Louisville football: Three biggest storylines entering early signing period

Will the class get off to a “Purdy” good start?

If Louisville locks down this class’s headliner, Chubba Purdy, on Wednesday, this is only the beginning of terribly corny puns about the four-star quarterback.

Until just a week ago, Purdy appeared to be a lock to sign with the Cardinals, but as is so often the case in recruiting teenagers, things changed in a hurry.

When Florida State hired Mike Norvell away from Memphis two weeks ago, he was tasked with trying to assemble a recruiting class in a very short period of time. In similar fashion to Satterfield a year ago, Norvell is in the bind of not having established relationships with many players of the caliber that a Florida State should be landing.

That’s why, over the last week, Norvell has offered Purdy, a commit since June, along with former FSU commit and current Louisville commit Josh Griffis, as well as Louisville’s top JUCO target Yaya Diaby.

The Seminoles struggled for two seasons under recently-fired Willie Taggart, but the fact still remains that they are Florida State- A team only five years removed from a national title and an ACC powerhouse for decades. Regardless of commitment level to Louisville, recruits are going to pay attention when FSU starts talking.

The biggest concern among all of the recruits being courted by big-name schools is the commitment level of Purdy- Louisville’s potential quarterback of the future.

The Cards should be locked in with Malik Cunningham for years to come, and back-up true Freshman Evan Conley shined more often than not in his appearances, but Purdy along with fellow 2020 QB commit Tee Webb are two of the more highly sought-after players in their class for a reason and would figure to play a role in the QB competition starting this spring.

Purdy, in particular, has perhaps the most potential of any Louisville quarterback commit in a while. The 6’2.” 210-pound play-maker from Gilbert, Arizona finished his senior season with 3,369 passing yards and 33 passing touchdowns to only 7 interceptions, and also rushed for 1,054 yards (7.1 ypc) and 19 touchdowns.

Purdy is a scoring machine who has a demonstrated family lineage of success. His brother, Brock, is finishing up his sophomore season at Iowa State, where he has already started 22 career games and put up pretty similar numbers to his younger brother but at the next level.

The younger Purdy is thought to have even more potential, so when new names come calling, don’t take it as a surprise.

Those close to the situation feel that Chubba is locked in at Louisville. His father commented on the situation in a conversation with the Courier-Journal’s Cameron Teague earlier this week:

"“He’s not decommitting from Louisville. It’s a last-minute thing. Just got to go. Just to know that you know that you know. Maybe there is something there. “He called the Louisville guys and told them. He just wanted to be forthcoming with everything.”"

However, there’s still reason for skepticism. Remember when Lamar Jackson showed up to his signing with a Florida backpack after the Gators courted him late?

Until players sign their letter of intent on the dotted line, they are not locked in. That’s why 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong has Purdy listed as one of the top names on “Flip Watch” on Wednesday.

Will Purdy de-commit last second? It seems highly unlikely.

But, hey, this is college football recruiting. Crazier things have happened and will happen on Wednesday.