Louisville Football: Bobby Petrino and staff lose 3rd commit in four days

Things literally could not be worse than they are now for the Louisville football program. The Cards have lost another commit from the class of 2019.

Saturday was one of the darkest days in Louisville football recent memory, which is saying a lot after the kind of season the Cards are currently having.

We already knew a head-to-head matchup against #2 ranked Clemson was going to be bad, but after losing two commitments in a matter of a few hours on Friday afternoon, and then having the “QB of the future” transfer away, being beat down 77-16 only made things worse.

All phases of what it takes to run a successful football program seem to be crashing in on fifth year head coach, Bobby Petrino, and his staff. Fan support is dwindling at an alarming rate, players seem to be playing with little to no effort (at times), the performance on the field is ugly, and the 2019 recruiting class is absolutely falling apart.

First it was three star offensive lineman, Jamari Williams, who chose to reopen his recruitment, only to commit hours later to a far inferior west coast team. Next was Austin Griffin the #1 ranked JUCO tight end in the country in the class of 2019. Now a new name can be added to the list.

Just a bit ago, three star defensive end, Kristan Varner, took to Twitter to announce that “it would be in my best interest to decommit from the University of Louisville.”

After his commitment back in July, our own Presley Meyer wrote:

"“So, Varner has the NFL size and talent, but why is he rated as the 1,330th player in his class? Well, Varner hasn’t seen the field with the frequency that the majority of highly rated players have in his class. Varner’s stats have been less than eye-popping. He only recorded 4 games played his sophomore year, and 9 games this past season.But Varner’s playing time is not indicative of his success, nor his abilities in the future. He has shown the ability to get off the ball with serious explosion, and use his huge frame to fight through double teams. Varner has the ability to chase down smaller, more elusive players from behind, and lay punishing hits to finish a play.”"

Since committing to Louisville Varner has picked up a slew of offers from power five teams including Tennessee, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, and Misssouri.

Though he wasn’t the highest ranked player, the Cards losing Varner really hurts. With an already depleted and under performing defensive line, getting a guy with high upside and a lot of physical traits would have been huge for the future. But with the state of the Louisville program there is no doubt in my mind that making this decision to decommit was in his best interest.

A team and staff once known for their superb ability to develop under recruited talent like Jonathan Greenard, Jaylen Smith, and Dee Smith, just to name a few, have struggled mightily this season to get the best players on and have shown that with their current construction the days of taking 2 and 3 stars and turning them into monsters is a thing of the past.

The Cards now have just 10 commitments in the class of 2019, and currently rank as the 74th best recruiting class in 2019.

We are in the midst of our darkest days in the Bobby Petrino era, but I would be willing to bet that-that should soon come to an end.

Hang in there Cards fans.