Behind a new defensive coordinator, the Louisville football defense will have a lot of inexperienced, but extremely talented players competing for snaps at linebacker this season.
Louisville football has had some pretty good linebackers holding down the middle over the past 5-8 seasons. Preston Brown, James Burgess, Keith Kelsey, and Stacy Thomas are just a few of the names that come to mind. All were tackling machines, who weren’t afraid to lay the lumber on somebody and make a play. This season should be no different.
Louisville doesn’t return much experience in 2018-19 but Petrino has a plethora of young, fast, talented players who should be able to step in and grow into impact players. Guys like CJ Avery, Dorian Etheridge, Robert Hicks, and South Carolina transfer Boosie Whitlow.
The linebacking core is in good hands. Over the last few years depth has been built with the additions of incoming freshman, JUCO transfers, and power five transfers.
The key to their success this year will be the coaching of new defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, who comes over after spending a year outside of coaching. VanGorder is known for his ability to coach up great linebackers, and he’ll certainly get the chance to do that this season.
Louisville’s defense has much to improve on from the 2017-18 season after struggling to tackle consistently, stop the run, and make plays. Having a fairly young group of players at the position with a new coordinator should prove interesting.
Let’s take a look at the players who make up the linebacking corps.
Depth Chart Projection
WLB- Boosie Whitlow, Quen Head, Yasir Abdullah
MLB- Dorain Etheridge, Robert Hicks, Damien Smith
SLW- C.J. Avery, P.J. Blue, London Iakopo
Expected Starters
Booise Whitlow, R-Junior
After sitting out a season due to the transfer rule, I’m expecting a big season from Boosie Whitlow. When your first game is against the defending National Champions it probably adds some extra motivation for your return. Whitlow can provide some edge rushing for the Louisville defense and take the place of Trevon Young.
Dorian Etheridge, Sophomore
Louisville’s next defensive star no doubt is Dorian Etheridge. As a freshman he led the team in tackles last season with 83, becoming the first freshman to do so at Louisville. Etheridge should be one of the leaders this season, coming in with the most experience. I look for him to be the coach for on the field and take over void left by Stacy Thomas. Etheridge recorded his career high for tackles against Boston College with 14. He’s yet to record a sack but I look for that to change this season.
CJ Avery, Sophomore
Avery played safety in high school but made the switch to linebacker this offseason. I think he can used more like a “star” or hybrid type of guy similar to his role last season where he can play linebacker/safety. Avery tallied up 25 tackles last season and should be in store for an even bigger sophomore campaign.
Challengers To Start
Robert Hicks, Freshman
Hicks, a highly sought after 4-Star linebacker chose the Cards over Miami, Michigan State, and Oregon, keeping the Florida pipeline strong for Louisville. Hicks has a solid build for a freshman and has already made some noise through spring ball, after enrolling early. I fully expect to see him on the field early and maybe even crack the starting lineup.
P.J. Blue, R-Sophomore
Blue is coming off an ACL injury that cost him the entire season. But now that the former 3-star recruit is fully healthy, playing at the linebacker position (came into Louisville projected to play safety) he could be in-store for a big year. I have a good feeling about Blue because of his speed and power, if he can stay healthy.
Quen Head, Sophomore
Head comes to Louisville by way of Hutchinson C.C. in Kansas. He was third on his team with tackles with 62 tackles, while finishing with 3 sacks, 1 INT, and 13..5 TFL. Head has experience that the linebacking corps desperately needs, so expect to see him play significant snaps for Brian VanGorder in 2018-19. Head is my dark horse for 2018-19.
London Iakopo, R-Senior
Iakopo returned to the lineup last season after tearing his ACL in his first year on campus. He recorded 12 tackles and 1 sack last year, and should provide quality depth for the Cards.
Players Who Can Compete for Playing Time
Yasir Abdullah, Freshman
Another talented freshman that I think will see some time this season, and could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the new NCAA redshirt rule. Abdullah was a 3-star recruit out of Florida. Like Blue, I’ve got a hunch about this guy.
Keon Johnson, R-Freshman
Johnson has good size standing 6’0 and 235 pounds. Johnson makes his way up to Louisville from Palm Beach Gardens, FL. He attended Dwyer High School.
Damien Smith, R-Junior
Smith is a local product by way of Manual. He’s appeared in 18 games for the Cardinals and has registered a total of 5 tackles.
Kam Jones, R-Freshman
Jones was an early enroll guy back in 2017, after being rated as three-star recruit out of Peachtree Ridge High School, located in Suwanee, GA. Jones is a guy who could emerge from this group because of his speed and athleticism. Watch out for him this year.
Nick Okeke, R-Freshman
Okeke is a guy who seems to have some buzz around him this fall, after coming into Louisville rated as a two-star recruit by 247 Sports. Okeke bulked up about 25 pounds during his redshirt season. The sophomore could develop into a nice outside pass rusher for Louisville down the road.
Expectations
The linebackers will go through some growing pains but I think the talent is there for a strong 2018-19 season. I really liked what I saw from Dorian Etheridge last season as a freshman, starting all 12 games for Peter Sirmon and playing extremely well.
Boosie Whitlow has to be eager to get onto the field after transferring from South Carolina and sitting out last season. His ability to bounce back and forth between a stand up rush linebacker, and a down lineman should be beneficial to an aggressive Brian VanGorder defense.
Then there’s CJ Avery, a guy I’ve been a fan of since he committed. Though he’s undersized, his speed and aggressiveness will help him at the linebacker position.
The starters and the depth are coming together going into Petrino’s 5th year. Robert Hicks was a huge pickup for the future. I think he makes his presence felt this year, especially with the new red shirt rule but I don’t think that affects Hicks, he’s going to play all season.
Even with the unit being inexperienced, the linebacker could quietly be a strength for Brian VanGorder and the Cardinals defense. They will have an extremely tough task this season as they will be tasked with stopping some of the most talented runners in the country including Damien Harris (Alabama) and AJ Dillon of Boston College.
With some new additions, along with their leading tackler returning, Louisville should be in good hands in 2018. There are great things on the horizon for the this Louisville defense, and the linebacking unit could be the centerpiece.