Louisville football lands their most versatile 2020 recruit yet

Louisville landed their fifth commitment in four days on Friday when athlete Dexter Rentz committed to the Cards.

When a fire like this gets going, there’s not a lot that can extinguish it. That’s exactly the case for Louisville football, who picked up their fifth commitment in the last four days.

After receiving a commitment from local product and Ballard High School standout Josh Minkins Jr. earlier in the day, the Cards landed another verbal from three-star athlete Dexter Rentz Jr., an offensive and defensive playmaker from Ocoee, FL. Rentz, who’s rated as the 97th best athlete in the country and the 146th best player from the state of Florida in the class of 2020. He chose the Cards over the likes of Pittsburgh, South Florida, Kentucky, Purdue, Cincinnati, and Indiana.

The 5’11” 175-pound junior is a two-way player for Ocoee High School, playing both wide receiver, defensive back, and even a little wildcat quarterback. While some programs have offered Rentz as purely a defensive back, it is expected that he’ll play wide receiver for the Cards next season, providing much-needed speed and depth behind Tutu Atwell – who will be entering his junior year.

Rentz talked about how he sees playing out at the next level with the Orlando Sentinel, saying:

"“Most colleges offer me as an athlete, but my big offers, like SEC and ACC, they see me as a wide receiver. I like to score the ball, so anything on offense like playing wide receiver, I love that position.”"

The commitment comes a little more than a month after Rentz Jr. paid an official visit to the Cards, and then told the Orlando Sentinel that the Cards were his “front-runner.”

The theme we’re seeing amongst all of the recent commits for the Cards is talent being found early by the coaching staff ahead of other major programs. This time last season, Rentz had zero division one scholarship offers, and as of today he currently holds over 20.

What he brings to the program is evident the moment you put on his highlights – speed. Doubling as a track and field star during the offseason, Rentz speed is next level, running a 4.5 40 yard dash and 3.82 shuttle while also having an incredible verticle of 40″. He mixes that with precise route running and elite playmaking skills, making him a nearly unstoppable force on the field.

Last season alone, Rentz had 60 catches for 1,200 yards as well as 14 interceptions and 8 total combined touchdowns. It’s simple, the kid knows how to make plays and get into the endzone, something Louisville desperately needs moving forward.

While the former Louisville staff made receiver a priority, probably too much at times – taking multiple receivers when unnecessary and neglecting others – Louisville’s depth at the position will begin to dwindle over the next two seasons. Entering the 2020-21 season, Louisville will lose Seth Dawkins, Emonee Spence and Devante Peete to graduation, while Dez Fitzpatrick (assuming he returns), Keion Wakefield,  will be entering their senior seasons.

Scott Satterfield and the Cards have been absolutely unstoppable on the recruiting trail and Louisville has yet to even take the field for the first game in the new era. This recruiting success is rather unprecedented for Louisville, as the Cards have secured more than eight commitments in the last two weeks.

The Big Red Louie team talked ad nauseam during the latest episode of the BRL podcast about the recruiting efforts and what Scott Satterfield and his staff are doing right and why we believe this is only the beginning for the Cards.

Louisville will likely end up with a top 30 class this season, assuming that they are able to land some high-level four stars and some of the players they’ve secured commitments from advance in the rankings as you would expect. Many questioned whether the Cards new staff could recruit at a high level coming from a small school, but in a matter of months those notions have been dispelled quickly.

Satterfield’s 2020 recruiting class now holds 12 commitments, with plenty more to come. Stay tuned this weekend as we expect more commitments.