Ranking the 25 most important players for Louisville football in 2019

I’ve never liked when people use this old and overused expression, but it kind of fits – I’m not going to beat a dead horse. Bad jokes aside, we all know that Louisville’s success this season will be determined by multiple factors and positions.

We also know the Louisville football offense starts with the Quarterback.

And we DEFINITELY know that Louisville’s QB has had a roller-coaster career thus far.

Pass has more than seen his share of trials and tribulations as the initial starter of last year’s squad, however – all current signs are pointing in the right direction for a 2019 resurgence.

First, Satterfield and staff made Pass’ confidence, or lack thereof, a top priority before he even stepped foot on the field. On multiple occasions this summer we’ve heard Satt talk about Pass and his lack of confidence coming out of the 2018 season essentially saying he’s never seen a quarterback as broken mentally as Pass.

Last season the former four-star and high school All-American (let me just remind you of that again, just in case) struggled to find his footing as the replacement for Lamar Jackson. With following in the Heisman Trophy winners footsteps comes big responsibility, and with the entire facade of the program crumbling underneath Petrino, Pass took more criticism then he probably should have.

He showed flashes of being able to develop into a competent quarterback throughout the season, his 54 percent completion rating and 12 interceptions were a lot to overcome, and it’s a big reason why fans have doubts about the 2019 season.

Second, the new offense relieves pressure for Pass to make the plays – the run game will be utilized more, setting up ideal passing plays that will get the ball to Louisville’s impressive receiving core.

Becoming more of a local leader has become a huge part of the season for Pass as well. Seth Dawkins speaking on Pass at ACC Kick-Off said, “Puma did not talk. Puma usually doesn’t talk. But now he’s speaking up, being more vocal. Everybody is hearing the QB talk and I feel like on every great team you need to hear the QB talk because he’s the leader of the team and especially the offense. We didn’t really have that last year.”

From all accounts, Pass has come a long way this offseason and has developed nicely in the new-look offense. He’s going to be asked to do a lot of new things and with that comes a lot of question marks and expectations.

Satterfield spoke after this weekend’s press conference saying, “Mentally, Puma was a lot better today. He was a lot sharper in his decision-making, which is the key. He was a lot more accurate. The ball was where it needed to be, which is a good sign in his development.”

If Satterfield sticks to a similar offense to what he ran at App State, we will see them use Pass in a lot of new formations. At App they were great at combining the pistol and shotgun schemes using the spread-option play calls from big sets. We saw Pass show signs of being able to run and move the pocket with his feet, something that should be a huge positive for his development under quarterbacks coach Frank Ponce.

How far of a jump in improvement Lousiville makes in the win/loss column is going to fall on Jawon Pass’ shoulders. The offensive line, wide receivers, running backs, and tight ends are all prepared to make major strides under Satterfield, and if Louisville is able to get any significant improvement out of Pass they could be looking at exceeding expectations.

As long as Pass can properly manage games and get the ball to the right weapons, we should see Jawon take major strides from last season. Read more about Jawon’s potential comeback season here.