Injury to Russ Yeast a blow to Louisville football but not a knockout punch

Louisville football will be without Russ Yeast for the rivalry matchup with Kentucky and potentially for the bowl. Why his injury won’t knock Louisville out.

One major issue that has caused a lot of concern for Scott Satterfield and the entire Louisville football staff this season has been injuries. No program across the country wants a player to be sidelined with injury, that’s obvious, but for Louisville, any single injury could cause twice the impact due to their lack of depth across the board.

All offseason and even throughout the season, Satterfield has addressed the concerns held about the lack of depth on Louisville’s roster. At nearly every position, outside of maybe running back, wide receiver, and inside linebacker, the Cards have run into depth issues.

The quarterback position was the first to take a major hit when starter Jawon Pass was announced as being out of the remainder of the season with a foot injury. Running back, the offensive and defensive lines, cornerback and special teams have all been impacted by injury, which has forced coaches into playing guys who may not be ready or able to play at the level of the one lost.

The phrase “next man up” is one you often hear in football, and for Louisville football they’ll find out if the depth at one of the most valuable positions on the field will be up for a challenge when the Cards go up against Kentucky this weekend, playing for the first time without starting safety Russ Yeast.

Yeast went down with an apparent knee injury in Saturday’s win over Syracuse that knocked him out for the remainder of the game. During his weekly press conference with local media, Satterfield announced that Yeast would be out for the Kentucky game after having a procedure on his knee and could even miss Louisville’s bowl game sometime in December or early January.

There’s no denying that losing Yeast will be a huge blow to an already suspect defense. In his junior season, Yeast has totaled 61 total tackles as well as four pass deflections, two forced fumbles, and an interception and has been one of the key clogs in a group that has definitely struggled, but has made just enough plays to win games.

Yeast was a favorite of the new Louisville staff from the very beginning of them taking over and will be the biggest loss this season. Bryan Brown talked about Yeast and the early impression he made back during Spring Practice, which set the foundation of his breakout season, with ESPN Louisville’s Drew Deener, saying:

"“When I got here in December and met with him (Yeast), I said “Hey, let’s get your name out of the portal. Let’s try to work this thing out.”Right now he’s our starting strong safety. He’s unbelievable! We moved him from corner to safety, that was one of our moves and he fits just perfectly at that spot. He’s like a corner, but he’s not a true corner if you understand what I’m saying. He’s not a guy that can just go out there on an island all the time and lock up on one. My strong safety in our defense is really a third corner that tackles really well.(Last year) He was done, he was finished. He’s an unbelievable kid! And he’s probably going to go out with the ones come Notre Dame next year.”"

The next challenger for Louisville will be the 6-5 Kentucky Wildcats, which could be a matchup that makes the loss of Yeast manageable oddly enough.

Louisville will turn to reserves Jack Fagot, a former walk-on who has played a ton this season, as well as graduate transfer Isaiah Hayes and sophomore Trenell Troutman. Along with Khane Pass who will continue to start at safety, those three players will be responsible for filling a huge gap, attempting to do so against one of the top runners in the country.

Fagot has already proven more than capable this season, securing 19 tackles and an interception that came against Clemson star QB Trevor Lawrence. Hayes, who was a highly coveted transfer this offseason, has dealt with nagging shoulder and hamstring injuries but has seen an uptick in snaps the last few weeks. He’ll provide experience to the back end which includes a career 66 tackles, sack, and two forced fumbles.

Even with Yeast on the field, Louisville has given up 377 and 510 total yards respectively to North Carolina State and Syracuse, including 243 passing yards to NC State freshman Devin Leary, and another 249 to Tommy Devito and the Orange. However, the stats don’t show the impact that Yeast has had in the passing game, providing help down the field, as well as in the run game.

Against Kentucky, Louisville will likely look to do everything possible to take away the running threat of receiver turned quarterback Lynn Bowden Jr., who has averaged 7.4 yards per attempt this season and is close to eclippsing the 1,000-yard mark.

Yeast would have been a huge part of the game plan in both the run and passing game but now it’ll be Fagot, Hayes, and Troutman who will have to learn on the fly as they prepare to step in. Injuries to Pass in a few games this season have allowed for all three players to get time on the field, which should prove valuable this weekend.  Luckily for them, they won’t have much to worry about in pass coverage which should certainly make their jobs easier and actually may help to soften the blow of Yeast.

Through the six games that Bowden Jr. has played at quarterback, subbing in for the injured Sawyer Smith, he’s completed just 25 passes on 56 attempts (44 percent) for 287 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.

The numbers are a bit of fools gold as Kentucky has run the ball the majority of the time, but when Kentucky has dialed up passing plays, for the most part, they’ve been unsuccessful.

Bryan Brown and the Louisville defense will be ready to sell out on the run, attempting to make Kentucky turn to Bowden through the air – which has proven to be a recipe for failure in games against teams with offenses capable of scoring.

Fagot, Pass, Hayes, and Troutman all have played valuable snaps this season and now will be forced to prove whether their play can be good enough to help Louisville get their eighth win of the season in year one of the Satterfield era.

Knowing what Yeast provides to Louisville and the lack of experience that will be lining up opposite of Pass, should make Eddie Gran think twice about testing the Cards deep but in all likelihood, it won’t.

Still, the injury to Yeast is a huge blow to the Cards and if they are going to have any chance of stopping the high-octane Kentucky offense it’s going to take Pass, Fagot, Hayes, and Troutman all playing at the highest level possible.