Louisville Football: Three Depth Chart Takeaways

Louisville football released its first depth chart of the season on Monday. We look at the three biggest takeaways, and some surprises among the starters.

We are less than a week away from Louisville football. Let that sink in for a moment Cards fans.

You can almost smell the crisp fall air, the charcoal tailgates, and the hot takes.

With the first game approaching in a matter of days, we are blessed with the Cards first depth chart. The speculation is over, and the analysis begins.

Much of the depth chart is along the lines of what we have predicted here at BRL, but there are some surprises. Let’s take a look at the top three story lines from this Bobby Petrino squad.

Nick Okeke is a Starter at Linebacker

This is certainly the biggest surprise on the depth chart no matter how you slice it.

Okeke, a redshirt freshman from the Nashville area, was not a highly sought-after recruit coming out of high school. Okeke did not have a single offer as a 2017 recruit from a power-5 team, and planned to reclassify to 2018 and take the prep school route. That’s when former defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon gave Okeke a surprise call and asked him if he wanted to be a part of the 2017 class.

Say what you will about Sirmon, but after a redshirt year last season, his guy is now ready to take the reigns.

It appears that Okeke has put on some weight after playing a lot of safety in college. The move to linebacker and transition to competing for a starting role is most surprising because of who he is listed in front of. By all accounts, current second stringer Boosie Whitlow was killing it this off season and in line to take the Sam linebacker spot.

Whitlow figures to see the field plenty this season, but it is an encouraging sign if Okeke is not only able to add crucial depth, but start a lot of games.

Jaylen Smith Starting at Receiver

Obviously if you saw this as a big-time story line four weeks ago, you’d think this was the least surprising starter of them all. However, Smith’s emergency appendectomy only three weeks ago left a lot of doubt as to whether he would play or not in the season opener.

Typically appendectomies put someone out for 3-4 weeks. However, Smith is a world-class athlete, and All-ACC wide receiver.

Last week, Smith returned to practicing in full pads and it is excellent to see his name listed first on that loaded receiver depth chart.

Speaking of loaded, it was universally assumed that Seth Dawkins and Dez Fitzpatrick would be joining Smith at the other two starting spots. It is certainly interesting to see who is vying for the most time behind them, though. The second-stringers are listed as Emonee Spence, Keion Wakefield, and Devante Peete.

Spence is a redshirt junior who has been fighting for playing time since 2015. He recorded 5 catches for 48 yards last season, and figures to push for more playing time this year.

Wakefield is a local product out of Louisville Male who was expected to make a splash last season after redshirting. Unfortunately, a knee injury set him back another year but that hasn’t stopped the former state champion from making a big splash during summer camp. Now that he is fully healthy, look for Wakefield to contribute in a major way.

Peete is a familiar name to most Cards fans. After a hot start to his career, he began to see the field less and less on offense. However, he has always been a contributor and leader on special teams. His size a strong hands led many to believe that he would push for a starting role last season before he was sidelined with an injury. Now that Peete is back at full-speed, he will add to Louisville’s fantastic depth.

Louisville’s Right Side Is All-Pro on Offense

Although many anticipated Jawon Pass’s blind side to be protected by its two best offensive linemen- Lukayas McNeil and Mekhi Becton. Both players, who are potential first round NFL draft picks, are actually listed on the right side- McNeil at guard, and Becton at tackle.

This is a big deal because it says a lot about what Louisville’s offensive line coach Mike Summers, and head coach Bobby Petrino think about the rest of this line. Seniors Linwood Foy and Kenny Thomas will start on the left side and Cole Bentley returns to anchor the middle.

This is encouraging to see, and it will be interesting to watch how Petrino is able to use both Becton and McNeil on running plays. Often times, Becton -who measures at 6 foot 7, 360 pounds- is able to pull on a play and run drive a defender up field or get out in front to block. Both Becton and Kenny Thomas are NFL sized linemen who are extremely mobile.

If the Cards can keep this whole line healthy, they have some solid players waiting in the wings in Caleb Chandler and Ronald Rudd who will be studs in their own right in the future.

It is always fun to project how rosters will look going into the season, but it brings a whole different excitement level when you see who is winning position battles on paper.

It should be fun to watch the Cards battle it out and make each other better every week throughout the season.