Louisville football recruiting: A-Z guide for National Signing Day

The Early National Signing Period will be a busy day for Scott Satterfield and the Louisville football program. Our A-Z guide will get you more than ready for what should be a big step forward for the Cards.

The Early National Signing Period is here! Get your fax machines ready (Louisville football will use email, thank god).

We’ve got you covered on everything you need to know about Louisville’s 2020 recruiting class and what you need to know from A to Z.

A – Austin Collins may be the steal of the class

The former Christian Academy of Louisville product moved back to Perrysburg, Ohio to play his final season of high school football. His local roots and ties to the program (his former head coach was Stefon LeFors) and his ability to play multiple positions on both the offensive and defensive lines makes him a more than capable starter down the road.

Collins is expected to play at the center position after playing both offensive guard and defensive end in high school, and that’s a position where he should thrive. With a season or two in the weight room combined with teaching from one of the best coaches in the game in Dwayne Ledford, it’s not a stretch to believe that Collins could be the steal of this class and a potential NFL draft prospect.

B – Ja’Darien Boykin could find himself starting on the defensive line from day one

As a four-star defensive end, Boykin was the highlight of Scott Satterfield’s first-class for 2019 before he was unable to qualify academically thus forcing him to enroll a year later.

After the final announcement came that Boykin would not join the team, many wondered whether or not he’d ever end up wearing the red and black for Louisville. Fortunately for Boykin and the program, he will in fact join the Cardinals for the 2020 season after he enrolls in January. That means not only will Boykin be on campus early but he’ll be able to go through spring ball and get a jump start on the incoming class.

With Amonte Caban gone to graduation and the shortage of impact defensive linemen, there’s a very strong chance that Boykin is a starter opposite of Tabarius Peterson from day one.  Boykin is a bit undersized for his position at 6’2, 240-pounds but his size, athleticism, and length should more than make up for that.

We saw the continued struggles the Cards linemen had at winning in the trenches and putting pressure on opposing backfields. With Boykin in the field, that should begin to change in 2020.

C –Coverage help is on the way

There’s absolutely no denying the fact that the biggest issue that plagued the Louisville football program during the 2019 season was their defense.

On average, Louisville gave up a shade over 446 yards per game which ranked 107th best in the nation in 2019. While those numbers were a drastic improvement from 2018, they told the story of what was left behind by the Petrino staff for Scott Satterfield and new defensive coordinators, Bryan Brown and Cort Dennison.

There was still a lot of good talent at the top of the depth chart, especially at linebacker, but in the secondary is where you could really see the most how much more work is going to be needed to get Louisville to where they want to go.

Thankfully, the 2019 class features a strong secondary group that should be able to help provide competition to the incumbent starters, depth, as well as playmaking right away.

Louisville brings in Zay Peterson and Josh Minkins Jr., both of whom are expected to play safety, while also securing commitments (and hopefully signed LOI’s) from cornerbacks Greedy Vance, Jamel Starks (2019 commit who was ruled ineligible and will enroll in January), and Lovie Jenkins.

They’ll also return three players who started and played a ton last season in Anthony Johnson, Chandler Jones, and Marlon Character, giving Brown a deep, versatile, and talented group who should be able to develop into a very special unit over the next few seasons.

D – Don’t let the rankings fool you

Scott Satterfield got him some boys who can play football. Remember this quote from earlier this season when walk-on kicker Ryan Chalifoux threw a touchdown pass to Marshon Ford on a fake kick?

"“I love that, because, to me, I don’t care who it is. Fans and media get into four-star, five-star. I just want football players. I don’t care where you come from.”"

Even with the continued need to rebuild the reputation and desirability of the Louisville football program throughout the recruiting community, Satterfield and his staff were able to get a ton of players that no one thought they could.

Chubba Purdy, Jordan Watkins, Josh Minkins Jr., Lovie Jenkins, Nick Malito, and a few others were prospects who at one point and time looked like there was no chance they’d consider Louisville. The Cards were coming off of a 2-10 season that led to the dismissal of their coach and the hiring of a winner at a smaller school.

While Louisville wasn’t able to consistently get in front of four and five-star players (just yet) they were able to get a ton of players who forever reason had flown under the radar. Despite not having the “sexy” power five offers you hope to see, there are a ton of really really good football players in the class of 2020.

From the bottom of the class with Brock Travelstead to the top with Chubba Purdy, Louisville football landed guys who fit their scheme, who have a good head on their shoulders, and who want to be apart of something special. All of that combines to make a perfect recipe for winning.

You may have never heard of them, you may not like their star rating, but when guys like Duane Martin, Austin Collins, Dezmond Tell, and Jared Dawson become household Cardinal names I’ll be here to tell you “I told you so.”

E – Everyone will have a chance to get on the field in 2020

We knew that the mess that Bobby Petrino left behind for Scott Satterfield and the new Louisville football staff was going to take time to clean up. When a coach forgets to care and his program goes array, it leads to things like a mismanaged roster, lack of quality players, attitude problems, and much more.

Thankfully, Satterfield and company were able to take what looked like a bare cupboard and turn it into a seven-win, second-place ACC Atlantic finish in 2018. But as we expected, the waves from the Petrino storm weren’t over.

Depth was a constant issue for the Cards and towards the end of the season, it wore everyone down, showing there’s still a long way to go. Thankfully, with a top 35 class coming in, there will be plenty of playing time to go around.

Of the 24 guys who are committed as of today, as many as 16-18 could enroll early, meaning they’ll get the chance to go through spring ball and prove they were worthy of immediate playing time. Even for those who enroll in the summer, a chance to show they can provide depth and playmaking shouldn’t be unlikely.

In fact, I’d make the argument that anyone in the class of 2020 (including Starks & Boykin) could ultimately land a starting job or a role that allows them to see the field a lot, like special teams. Will everyone play a ton of snaps? No, but the quality of this class is a testament of the staff’s ability to find guys who are football players through and through.

That should translate to immediate playing time for many.

F – Fitzpatrick = The new first family of Louisville football

Things didn’t look good for a while after Christian Fitzpatrick, the younger brother of star receiver Dez Fitzpatrick, committed to Washington State earlier this summer.

Think about it. Christian had been around the program since Dez’s recruitment in 2014-2015, seeing the high’s and low’s during the Petrino era. In 2018 it all came crashing down, and there was a ton of worry that the younger Fitzpatrick, who was becoming an up-and-coming recruit himself, may have no interest in the Cards after all he had seen.

Then came the new staff. Gunter Brewer and Scott Satterfield not only began to rebuild relationships with Dez Fitzpatrick, the Cards new number one star receiver, but also with Christian and his father Greg. It wasn’t just Louisville knocking on the Fitzpatrick’s door. Penn State, West Virginia, Missouri, and plenty of others wanted the four-star receiver to say no to Louisville and yes to them.

When Christian committed to Wazzu a very high-powered throwing offense, it looked like the Cards were done. Fans all were upset. How could they not be? Losing the younger brother of arguably your best player to a team out west? It made sense, I guess. Louisville’s offense didn’t look like it was going to be an offense that passed the ball a ton, leaving receivers to block and strictly rely on a few targets a game on play-action passes built off the run.

Then Boston College happened.

Dez Fitzpatrick pulled in five receptions for 105 yards and an incredible touchdown with his little brother and family in attendance. Within a matter of a few weeks, Fitzpatrick decommitted from Wazzu and flipped his allegiance to the Cards – guaranteeing at least one season playing opposite of his older brother.

https://twitter.com/dezfitz8/status/1186075737008279558

We used to refer to the Brohm’s as the “First Football Family of Louisville,” but ladies and gentlemen of Card Nation thanks to someone turning down a job to become a Cardinal (Thanks, Jeff – we owe you) I am proud to finally declare the “Fitzpatricks” the new football family of Louisville.

G – Graduate transfers may now come into play

Louisville holds 24 commitments in the class of 2020 as of the day before the early signing period kicks-off and my guess is they’ll likely sign 21-24 guys leaving them with as many as four or five spots to fill in the Spring before the final signing period in February.

There’s at least one player who for sure will back off his commitment tomorrow and sign with another program, while a few others could follow the same path – as is common on NSD. That means that the Cards will have options as to who they take in February and how many spots they decide to leave open.

Shall they decide not to take four to five more incoming freshmen or junior college transfers, that leaves the door open to landing impact graduate transfers. Much like Chris Mack did last season for Louisville, Satterfield wisely used open scholarships to target graduate transfers like T.J. Holl (a former Patriot League DPOY), Ty Tyler, Ean Pfeifer, and Thomas Jackson to help provide much-needed depth and leadership.

You could see Satt and company do the same again, but instead, target higher-level players who will be able to compete for starting jobs and provide a season full of impact. There’s a ton of talent on the team for the 2020 season, but once again depth will be an issue.

Finding a few players who can play right away may be more attractive for a team ready to win as many as eight games versus bringing in freshmen who will take time to develop may be something that attracts the staff moving forward.

H – How does Louisville avoid “poaching?”

Every year it seems like more and more programs start to come sniffing around Louisville’s program looking for players at the very last second. That’ll be no different this season under Scott Satterfield.

Earlier this season, Louisville was the beneficiary of players backing out of their prior commitments in order to join the Cards – but now it could be UofL who runs into the problem.

We all already know about Chubba Purdy, Louisville’s star QB commit, and his official visit to Florida State. If you don’t, you can read more about that here. Will his time spent with Mike Norvell and the potential to start right away outweigh months and months of relationship building with Louisville? That’s what we’ll find out on Wednesday.

The fact that Purdy went to FSU just days before officially signing could make any fan base nervous – especially one as familar with heartbreak as Louisville. However, I 100 percent expect him to sign with Louisville OR at the least, extend signing until February.

Purdy isn’t it.

Offensive guard Kobe Baynes recently visited Miami and is a player who could be on “flip watch.” While defensive end and recent commit, Josh Griffis, has essentially already decommitted from Louisville and pledged back to FSU.

It sucks to know that Louisville has held commitments from the majority of their players since the summer and could be at risk in losing months of work in just a matter of hours. But, that’s the landscape we live in and the coaches chose to coach in. If it happens, it happens and it’s worth saying – keep your trust in the staff. They’ll get it figured out by February.

Tomorrow will be interesting to say the least.

I – I love this class and think you should too

How could you not love a group of guys who want nothing more than to put Louisville back on the map?

The answer, you can’t.

J – JUCO players a theme in 2020 class

Much like regular transfers, often times taking players from the junior college players can come with risk. At Louisville, we’ve seen that several times in the past.

Guys like Trevon Young, Devonte Fields, Kiola Mihoni, and even more recently Monty Montgomery provided much-needed impact on the field for Louisville while Ronald Rudd, Pat Thomas, Gio Pascascio and plenty of others either didn’t see the field (or warrant a scholarship) or never even made it to campus.

We saw the impact that Montgomery provided to the Louisville defense in 2019, leading the team in sacks with five (while playing in a reserve role) as well as forcing three crucial turnovers (also led the team).

The staff is looking to catch lightning in a bottle a second time with their commitments from junior college players such as Trevor Reid, Marvin Dallas, Braden Smith, and potentially defensive end Yaya Diaby, linebacker Jamoi Hodge, and cornerback Jakorian Bennett.

Reid is a plug-n-play tackle, who should start right away on either the right side (replacing Tyler Haycraft) or the left side (replacing Mekhi Becton) while Dallas and Smith are two players who should play specialty roles as reserves in their first season and could develop into starters down the road.

With depth and impact play-making needing right away, taking a risk on a few stand out junior college players makes a ton of sense for Scott Satterfield and the Louisville football program.

K – Kicker Brock Travelstead could be the next Louisville great

Losing Blanton Creque to a torn ACL in the latter part of the season really hurt Louisville. Especially considering their lack of experience in the kicking game.

While back-up walk-on, Ryan Chalifoux did have one of the biggest plays of the season when he threw a touchdown on a fake field goal, he also struggled with his boot to the point where it changed the game plan for the Cards.

Chalifoux was17/20 overall on extra points (which isn’t great, considering Creque’s performance) and 0/1 on field goals, a number that doesn’t probably reflect how things went down. That’s why the job could be wide open for the taking in 2020.

With James Turner handling kick-off duties, that means the placekicking role will be wide open and a job that the freshman to be Travelstead could win. He’s one to keep an eye on. Art Carmody, John Wallace, and Blanton Creque, UofL’s three most successful kickers of the last 20 or so years, all earned early playing time – which was the springboarded them to greatness, that’s exactly what we could see with Travelstead.

L – Local flavor has returned

One of the biggest priorities early on in the tenure of Scott Satterfield as the Louisville head coach after his hiring was to mend the broken relationships between local high school coaches and the program.

While the blame clearly fell on Bobby Petrino, Satterfield was the one who was tasked with cleaning it up – which is exactly what he’s done.

Vince Marrow has been a dominating force in the recruiting scene locally, helping Kentucky land top talent from the Ville such as JJ Weaver, Shawnkel Knight-Goff, Jared Casey, Izayah Cummings, John Young and plenty of others, but I don’t expect that to last much longer.

We knew it take a while for Satterfield to get things going, a la the loss of Cummings and Young to Kentucky in 2020, but to land the players they did means something is going right.

It started with Josh Minkins Jr., a three-star safety from Ballard whose recruitment blew up this past summer. After his commitment, all eyes turned to Jordan Watkins who first chose Kentucky before decommitting and choosing Louisville. And while he now lives in Ohio, let’s also not forget Austin Collins.

It may be a few more years before Louisville locks down their back yard, but to land talented play-makers like Minkins, Watkins, and Collins is a huge indicator of the amount of work that’s already been done.

M – “I’m Nick Malito, and I’m a receiver for the people”

To me, there’s no more intriguing player in this class than Nick Malito. Why? Dude has burners. Like as fast or faster than Tutu Atwell burners. That type of speed will get you on the field quick.

Malito will likely play the slot-receiver position, where he’ll play reserve snaps behind Tutu Atwell, along with Dexter Rentz, Jordan Watkins, and returning junior Josh Johnson.

You can check out our piece following Malito’s commitment to Louisville, here.

Also, I can’t wait to hear all the great “for the people jokes” over the next three to five years.

N – No more decommitments, please

Every time a player decommits from Florida State, they offer a Louisville player.

Jeff Sims (QB) – Chubba Purdy (QB)

Josh Griffis (DE) – Yayay Diaby (DE)

Okay, so it’s only two guys but still, you get the point. 

I like Mike Norvell and would like to keep it that way, but he’s making it pretty damn difficult. STOP RECRUITING OUR GUYS, MIKE.

O – Offense reloads at wide receiver, which means everyone else in the ACC should be nervous

Louisville’s got a quarterback for the short-term in Micale Cunningham and two coming in for the long-term. Pair them with Louisville’s LOADED receiver class which includes – Tutu Atwell (Jr.), Dez Fitzpatrick (R-Sr.), Justin Marshall (R-Jr.), Tyler Harrell (Jr.), Josh Johnson (R-So.), Christian Fitzpatrick (Fr.), Dexter Rentz (Fr.), Nick Malito (Fr.), Jordan Watkins (Fr.) – and things are going to get crazy the next few seasons.

P – Purdy sure Louisville will sign Chubba

See H. It may be hard to see now, but months and months of relationship building can’t be forgotten in a matter of a few days.

Q – Quarterback is in a good place regardless of what happens

Even if Chubba Purdy does end up holding off on signing until February or ultimately decommits and moves to another program, Louisville is going to be just fine.

That’s because of Tee Webb, Louisville’s first quarterback commitment in the class of 2020. While most people have spent their time praising Purdy (as they should), they often times forget about Webb and just how good he could be for Louisville.

After backing up now Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, Webb threw for 2,786 yards and 35 touchdowns and took four more to the house on the ground while leading his team to a 14-1 record in his first season as the starter at Cartersville High School. He followed that up by throwing for 2,677 yards and 25 touchdowns to just three interceptions while running for 81 yards 3 touchdowns.

Like Lawrence, Webb is not a super bulky guy, but he has an above-average arm and utilized excellent timing. He consistently demonstrates the ability to dissect defenses calmly and make all of the throws necessary. He has a beautiful touch over the top and showed time after time that he can throw a receiver open.

Maybe most importantly for Scott Satterfield’s offense is that Webb is an all-around good athlete. He is a smooth, polished runner with surprising breakaway sweet and agility. He can make a ton of throws, but escaping and throwing on the run is a crucial skillset in the new Louisville offense.

Let’s also not forget to mention that Webb never wavered on his commitment after the commitment of Purdy. Instead, he’s focused on saying the right things and allowing his actions on the field to do the talking for him.

Read more about Webb here. Read about Purdy & Webb here.

R – Meet Trevor Reid, Dwayne Ledford’s next big-time prospect

At 6’5, 300 pounds, Reid is a junior college-tested plug-n-play starter who should fill the open hole on either the left or right side.

There’s a reason Reid is ranked as the nation’s no. 1 ranked junior college offensive linemen and he showed it during his final season at Georgia Military College in 2019 being named an NCJAA First-Team All-American. Reid talked with Jody Demling about his improvement and how far he’s come since arriving for his sophomore season at GMC, which also includes putting on nearly 30 pounds, and the results showed that hard work.

My best guess would be that Reid would slide into the starting role at right tackle for Tyler Haycraft while Adonis Boone holds down the left side as he’s done this season.

S –Speed, speed, and more speed.

Louisville got faster at literally every position. A few guys to call out specifically who have been noticed or recruited in part because of their elite speed include Nick Malito, Jordan Watkins, Marvin Dallas, and Kameron Wilson. Again, speed is everywhere y’all.

T – The “trenches” was one of the biggest areas of focus and the biggest win

The numbers in a recruiting class will usually tell you everything you need to know about a coach’s strategy to refill their rosters. That’s extremely evident this season with Scott Satterfield and Louisville’s 2020 class as they’ve stacked the box (no pun intended) with a ton high-quality offensive line and defensive linemen.

U – UofL’s class will likely finish within the top five in program history

Things might have looked different than you were used to when it came to the type of players that the new staff targeted in this class.

V – Value can be found everywhere

Value is important all the time. Whether it be in the grocery store or in a recruiting class. Everyone wants to feel good about what they are getting.

That’s why I say that this class has value.

All over the board, you can find players that based on what we’ve seen and heard from coaches, recruiting analysts, or other outlets are really good football players who either didn’t get the exposure they needed for major offers or major publicity.

Duane Martin is a perfect example.

Martin was the first true flip for the Louisville football staff in the class of 2020, as he decommitted from ECU earlier this year and pledged to the Cards. His profile lists him as an ILB, a position that he won’t play at Louisville. The staff targeted him instead to play the h-back position and he’ll provide a similar impact as Marshon Ford down the road.

Jared Dawson will provide speed and athleticism to the defensive line as a fairly undervalued recruit. Jordan Watkins will bring 4.3 speed as a mid-level three-star. Nick Malito was committed to Toledo but will be a huge part of the Louisville future.

I could go on for days.

This class has versatility. Athleticism. Good character. Power. and speed. All from a big group of players who will come in with a chip on their shoulder, hungry to become great for Scott Satterfield. That’s value.

W – Whiffing now could lead to rewards in February

If Louisville isn’t able to land any of the players they have their eyes on including, Mason Cobb, Lakevias Daniel, or Jakorian Bennett, then it will leave spots open for players in February.

Whether that’s a graduate transfer or a high school player, it’ll allow for Louisville to be picky and land players who fit rather than rushing to land players who may not be up to or with what’s needed.

Over the next few weeks to months, Louisville football’s pipeline will strengthen just like it did in the late signing period last season. If you remember, the staff was able to land commitments and sign players like Zach Edwards, Jamel Starks, and Ja’Darien Boykin – all of whom presume to be a big part of the Cardinals’ future. I would expect the same here.

You may miss out on a few good players now but that doesn’t mean those spots won’t be filled with equally good players or even better ones come February.

Patience is critical.

X – X-factor could be a lower-ranked player

Just because a player is ranked near the “bottom” of a recruiting class doesn’t mean he couldn’t have a bigger impact down the road.

Take Louisville’s true freshman back-up Evan Conley for example. He was Louisville lowest-rated player in 2019 with no other offers from power five schools. Conley was also the only true freshman to not redshirt.

Y – Yaya, what are you going to do?

I’ve never written about a recruit more than Yaya Diaby. No joke.

At Big Red Louie, we’ve followed along with the recruiting of Diaby since he attended Louisville’s VIP recruiting camp this summer along with teammates Trevor Reid and Marvin Dallas of Georgia Military College.

Diaby is a guy who stands out. At one of the first recruiting events for the 2020 class, Diaby instantly became a player on the Louisville radar and on fans radar. While he played for a junior college that went 5-5 and wasn’t known for pumping out elite players, it didn’t matter. He passed the eye test at 6’4. 255 and he caught the eye of a lot of fans.

His offer sheet wasn’t anything to go crazy about at the time, but since he’s been one of the hottest junior college players in the country picking up offers from numerous power five schools including West Virginia, Colorado, Arizona, Kansas State, South Carolina, and most recently from Mike Norvell and Florida State.

Diaby always seemed to be a lean towards Louisville, but a commitment never happened. Now with a ton more schools involved, including several SEC schools, it seems as if the Cards may have been put in the rearview mirror.

Maybe I’m wrong. Who knows. That’s the weird thing about college football recruiting. I do know that the staff has continued to recruit Diaby, hosting him on campus for an official visit back in November and that means a long-term relationship has been built. Knowing what I know about the staff I would tend to think that that will be something nearly every player who’s recruited by Louisville will consider right up until the end.

My guess is he extends his recruitment past the signing period with a ton of new schools recently getting involved.

Z – This class’s biggest intangible? Zeal. 

Zeal can be defined as having great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective. For all 24 players in the class of 2020, they share one thing in common; a desire to want to take Louisville back to the top and once again become a team competing for league titles.

They all want to win and they want to do it with and for Scott Satterfield. If you’ve followed along the recruiting cycle and read stories on incoming recruits and why they pledge to Louisville, they all say the same thing; it’s a family and special is happening.

We saw it last season with a group of players who were holdovers from the Bobby Petrino days. Satterfield and his staff cared about players and made sure that they knew that life was bigger than football. On the field, they played for each. They played hard. They fought. And while it wasn’t always pretty, they knew that this was just year one. Special things were ahead.

The incoming class includes players who were chosen by Scott Satterfield to play at Louisville and be apart of a special culture, and the players are ready to do just that with zeal.