Louisville football: Four incoming freshmen who could play vital role in 2020

Louisville football will sign the majority of its 2020 class in a matter of weeks. We take a look at five players you should be watching for on the field next season.

With the 2019 regular season complete and all eyes on Louisville football’s bowl matchup, the coaching staff are hard at work at putting the finishing touches on the 2020 recruiting class ahead of the Early Signing Period in mid-December.

We know about the success that Scott Satterfield and his staff had in their first full cycle of recruiting, going back to the recruiting events, coaches nights, and other “new initiatives” that were put into place to generate new excitement in the program.

It worked, and before you knew it Louisville had 23 players committed and a top 30 class. Satterfield will sign the majority of his class in just a matter of a few days and as many as 15 players will enroll early in January, and just like that the narrative will change from being excited about a potential commitment to now having realistic expectations to contribute to the growth of the program.

Depth was a major issue for Louisville this year, especially in the trenches both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, and the staff set out to make sure that the issues they ran into this season didn’t pop up again down the road.

The coaching staff at Appalachian State were used to playing as many as eight to 12 players throughout a single game on both the offensive and defensive lines. This year, Louisville was lucky to have half of that number available and able to contribute. The staff did a great job of getting the best out of their top players and bringing along younger and less experienced players, but the next step will include reaching those numbers.

The message throughout the season was consistent and vulnerable. “We need to develop depth.”

During a mid-season press conference, Satterfield told local media,

“We’ve got to continue to develop our depth. I think that’s probably one of the biggest things that we have. I feel like we put our first group out and those guys will be very good and solid and very competitive, but we all know in the game of football, you’re gonna have guys get dinged up. You’ve got to rotate guys. You know we play a lot of players and special teams. So right now working on that depth I think is the biggest thing.”

One of the big recruiting weapons the staff used to attract top talent to a program that is technically still “rebuilding” is playing time. There will be plenty of it available next season for the 25-plus guys that sign with Louisville as the Cards will be filling in spots on the roster that were left empty by the deflections last offseason as we as the outgoing senior class. Luckily they’ll lose only seven starters on offense and defense combined, as well as placekicker Blanton Creque and punter Mason King.

Louisville Football Departing Scholarship Players

Offense

• Seth Dawkins – WR 
• Jordan Davis – TE
• Ean Pfeifer – TE
• Mekhi Becton – LT**
• Tyler Haycraft – RT
• T.J. McCoy – OC
• Devante Peete – WR
• Thomas Jackson – WR
• Keion Wakefield – WR*

Defense

• G.G. Robinson – DT
• Amonte Caban – DE
• Khane Pass – S
• Boosie Whitlow – OLB
• Gary McCrae – DE
• Cornelius Sturghill – CB
• Ty Tyler – DE
• T.J. Holl – ILB
• P.J. Mbanasor – CB

Special Teams

• Blanton Creque – K
• Mason King – P

Let’s take a look at five guys who should be in line to make an instant impact for Louisville right away.