thrash	WR	Georgia State	6’0	180	R. Sr.
Willie Tyler III	OT	Rutgers	6’6	320	Sr.
Marcus Washington Jr.	CB	Georgia	6’1	185	R. Fr.

Early takeaways

Louisville beefed up the offensive line

The additions of John Paul Flores (Virginia) and Eric Miller (Purdue) bring two offensive linemen that figure to start or seriously contribute right away.

Lance Robinson and Trevonte Sylvester were important pieces along the Houston line a season ago, with Robinson starting 9 games and Sylvester an important piece who allowed 0 QBH at backup left tackle.

Willie Tyler is a big addition from Rutgers, who figures to factor into the rotation right away.

Vincent Lumia is a redshirt senior from Duquesne who could find his way into the rotation as well.

With the additions of freshmen Luke Burgess, Madden Sanker, and Joe Crocker, Louisville football is well on its way to piecing together an excellent offensive line unit with legitimate depth.

The Cards will depend on transfers at receiver

Louisville football lost three of its top four pass catchers from a season ago in Tyler Hudson, Marshon Ford, and Braden Smith.

The Cards also parted ways with Chance Morrow and Dee Wiggins.

This left only Ahmari Huggins-Bruce and Chris Bell as players with over 100 yards receiving a season ago. That is a major red flag in an offense that wants to spread that ball around.

Huggins-Bruce had 31 catches for 365 yards and 2 TDs last year, but figures to step into a much larger role in 2023.

AHB will be joined by some major success stories from a year ago.

The Cards are likely to be led by newcomer Jamari Thrash, a redshirt senior who account for 1122 yards and 7 scores a year ago.

The third starting spot seems likely to go to one of Kevin Coleman (Jackson State), Jadon Thompson (Cincinnati), or Jimmy Calloway (Tennessee). This triumvirate accounted for 992 yards and 6 TDs across their careers.

Coleman, however, was the SWAC Freshman of the Year with 475 receiving yards and 4 TDs, while averaging 23.3 yards per kickoff return.

Meanwhile, Calloway was a highly sought-after product, who was a top 150 recruit out of high school. He took a redshirt season his sophomore year after recording a 44-yard touchdown against Pitt. Calloway started and played mostly with the first team in Louisville’s spring game and showcased requisite size and speed. However, most of his receptions were cut short before he could turn them into YAC yards.

With the ever-improving Bell likely pushing one of the starters for reps and incoming freshmen William Fowles, Jahlil McClain, and Cataurus Hicks all potential contributors, the wide receiver room is young but full of talent, size, and speed.

Louisville is deep in the secondary

This Louisville football squad is going to be like… Bryson DeChambeau deep in the secondary. Barry Bonds deep. Pacific Ocean… You get it. They have talent and lots of it.

The Cards already returned a solid core of Quincy Riley, Jarvis Brownlee, Josh Minkins, and MJ Griffin. Three of the four were starters a season ago, with Riley like a 1A at the second corner spot while leading the Cards in picks, and finishing as UofL’s 5th-best returnee in terms of tackles.

In fact, this group makes up four of Louisville’s five top returning tacklers.

Meanwhile, the fifth member of that group, Ben Perry, returns in the STAR position for the Cards.

At each of these positions, Louisville has added that player’s match. Meaning, Riley will be competing for a starting spot with a similar player in Storm Duck (UNC). Brownlee will likely be splitting reps with Marquis Groves-Killebrew (Texas A&M). Minkins will be sharing a role he starred in last year with equally impressive strong safety Cam’Ron Kelly (UNC). And Griffin will be battling with equally speedy free safety, Devin Neal (Baylor).

They weren’t done either. Most recently, the staff went out and got Georgia corner transfer, Marcus Washington Jr., a bona fide stud from the defending national champs.

At the aforementioned STAR spot (this was previously called the CARD in Bryan Brown’s 3-4 scheme), Miami transfer Gilbert Frierson steps in as a prototypical hybrid linebacker/ safety.

Here’s the skinny: Louisville already had a talented secondary and the Cards somehow went out and got four power five starters, and two guys who were 84th and 114th in the 2022 class.

I’m not sure how they did it, but this is easily the most impressive unit heading into the summer.

Jeff Brohm is serious about his QB depth

The storyline that will probably get a lot of attention over the next 16+ months is how Louisville football is assembling a really solid QB room.

One of the first transfers of the Brohm era was former Purdue starter, turned Cal star Jack Plummer.

Plummer had a workmanlike 3,095 yards and 22 total touchdowns in 2022 behind what was likely the worst offensive line in power five football.

He played in 17 games under Brohm at Purdue, accounting for 27 touchdowns and now enters the 2023 season the baked in starter for Louisville.

Backup Brock Domann showed he was quite comfortable in the new system in the spring game, and brings starting experience to the table.

Right in the thick of things is the star of the 2023 recruiting class, Pierce Clarkson. The former four-star and son of a California QB guru has firmly planted his roots in Louisville but is working his way back from an injury.

The most recent addition, and perhaps the most impressive, is that of Purdue transfer and highly-coveted recruit Brady Allen.

The 6’5 gunslinger is a prototypical Brohm QB and figures to compete right away for the backup spot. He is big, he’s strong, and he has a leg up on the competition in regards to experience in this offense. With another year of experience, is Allen the next star in the making for the Cards?

The depth is certainly a good problem to have, and as many have noted, a problem Louisville football could never address under the previous regime.

Five-year starter Malik Cunningham was a Petrino holdover and the staff never brought in anyone who could push for the starting job, save games that he missed due to injury.

Louisville football is back in terms of what fans became accustomed to in the 90s and early 2000s.

Welcome to the Brohm Era ft. the transfer portal: A thing of beauty.