Depth
If there’s one thing that the Louisville coaching staff has reiterated in each meeting with the media, it is their concern with establishing depth across the board.
Satterfield mentioned it in his introductory press conference, and he has placed an emphasis on establishing depth. Louisville is one of the more solid teams in the ACC on its first-team units. Behind the starters, however, is where many around the program grow concerned.
We’ve alluded to this repeatedly throughout the offseason, but the previous regime stocked the cupboard with way too many skill position players, and not nearly enough guys in the trenches. The new staff has responded by switching players to different positions, adding a bevy of instant-impact graduate transfers and JUCO players, and making sure that every player on the team has a fit that is ultimately beneficial to the future of the program.
The results have been mixed. Some position changes led to angst and names entering the transfer portal, while others have warranted praise. New safety Russ Yeast will start at strong safety, Rodjay burns will be in a unique position as a reserve outside linebacker while also returning punts, and Tobias Little will be featured as a tight end and H-back.
Players like graduate transfers Ty Tyler, Isaiah Hayes, TJ McCoy, and TJ Holl will either start or play a ton of snaps, and JUCO transfer Monty Montgomery is a player that we are extremely high on.
Still, we are concerned about the depth behind these players. What if injuries happen throughout the season? What if players are unable to go due to off the field issues? Possibly more importantly, what happens when the transplant players are gone? Will the coaching staff be able to develop the depth needed to start competing for ACC titles in the next 2-3 years?
Scott Satterfield has known his arriving in Louisville that this would be an issue, and we wrote about the plan that’s in place to ensure it doesn’t cause a huge drop-off. After the first practice of fall camp, Satterfield spoke to the media and was asked about his team. He said:
"“We knew this before the season, and that’s that creating depth is going to be the most challenging thing. I think once we put our first units out there, they’ll be solid- they’ll be pretty good. Then, that next unit that has to come in and rotate, is there gonna be a drop-off? And that’s what we’ve got to develop, those second guys, those third guys, because, as you get into the season- games three and four- you’re gonna get some guys dinged up. So I think that’s gonna be the key for us, developing quality depth is going to be the thing we have to do.”"
There are a lot of depth issues the staff has been quick to fix, but whether these are actual culture changers or just quick fixes remains to be seen.