Louisville Football Recruiting: A Look Back at the 2014 Class

Each week we’ll take a look back at previous Louisville football recruiting classes, and re-evaluate with what we know now.

The Louisville football program, led by Head Coach Bobby Petrino, have been on fire the last few weeks on the recruiting trail. After landing big time offensive lineman Jamari Williams, the staff  received a verbal commitment from 6’4, 240 pound defensive end Kristan Varner.

With those commitments it got us a thinking about past classes. It’s quite common to hear people around college football recruiting say “you can’t truly judge a recruiting class for a couple of years after signing day.” I think many of us would agree.

That being said, we decided to take a look back at each of the four recruiting classes that have signed and joined the Louisville football program during the Bobby Petrino 2.0 era.

We’ll hand out a few superlatives including, best hit, biggest miss, and look at what could have been.

This week we’ll start with Petrino’s first class from the year 2014. A class that included Reggie Bonnafon, Trevon Young, Tru Washington, and plenty of other big names.

Here we go!

Grade: B-

This was an interesting recruiting class for Bobby Petrino for a lot of reasons, the biggest being it was his first back at the helm of the Cards. After leaving Louisville for the Texas job, Charlie Strong left the cupboard full for Petrino, so the biggest part of this class was adding depth and players for the future.

The Cards brought in many “under the radar” players, who weren’t rated as four or five star players, as we’ve grown accustomed to with Petrino, several of which would be impact players for years to come. Guys like James Sample. Trevon Young, Trumaine Washington, and Zykesis Cannon were under-ranked and went on to prove the “experts” wrong.

This class would have many players who were considered “misses” however. Michael Johnson would never make it to campus, Terry Ramsey was on the roster for one year and then suddenly disappeared, Kelby Johnson and Tae Thibodeaux never developed into anything more than backups, and Cameron Polk would be kicked off the team.

With this class, Louisville fans got to see just how great of a talent evaluator and developer Bobby Petrino was. While Charlie Strong guys like Gerod Holliman, Sheldon Rankins, D’Angelo Brown, James Burgess, etc. stared for the Cardinals, in the background several members of the 2014 recruiting class got to be developed and would eventually step up and replace those guys in big ways.

The most interesting thing about this class, and one of the reasons why the grade was B- and not a B+ or higher, is Reggie Bonnafon, who was the Cards top player in the class. Don’t get me wrong, Bonnafon went on to have a great career for the Cards. He had plenty of “big” moments, including leading Louisville to a huge victory against Notre Dame in his freshman season. However, he never was able to develop into a “star” due to the fact that the staff used him at three different positions.

To me t never seemed like Bonnafon was going to be the QB of the future, even with that victory over Notre Dame, especially when Lamar Jackson came to town. The Cards were never really able to use Bonnafon as a slot receiver, at least the way they expected. And in his final season at running back, he never was able to become the threat that many thought he could be.

With all that being said, a class that featured several starters and now NFL players, Petrino and staff did a great job in the short amount of time they had.

Football Recruiting Class – 2014 (According to ESPN)

Reggie Bonnafon              QB-DT       4 star

Michael Johnson               S                  4 star

Henry Famurewa              LB               3 star

Cornelius Sturghill            CB               3 star

Terry Ramsey                    DE               3 star

Isaac Stewart                    LB                3 star

De’Eric Culver                    CB                3 star

L.J. Scott                              RB               3 star

Trevon Young                     DE               3 star (JC)

Kelby Johnson                    OT               3 star (JC)

Tae Thibodeaux                 DT               3 star

Danny Burns                      OG               3 star

Charles Standberry          TE                3 star

Micky Crum                        TE                3 star

Cameron Polk                    WR              3 star

Lukayus McNeil                 OG               3 star

Zykesis Cannon                 CB                3 star

Trumaine Washington     DB               3 star

Giovanni Pascascio          WR              3 star

Pat Thomas                       QB/WR       3 star (JC)

Pio Vatuvei                         DE                3 star (JC)

James Sample                   DB                3 star (JC)

Javonte Bagley                   WR              2 star

Jimmie Terry                       OG               2 star

Biggest Hit: Trevon Young

As I mentioned, this class was full of mid-to-lower level three stars who the staff took from the Charlie Strong coaching staff, brought in, and developed into future stars and starters. The perfect example of that was Trevon Young.

In his first year on campus Young appeared in just three games racking up seven tackles and two sacks, playing behind future NFL draft picks Deiontrez Mount and Lorenzo Mauldin.

In his second season Young stepped into a starting role for then defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, and made his presence known. He finished the season with a team high 8.5 sacks and 32 total tackles. Heading into the team’s bowl game, he looked like he could be a guy that could consider leaving early for the NFL Draft. However, against Texas A&M, Young would break his hip in a freak play, and would miss the entire 2016-2017 season.

His presence was greatly missed, although the Cards did have Devonte Fields and James Hearns to fill the void. After many questioned whether Young could ever return to peak form, he came back for the 2017-18 season, resuming his role as a starting rush linebacker, and finished the season strong. It took a while to get going but Young ultimately ended up with 4.5 sacks, and 62 tackles, and would be given the ACC Brian Picolo award for overcoming his injury.

Young was by no means an “under recruited” player, as he held offers from Arkansas, Ole Miss, Indiana, and Iowa. However, he came in to Louisville being just a three star recruit and the 14th best JUCO defensive end, only to go on and be drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the 2018 NFL Draft.

This was really a toss up between several players, but Young left his mark on the program in a way that many players will ever be able to do.

Biggest Miss: Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson was a four star defensive back coming out of Hialeah, Florida, ranked as the 21st best safety according to ESPN. Johnson chose the Cards over Miami, LSU, and Nebraska and was considered to be one of the biggest gets for Bobby Petrino and his staff.

However, Johnson never made it to campus.

While the Cards won BIG with James Sample in the same recruiting class, getting a big time talent like Johnson in the fold only could have helped. Keep in mind, the Cards were coming off of a season where they lost two of their best defenders and starting safeties in Calvin Pryor and Hakeem Smith.

Johnson was one of the best players in the entire class from Florida, and had the potential to be a big time talent for Louisville. Some even talked about him coming in and receiving snaps right away as a true freshman.

After not enrolling at Louisville, Johnson would go on to to play at Mt. San Antonio College before committing to play for Arkansas State, where he is now a senior.

Biggest Surprise: James Sample

While many people who followed recruiting back in 2014 thought that the addition of three star JUCO safety/linebacker James Sample to the Louisville roster was beneficial, no one saw the immediate success that took place.

Sample was a late signee for the Cards, not committing to the program until after the 2014 spring game. He had originally started his career at Washington, after being a four star safety a few years earlier, before moving on to American River Community College.

Sample became a star right away in the 2014-15 season starting alongside Gerod “Hot Rod” Holiman, and would go on to be a “one and done” player. He finished the season with an incredible 90 tackles, and was responsible for four of the ACC leading 26 interceptions. Sample would eventually declare for the draft, and be selected in the fourth round by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Sample and Holliman formed one of the greatest safety duos in Cardinal history, which says something, seeing as how they replaced another great duo in Calvin Pryor and Hakeem Smith. The Cards led the nation in interceptions finishing with 26 and were a force to be reckoned with.

What if: L.J. Scott

L.J. Scott saw success during his time as a Louisville Cardinal, rushing for 338 yards and 4 touchdowns during his first two seasons on campus.

Scott was a three star prospect out of Marion, Ohio, and was the 97th best running back coming out of the high school ranks. At 6’0, 225 pounds, Scott had great size, and ran with nice power and elusiveness, which was perfect for his role in the Bobby Petrino offense.

After playing in just two games during his junior season, a year in which many expected him to take over as the lead back after Brandon Radcliffe graduated, an injury ended the running backs season. Instead of coming back for his senior season at Louisville, instead of competing with Jeremy Smith, Reggie Bonnafon, and Malik Williams during the 2017-18 season.

Scott is the biggest what if, because the Cards desperately needed a power back last season. Though Williams was great when he was on the field, Petrino and his staff never felt 100% comfortable giving him the keys to the offense, and instead relied heavily on Lamar Jackson even with defenses keying in on him throughout games.

Had the Cardinals had a guy like Scott, the offense could’ve had a completely different dynamic and could have given the offensive staff another weapon to play with.

Instead Scott moved on to Eastern Kentucky where he ran for 183 yards and four touchdowns.

Wrap up

2014 was a year that laid the foundation for Bobby Petrino and his staff, and the type of recruiting they would be doing to continue the success at Louisville.

While many programs pride themselves on bringing in the biggest and best five and four star players, the Louisville coaching staff showed that evaluating talent, and finiding the right players to fit a certain style of play was the best move, even if they weren’t as highly rated as the fans might like.

Since this class the Cards have gone a combined 34-18, while securing several more big time classes, including a few top 35 classes.

Next up, we’ll take a look at the 2015 recruiting class which would feature potentially the best player to ever step foot on a college campus.

Next: Kristian Varner is Petrino’s Next Diamond in the Rough