Louisville football: 5 seniors who will be crucial to success in 2019-2020

Mason King/Blanton Creque/Devante Peete

Special teams will be of the utmost importance for Louisville football this season, as there are going to be periods of struggle on the offensive side of the ball in Satterfield’s first season at the helm.

Thankfully for CSS and Stu Holt, who doubles as the Cards special teams coordinator, he’ll inherit a group known as “the regulators” one that has been dominant for Louisville over the last three-plus seasons. This is a group that I recently ranked as the strongest position group across the offense, defense, and special teams for Louisville in 2019.

Speaking with Jody Demling recently, Holt talked about his special teams’ group saying:

"“Our specialists’ positions are strong. Special teams are very important to us (as a staff) and we’ll spend a lot of time on special teams. It is important to what we do.”"

Due to Louisville’s struggles on offense last year, kicker Blanton Creque saw his numbers take a big dip after a strong sophomore season for the Cards. In 2017 Creque was 10/12 on field goals and 27/30 on extra points, providing points at nearly every turn.

Also due to the struggles of the offense in 2018-19, we saw way too much of punter Mason King, as he was forced into punting 69 times (not nice), holding an average of 40.6 yards per punt. Louisville’s coaches and fans will no doubt want to see less of King in 2019, but we can all take a deep breath knowing that when he’s on the field he’s electric.

The biggest need for improvement will be covering punts and kick-offs, which is where senior utility man, Devante Peete will come in handy. Known for his ability to get downfield quickly, using his length and size to make big-time tackles, Peete has already earned the title of special teams captain once in his career and will likely be a favorite to do so again this season.

Special teams are often a phase of the game that is overlooked, but for the Cards who will undoubtedly go through some growing pains this season under Scott Satterfield, winning on special teams will be extremely important if there is going to be any bounce back from the 2-10 season.

These five guys will need to step up statistically, but the leadership and intangibles on and off the field will be just as important in the first year of Louisville football’s reboot.