Louisville football is wrapping up one of the best classes in school history. These three position rooms will benefit the most from the 2023 signees.
A week has passed since the February signing period began and the excitement from Cardinal fans is still at an all-time high after Jeff Brohm and staff pulled off the seemingly impossible – Keeping #FlyVille23 (mostly) intact.
The losses of Reuben Owens, DeAndre Moore, Jayden Davis, and Rayquan Adkins sting, but the staff has done an excellent job bringing in even more talent, both from the high school level and through the transfer portal to help offset these losses. Now that the signing class is essentially complete, I wanted to evaluate which position groups got the biggest boost from the myriad of additions that make up Brohm’s inaugural class.
These are the top 3 positions I feel benefited the most from the signing class of ‘23:
3. Wide Receiver
After the early signing period, wide receiver was the position group I was most concerned about entering the 23-24 season.
The roster lost top receiver Tyler Hudson and none of the receivers currently on the roster have had enough production or experience to feel comfortable handing over the reigns of number one receiver (although I do have a great deal of faith in Ahmari Huggins-Bruce).
Matters were made worse when DeAndre Moore flipped to Texas a few days after signing day passed. The talent in #FlyVille23’s high school class seemed promising but I didn’t see a prospect who I felt would be ready to take on the top receiver role from day one.
Jimmy Calloway and Jaden Thompson, the two transfer wide receivers, definitely have enough upside to carve out a role within the offense but neither seemed ready to lead it. However, coach Garrick McGee wasn’t done adding to his wide receiver room.
Within the next month, he landed commitments from both Jackson State transfer, Kevin Coleman, and Georgia Southern transfer, Jamari Thrash.
I would’ve been over the moon having just one of these two players fill in as the team’s new number-one receiver, but adding them both put my worries of depth at wide receiver to bed. I currently see Thrash functioning as the team’s number one when the season begins, but new quarterback Jack Plummer will have a great selection of targets to choose from.
2. Quarterback
Malik Cunningham, regardless of his ups and downs, was one of the most productive signal-callers in a long history of excellent quarterback tradition at the University of Louisville.
Replacing Cuningham is no easy task but Brohm has already shown us that he has a plan, both in the short and long term for the quarterback room.
Not only were the staff able to retain highly talented fan-favorite Pierce Clarkson for the ’23 high school class, but brought in Cal transfer, Jack Plummer, an experienced and productive starter who knows the new offensive system. The reason I rank the quarterback position so high among the most-improved positions is just as much about the plan as it is about talent. Brohm has navigated recruiting the quarterback position in such a way that the offense is going to be ready to compete immediately with as few growing pains as possible, while also providing the young players in the room the opportunity to learn from a 5-year veteran.
The Brohm brothers have had tremendous success in developing quarterback talent throughout their coaching careers and fans should be very excited about what they can do with a quarterback of Clarkson’s talent given a year to develop.
1. Defensive Line
When Brohm first talked about recruiting at Louisville, he stated that he wanted to prioritize adding talent to the trenches. It took him no time at all to make good on his promise.
Not only did the staff solidify the commitment of priority recruit Adonijah Green, but they added three very promising local defensive line prospects Micah Carter, William “Woo” Spencer, and Saadiq Clements to #FlyVille23’s high school recruiting class.
Additionally, they added two impact transfers, Rodney McGraw and Louisville native, Stephen Herron.
Adding this much talent to a group that already features rising young stars Ashton Gillotte, Dez Tell, and others should help Ron English continue the momentum of a pass-rush dominance that Louisville produced last season. Adding bodies to the defensive line room also serves to ease the transition from the 3-4 defensive front that Bryan Brown ran over the previous seasons to the new 4-3 look English will be employing.
The players the staff brought in all serve as immediate scheme fits. Look for the defensive line room to be one of the deepest and most productive position groups for the 23-24 season.
Honorable mention: Offensive Line
As previously mentioned, Brohm and the staff are clearly prioritizing adding talent to the trenches. They undoubtedly added some serious impact players and potential long-term starters along the offensive line in #FlyVille23.
Madden Sanker, Luke Burgess, and Joe Crocker make up the high school signees, and it’s hard to not get excited about the upside and potential for this group. Not to mention that adding experienced starter John Paul Flores helps bridge the gap and shore up one of the guard spots for a season and gives the young players time to develop for a year before taking on significant minutes.
The reason I was hesitant to put this group in the top three, though, is the talent the offensive line is losing. Louisville will look to replace three starters (Left Tackle and both guard spots) as well as their top backup at guard. While I feel confident in the future of the line with the group coming in, losing that much experience makes it hard to expect the line to take a step forward for the 23-34 season.
