Louisville football: Five must-have offensive recruits for 2021

Jordan Dingle – TE

6’4, 235-pounds, Bowling Green, KY

National ranking: 387

Position ranking: 18 

Even with one tight end already in the fold, Louisville football seems likely to take two in the class of 2021. Vic Mullen pulled the trigger back in May, giving Louisville their first commitment at the position, and since then things have gone relatively quiet.

Louisville has extended a few offers to new players over the last few weeks and it seems that one or two players may be emerging as “legitimate” targets, but to me, the conversation at the position starts and stop with Bowling Green product, Jordan Dingle.

Dingle has been a name folks around the state have talked about for nearly two years now and following a monster junior season he became a player whose recruitment went from a regional to national level very quick. Now schools like Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Northwestern, and Kentucky along with Louisville and others are lining up hoping to land the 387th best player in the country.

He’s a big kid with a college-ready body that can move. Dingle not only excels in catching the ball and making plays down the field but also as a blocker, much like we saw last season from Ford. As a junior at Bowling Green high school, he totaled 35 receptions for 474 yards and five touchdowns. He can go verticle, run out routs, and short crossing routes effectively, and he demonstrates the ability to high point the ball and adjust or contort his body to haul in a pass.

While we’ve still continued to see the majority of recruits from the state of Kentucky go to play for the University of Kentucky, it’s obvious that Louisville football has made up ground. Dingle’s top schools right now seem to be Ohio State and Kentucky, but what I know about the staff is they won’t stop.

Assuming Dingle is at the top of the board like I imagine he would be because of his talent and fit than I trust the staff is working around the clock to recruit the three-star tight end just like they have other players on their board.

If Dingle decides to keep his recruitment open for the time being, I expect there to be a turning point during the season much like we saw with Jordan Watkins and Christian Fitzpatrick. Louisville’s Marshon Ford led tight ends in the ACC in touchdowns last season in what was his first “true” season after earning a scholarship over summer, and I expect him to take his game and production to another level this season.

I don’t know when, how, or what it will look like, but if Louisville stays in the race for Dingle to the end, I think we’ll be able to point back to a specific moment or game where a game (or multiple games) was influenced heavily by the tight end position.