Louisville football: Can Cards land perfect fit in 2020 athlete?

Louisville football is not done yet on the recruiting trail. Why this big-time athlete from Louisiana would be the perfect fit for the Cards.

Louisville football fans got a dose of what life can be like as a fan of a team with speed all over the field in year one under new head coach Scott Satterfield.

The Cardinals had a ton of depth issues when the new staff inherited a crop of misfit weapons who needed to find a place in Louisville. However, one thing that former coach Bobby Petrino was right about what that the Cards had a ton of speed; Louisville simply wasn’t utilizing it.

While Petrino often opted to keep the Lamborghinis of the bunch in the garage, Satterfield’s philosophy from day one was to sacrifice size for elite-level speed.

It paid off in a major way. Louisville’s three offensive stars in 2019 in Micale Cunningham, Javian Hawkins, and Tutu Atwell are among the fastest on the roster, and a lot of the undersized “tweeners” on the defensive side of the ball saw a lot more playing time under the new coaching staff.

For the Cards, going forward speed is going to be a huge emphasis placed on every recruiting class. The defense swarms to the ball while the offense runs past, around, and then through the opposition.

The Cardinals have already inked players like Jordan Watkins, Nick Malito, and Josh Minkins Jr– All sub-4.4 forty guys. But now, the staff is after maybe the fastest player yet.

High three-star and much sought-after star Corey Wren announced on Saturday that he has narrowed his recruitment to five schools: Louisville, Florida State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and TCU and that he will apparently be announcing on National Signing Day on February 5th.

https://twitter.com/CoreyLWren/status/1211029332325470208?s=20

Wren possesses blazing fast speed and projects to be a versatile do-it-all type of player at the next level.

The former Georgia commit pledged to the Bulldogs over the summer before de-committing early in December.

Since then (because of course, he has) Wren has visited Florida State and Maryland, and will still have another chance to officially visit elsewhere. For Louisville’s sake, let’s hope he saves the best for last.

At 5’9,” 170-pounds, Wren is a bit undersized, but he makes up for what he lacks in size with a complete package of a game. He is a track star who has legitimate 4.3 forty speed. When I first saw Wren’s tape, he reminded me a ton of a Nyheim Hines at NC State, and apparently Gabe Brooks of 247Sports agrees.

Wren often lines up in the backfield, but he is utilized as a receiver out of the backfield, on screen passes, or in the slot. He returns punts and kicks, and is deadly in all facets of the game.

Just imagine for a second a player like Wren sharing the same field with the aforementioned Atwell and Hawkins, as well as a speedster at quarterback in Cunningham.

Even if he wasn’t an instant-impact guy (which, there is reason to believe he could be) Wren would be a perfect next-in-line as Satterfield’s running back of the future. He fits well schematically at a number of positions and would be electric on special teams.

Still, Louisville is going to have some stiff competition for his services. Obviously, Florida State isn’t going to let him out of their sight and Oklahoma State only has the best running back in college football in NFL-bound Chuba Hubbard to use as a recruiting tool. Don’t rule out Oklahoma either. The Sooners have a crowded recruiting class, but they swung and missed on a few of their major targets. We will have to wait and see if Oklahoma makes Wren a priority.

Regardless of how this recruitment turns out, it is good to see that Louisville is right in the thick of things for some seriously talented athletes to round out the 2020 class.