Louisville football: 4 recruits who could close out the 2020 class

Thomas Shrader

247 Sports: 3-star – National ranking: 607, Position ranking: 48, Florida ranking: 86

I could have easily put Marcus Dumervil here, a name that plenty of Louisville fans are familar with, being related to former Cardinal legend, Elvis Dumervil. However, it seems at this point that Dumervil is likely going to decide between LSU and Oklahoma, despite having a connection to the program and a lot of respect for Dwayne Ledford.

Instead, I’ve included Thomas Shrader, an offensive lineman who Louisville nearly landed a few months back before he ultimately decided to commit to Florida State.

Now Shrader finds himself in the exact same situation as Josh Griffis, in which he’ll have to decide whether he wants to decommit and look for a new school or wait and see who Florida State ends up hiring at the conclusion of the season.

If he does decide to re-examine his options, don’t be shocked to see Louisville at the top of his list. Before Shrader pulled the trigger on committing to Florida State, Scott Satterfield and the Cards were included in his final two and had a great shot at landing the talented offensive tackle.

Shrader mentioned on several occasions that his relationship with offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford along with Louisville’s need for offensive linemen who can play right away had a huge influence, but ultimately he felt more comfortable with the coaching staff at Florida State.

Now that things have changed with Willie Taggart and his staff’s future, it would make a ton of sense for Shrader to flip to the school who finished second in his recruitment but has been the better program the last several months both on and off the field.

Shrader has the size and skill to play right away for Louisville, especially considering that Mekhi Becton could be off to the NFL at the conclusion of the 2019 season while Tyler Haycraft will be a graduating senior.

Louisville already has multiple linemen committed to the program in Austin Collins, Kobe Baynes, Luke Kandra, Trevor Reid, and Timothy Lawson which could make things a bit hairy for Louisville. But with Scott Satterfield and Dwayne Ledford continuing to emphasize the want and need to rotate linemen to stay fresh throughout the game, playing time right away should still be available for a guy like Shrader.

If a decommitment happens, my money is on Shrader to ultimately end up a Cardinal further enhancing what could be a dominant offensive line in a matter of a few years behind Dwayne Ledford.