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Based on their composite rankings for Louisville’s all-time recruits, let’s take a look at who are the highest quarterback prospects to sign with the Louisville Cardinals.
The 6-foot-1 signal caller, who has been at the helm for the Cardinals the past five seasons, was actually the tenth ranked quarterback in Louisville history coming out of high school. A student at Park Crossing High School in Montgomery, Alabama, Cunningham was rated as a three-star quarterback with an overall composite score of 0.8686.
Recruited to Louisville under the Bobby Petrino administration, he decided to stay put even when the coaching position changed to Scott Satterfield. Cunningham seemed to be a perfect quarterback for the new scheme because Satterfield’s gameplan does not include much passing.
Cunningham finished his Louisville career with 9,664 passing yards, 70 touchdowns, and 29 interceptions which gave him a career passer rating of 151.7. His statistics on the ground were equally as impressive as he finished with 3,184 rushing yards and 50 touchdowns.
In addition to his impressive stat lines, he also tied Lamar Jackson for the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in school history as well as broke Lamar’s record of 119 touchdowns responsible for by amassing a total of 120 total touchdowns. It’s safe to say he greatly exceeded his three-star rating.
Ironically, Johnson sat behind Malik Cunningham as a true freshman in Malik’s final year for the Cardinals and coming out of Clay-Chalkville High School in Pinson, Alabama, he was rated slightly higher than Cunningham. Joining the Cardinals as a member of the Class of 2022, the 6-foot-2 dual threat quarterback came into Louisville with a three-star rating and an overall composite score of 0.8726.
Johnson still has yet to take a college rep on the field, but certainly has created a lot of buzz surrounding his abilities. Especially with the struggles the team was going through early on in the 2022 season. The storylines surrounding him are few and far between, but it was announced in August 2022 that he had suffered an injury to his non-throwing shoulder in the spring game.
The former three-star recruit declared his allegiance to the program early on, despite the coaching change. Now, he has an extra year under his belt as far as experience and is in the mix with several other quarterbacks in the room.
Perhaps the most shocking of all the rankings is Lamar Jackson coming into Louisville as the eigth best quarterback. Ironically enough he wore number 8 for the Cardinals and would go on to have it retired and earn himself his own street behind Cardinal Stadium with a speed limit of 8 miles per hour.
All roads lead to celebrating 8️⃣!
— Louisville Athletics (@GoCards) November 12, 2021
Introducing Lamar Jackson Way, speed limit 8 mph.#GoCards x @Lj_era8 pic.twitter.com/TmtXOGQtP0
A product of Boynton Beach Community High School, the 6-foot-3 Jackson came into Louisville as a member of the Class of 2015 with a three-star rating and an overall composite score of 0.8788. But, his production on the field proved that he was able to play even as a true freshman.
In his freshman season, he threw for 12 touchdowns and rushed for 11 touchdowns. His lucky number must be the number 8 because he also threw for eight interceptions. Leaving the program after his junior season, Jackson finished with 9,043 passing yards, 4,132 rushing yards, 69 passing touchdowns, and 50 rushing touchdowns. One could argue that he is the greatest quarterback in Louisville history or at least the most recognizable quarterback in Louisville history as he is now the face of the Baltimore Ravens organization.
A native of Louisville, Kentucky and a star at Trinity High School, Reggie Bonnafon joined the Cardinals as a member of the Class of 2014 with a three-star rating and an overall composite score of 0.8801.
The 6-foot-3 dual threat quarterback was a unique weapon for the Louisville offense. He not only played quarterback, but even returned some punts in his final season as a Cardinal and recorded a tackle. Bonnafon was a Swiss army knife for the Cardinals and was a weapon in multiple facets on the field. He was able to translate his production at Trinity over to the collegiate field fairly easily it seems.
After four seasons, Bonnafon’s stat sheet was filled with numbers:
- 1,056 passing yards
- 7 passing touchdowns
- 805 rushing yards
- 12 rushing touchdowns
- 446 receiving yards
- 6 receiving touchdowns
- 12 punt returns for 81 yards
A native of Lexington, Kentucky, the city that residents of Louisville quite possibly could hate the most, spurned the hometown Kentucky Wildcats to enroll at the University of Louisville. Kyle Bolin arrived on campus in July 2013 as a four-star recruit with an overall composite score of 0.8919.
The 6-foot-3 pro-style quarterback was a standout at Lexington Catholic High School and spent four seasons with the Cardinals before going to Rutgers University as a graduate transfer. Before joining the Scarlet Knights, Bolin finished his Louisville career with a career total 2,104 passing yards and 13 passing touchdowns. He was certainly not known for his rushing abilities as he finished with 29 rushing attempts for a total of -91 yards for an average of -3.1 yards per carry.
In his third season at Louisville, Bolin battled for playing time with Reggie Bonnafon, Will Gardner, and freshman Lamar Jackson. It’s safe to say Bolin should have left the rushing to Bonnafon and Jackson.
Dominique Brown came to Louisville as a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, another city that residents of Louisville are not particularly fond of due to the longstanding rivalry with the University of Cincinnati in the Battle for the Keg of Nails. Brown, a 6-foot-2 dual threat quarterback, joined the Cardinals as a member of the Class of 2010 with a four-star rating and an overall composite score of 0.8958.
Known for his strong running ability, he wanted to be recruited as a quarterback and attended the Peyton Manning Camp and Bishop Dullaghan Camp to help strengthen his passing mechanics. Brown’s high school head coach, Troy Everhart described him with these words:
"“He’s impressive. He runs people over, he makes people miss and he’s got a gear that people can’t catch…I had one coach come in here and say ‘Coach, I think he could be a tailback.’ He’s got great vision and he probably could. He’s a great athlete, strong runner.” “The kid’s a top-notch athlete, a top-notch player and he’s even a better person which makes life easy here…I just know this – he’s a guy you take because he isn’t going to get in trouble, his grades are good and one of the better kids I’ve had in the past ten years as far as talent vs. ego”"
Brown ended up spending four seasons with the Cardinals and tallied only two passing attempts in his entire career with one of those attempts ending in an interception.
Although he was recruited as a dual threat quarterback, he spent most of his time rushing. At the end of his career, he finished with 1,795 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns. He also would pave the way for how Louisville would use Reggie Bonnafon because Brown also had 50 receptions for 443 yards and two touchdowns. Brown would also field seven kick returns for 64 yards and even record two tackles.
Dominique Brown walked so Reggie Bonnafon could run.
The prize of the Class of 2023, Pierce Clarkson has yet to even take a snap on the field for the University of Louisville. Coming out of St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California, the 6-foot quarterback joins the Cardinals as a four-star recruit with an overall composite score of 0.9198.
In his senior year of high school, Clarkson threw for 1,903 yards and 26 touchdowns to only six interceptions, including one game against Mission Viejo High School in which he needed only five completions to record over 200 yards and three touchdowns.
Four-star QB Pierce Clarkson only needed five completions to throw for over 200 yards and three touchdowns.
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) November 20, 2022
Story: https://t.co/8O4kS9bVo3 pic.twitter.com/jNjFUdD0iu
He also rushed for 422 yards and five touchdowns. Heading into college, he will most likely sit behind graduate transfer Jack Plummer. But, he is projected to be the face of the program for years to come.
Jawon Pass, a product of Carver High School in Columbus, Georgia, joined the Cardinals as a member of the Class of 2016. The 6-foot-4 dual threat quarterback had the difficult task of following in the footsteps of Lamar Jackson, despite his recruiting ranking being higher than Lamar’s. Pass came to Louisville as a four-star recruit with an overall composite score of 0.9209.
On paper, it seems like he should have been able to exceed the production of Lamar Jackson, given Jackson’s status as a three-star prospect. But, he could never seem to click with the Louisville offense. In his first two seasons, he only appeared in a combined total of six games and recorded two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown.
His third season, in 2018, was by far his best season in which he appeared in 11 games and was responsible for ten touchdowns–eight passing, two rushing. But, Pass would ultimately lose the quarterback battle to Malik Cunningham and would only appear in four games in his final two seasons with the Cardinals.
Through it all, Jawon Pass remained faithful to the University of Louisville. He graduated in five years and ended up transferring to Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas, which is a Historically Black College and University (HBCU).
After one year with the Panthers, he was selected by Head Coach Hines Ward of the San Antonio Brahmas in the XFL.
Teddy Bridgewater, the prize of the 2011 recruiting class by then-Head Coach Charlie Strong, was a dual threat quarterback prospect out of Northwestern High School in Miami, Florida. Bridgewater was a four-star recruit with an overall composite score of 0.9515.
He chose the Cardinals over Florida, LSU, and Miami, and in doing so, has become one of the biggest fan favorites in Louisville football history. Teddy “Two Gloves”, as they call him, finished his Louisville career with 9,817 passing yards, 72 passing touchdowns, 170 rushing yards, and six rushing touchdowns.
Bridgewater would go on to become a first-round NFL draft pick by the Minnesota Vikings. He would become their starting quarterback and played at a high level until he dislocated his knee and tore his ACL. Ever since then, he has been a journeyman in the league and is currently a member of the Miami Dolphins.
The highest overall quarterback recruit to ever come through the University of Louisville is not only a native of Louisville, Kentucky but is also a member of the first football family of Louisville. Brian Brohm, the youngest of the Brohm brothers, starred at Trinity High School just like his two older brothers, Greg and Jeff, and joined the Cardinals as a member of the Class of 2004.
He was a four-star recruit with an overall composite score of 0.9783, which has secured his place as the second highest rated recruit in Louisville history, only behind five-star Michael Bush. Brohm finished his Louisville career with 10,775 passing yards, 71 passing touchdowns, and nine rushing touchdowns.
The 6-foot-3 pro-style quarterback would go on to be selected in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. But, he would only last in the NFL from 2008-2010 before making a couple of stops in the United Football League and the Canadian Football League.