Louisville Football: Bobby Petrino and staff flirting with a local recruiting disaster

Louisville football could lose out on big time local prospects if things don’t turn around quickly, which does not bode well for the current coaching staff.

Have you ever woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare that was way too real, only to realize it wasn’t a dream and that’s the life you’re living in? For Louisville football that is exactly what’s happening in 2018.

If you’re into recruiting, or even if you aren’t, you probably know that the class of 2019 features some of the most talented recruits in recent memory to play right here in the city of Louisville and in the state of Kentucky. Bobby Petrino and his staff have been putting in a lot of work over the years with these guys, which looked to be close to paying off, until things started to go south.

Yes, Louisville does currently have three local recruits committed in the class of 2019, including running back Aidan Robbins, who plays his high school football at Manual High School here in Louisville. They also hold commitments from athlete/linebacker, Anthony Adkins, from LaRue County, and Jack Randolph, an offensive lineman from Franklin, KY.

However, there are four other local prospects, all of whom are elite three star and four star talents, who have yet to announce their commitment. While many of them have trended the way of Louisville in recent months, over the past several weeks something has changed for the worse.

If you are someone who stays in tune with recruiting, this probably doesn’t come as a shock. But it doesn’t matter if your’re the #1 recruiting fan in the world, or someone who doesn’t know who the players are until they commit, seeing an image like this HURTS. Louisville has lost out on local kids in the past few years to programs like Stanford, Michigan, Ohio State, and heck even Purdue. While it sucks to lose a kid to another program who has grown up in your back yard and has been on campus numerous times, you can live with their decision to want to get away.

What nightmare are we living in????? pic.twitter.com/cg2SVMC5vT
— Big Red Louie (@TheBigRedLouie) October 2, 2018

But when a school like Kentucky begins to trend for the state’s top players, there is a REAL problem, one that must be addressed.

If Steve Wiltfong’s crystal ball predictions turn out right, that’s a disaster for Petrino. No spinning that.
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) September 28, 2018

Milton Wright, a wide receiver out of Christian Academy Louisville, is one of the most dynamic play makers that state of Kentucky has seen in quite some time. He burst onto the seen for CAL as a sophomore, and now is down to a final four of Louisville, Alabama, Purdue, and Kentucky.

Louisville was seen to be the favorite to land the services of Wright, if he decided to keep his commitment in state. With Alabama and Ohio State both heavily pursuing Wright up until the last few months, or so it seems, it was thought that those would be the primary competitors for the four-star receiver. But fresh off of a visit to Lexington, where he witnessed Kentucky take down Mississippi State, many believe that things could be swinging in the favor of the Cats.

OUCH.

Here’s why that’s a big concern. Though high school coaches don’t necessarily have a huge role in helping a player make his decision, most do have a significant role in communicating with coaches and helping the player through the recruitment process. In case you aren’t familar with the Head Coach of Christian Academy, let me remind you. He was a three year starter at QB under Bobby Petrino from 2000-2004, and helped build what is now an extremely successful program. His name is Stefon LeFors.

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To think that Kentucky could come in and beat out Louisville, knowing the connection of LeFors, it means that the Louisville staff simply hasn’t impressed the receiver and his family like we thought. Or at least, not to the level of Kentucky.

That’s not it.

Also on the prediction list for Steve Wiltfong of 247 Sports, were defensive end’s JJ Weaver (Moore HS) and Shawnkel Knight-Goff (Doss HS), both of which hail from the city of Louisville. Weaver is the highest rated defensive player in the state currently left uncommitted and holds offers from several big time programs, including Miami, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and of course Louisville and Kentucky. Knight-Goff has already committed to Kentucky once, before decommitting just a few days later, but many believe he is a lock to land in the blue and white.

While Milton Wright would likely play behind Dez Fitzpatrick, Seth Dawkins, Justin Marshall and several other dynamic Louisville receivers as a freshman, a reason he could consider a school like Kentucky, JJ Weaver and Shawnkel Knight-Goff would have limited competition as freshmen and would likely be day one starters, or at least instant contributors.

We know how woeful the Louisville defense has been over the past several seasons, especially upfront. Though the Cards expect to get Tabarius Peterson, Jon Greenard, Derek Dorsey, and a few other DE’S/OLB’s back in 2019-20, only Greenard has the talent level of JJ Weaver. To miss out on JJ Weaver would likely be one of the biggest hit and misses in the Bobby Petrino 20 era. Weaver is currently scheduled to commit on November 3rd, and UK holds an 80% crystal ball prediction.. NOT GOOD.

All of this to say the struggles of Louisville over the past few weeks and the sudden rise of Kentucky have seriously hurt the recruiting of the Cards. I wrote back in July that Bobby Petrino and his staff were making the state of Kentucky a priority, and at that time it looked like they were in good shape to land Weaver, Knight-Goff, and Ballard product Jared Casey.

Fast forward to today, with Louisville sitting at 2-3 and on the verge of a disastrous season, the loss of the state’s top recruits (ALL FROM LOUISVILLE) could potentially be the straw that broke the camel’s back for Bobby Petrino and his staff.

Ladies and gentlemen of Cardnation, as much as it hurts me to say this it can’t be ignored. We are currently entering dumpster fire territory.