Louisville football is using the transfer portal to fill out the roster, but will it pay dividends?
Louisville football enters the 2021 season with a nice mixture of talented and experienced veterans and young foundational pieces. After losing a few key players from the 2020 roster to graduation and the NFL Draft, Scott Satterfield did his best to fill the holes left behind.
There’s a number of ways to replace key players but the growing trend is to hit the transfer portal. Just about every program across the nation has been touched by the transfer portal in some form or fashion. Whether it’s recruiting transfers or losing players to other schools – both have been prominent this offseason.
Who are the new Cards?
Louisville has been busy playing its hand in the portal all year.
First, came a homegrown player with starting ACC experience in Virginia Tech OL Bryan Hudson. Then they landed a pair of impact players from Georgia Southern – one on each side of the ball in Shai Werts (QB/WR) and Kenderick Duncan. Next was quarterback/athlete Luke McCaffrey, a big-name transfer who came with star power out of Nebraska. That was followed by Jacques Turner, a former All-Conference defensive tackle (filling the biggest need in my eyes) who should start right away. Before finally landing HBCU All-American Qwynnterrio Cole.
That’s six players, all of whom should play important roles in 2021. They’ll be tasked with assimilating quickly and helping fill the holes of a roster still made up of Bobby Petrino holdovers and a growing number of Satterfield recruits in order to win now.
2021 will be a bit of a transition year, especially after the Cards lost star-skill players Dez Fitzpatrick, Javian Hawkins, and Tutu Atwell as well as core defensive pieces including Dorian Etheridge, Marlon Character, and Rodjay Burns. But that doesn’t mean lowered expectations.
With question marks at prominent positions, it led the staff to seek out a special type of player to fill the roster; Players with proven production looking to prove something for one reason or another.
Hot: Sitting down with Louisville coach Gunter Brewer
Learning from past transfers
Landing transfers is nothing new for Louisville. During both the Charlie Strong and Petrino eras, Louisville brought in difference-makers like Gerald Christian, Joshua Harvey-Clemons, Devonte Fields, amongst plenty of others. Satterfield has followed in a similar path with his recruiting, even with transfers. However, the difference this season is the type of transfer brought in.
While other programs are landing former four and five-star players from the SEC, Big Ten, or other power conferences, Louisville has gone another way. Instead of betting only on talent or a “big-name”, the Cards have pursued players with elite statistical production, regardless of level. That’s led them to land a two-time HBCU All-American safety, a former C-USA All-Freshman player & All-Conference DT, two former four-star recruits, a quarterback turned wide receiver with over 6,000 yards, and 68 touchdowns, and all-conference caliber safety with NFL potential.
Louisville football pressing the reset button
After a 4-7 season and an offseason that started off in a hilariously disastrous way, I’m not sure how much room for error there is. With a junior quarterback, a veteran offensive line, and a defense that was one of the most improved in the nation in 2020, the window to win is now. Though the ACC did get two teams in the playoff last season, it’s clear the conference as a whole is trending the wrong way. Never has the league been so open for the taking.
That’s why the storyline of transfers entering the fold is so important to 2021. Satterfield and his staff targeted a handful of guys who they believed could be plug-in-play starters (or role players) regardless of their previous level of play. Each player enters with his own story and expectations, but as a collective unit their difference on the team could and should lead to more wins.
Some look at this as too big of a risk for their liking, and I understand why that may be. For every Devonte Fields, there’s a Ty Tyler and for every Qwenterrio Cole, there’s a T.J. Hull. This means that not every transfer pans out. Dipping to lower levels for players is a dangerous game. Especially, if you’re trying to unseat Clemson.
The verdict is still out on how impactful each player will be, but on paper, there’s the potential to have as many as 5 new starters. That’s 5 battle-tested veterans stepping into key positions all with the chance to help Louisville football get back to the top of the ACC. Whether it was filling the holes in the secondary, along the defensive line, or adding more multi-dimensional offensive weapons, the staff did it all.
