Louisville football: Five local prospects you need to know

Jantzen Dunn – ATH/S

Bowling Green, KY

Dunn is one of the best athletes in the state of Kentucky right now, and probably has the highest upside of any recruit in the 2021 class.

Louisville identified Dunn as an early must-target player and became his first power five offer last fall. Since then, all of the big-name programs have followed suit with offers, and the Cards appear to be in the thick of things along with Ohio State, Miami, Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, and Alabama.

When watching Dunn’s tape, his college-ready game stands out the most. He doesn’t have the most impressive size, and his straight-line speed can certainly improve, but he negates that with great footwork, timing, and physicality.

Though Dunn plays both ways, he is projected as a defensive back who can play safety and corner at the next level. He demonstrates the ability to break on the ball quickly and make up for some of his teammate’s deficiencies at times simply with awareness and superior athleticism.

What has coaches after Dunn is his upside. With a year or two in a college training program, Dunn can be an absolute monster. He has a lot of room to add weight to his frame, and he can certainly still become more quick and agile as he hones his craft on the defensive side of the ball.

Dunn is going to be a tough get for the staff. He probably doesn’t feel any loyalty to “stay home” in Kentucky because he is a Georgia transplant, and Miami is an interesting option for him because he is a legacy recruit. There’s always going to be interest when schools like Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Alabama are after you as well, and Georgia Tech is a hometown spot where he would be the guy.

Still, it speaks volumes that Louisville was the first power five school to offer before pretty much the rest of the big names were able to identify him, and perhaps the long-standing relationship will be good enough for Dunn to pull the trigger.