Louisville lands 4-star Miami transfer Gilbert Frierson

Miami transfer Gilbert Frierson is the latest athlete to join the Louisville Cardinals through the transfer portal. There was speculation surrounding Louisville Twitter that he was in town on a visit and much like Jackson State wide receiver transfer Kevin Coleman, he committed to the program hours after he was in town on a visit.

Frierson, a member of the Class of 2018, was rated a four-star prospect coming out of Coral Gables Senior High School in Miami, Florida. He stayed close to home at the University of Miami for the past five seasons and currently has one year of eligibility left. Coming out of Miami, he was granted an extra two years of NCAA eligibility due to his freshman year redshirt and an amnesty grant by the NCAA during the 2020-2021 season. The NCAA froze elibility during that season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 6-foot-1 safety joins a defensive back transfer class of Marquis Groves-Killebrew out of Texas A&M, Devin Neal Jr. out of Baylor, and Myles Slusher out of Arkansas. With the addition of Ron English as the new defensive coordinator for the Cardinals, Louisville has addressed a huge need in the secondary with these four additions to the team. Not to mention the addition of Aaron Williams, the four-star St. John Bosco High School signee.

English runs a 4-2-5 defensive scheme, which includes four down linemen, two linebackers, and five defensive backs. With the additions of these five athletes, English will have a plethora of talent to line up on the field for the Cardinals. And with this talent comes a lot of experience.

Frierson has five years of college football under his belt with his best season coming in 2020. In the year of the pandemic, he had 29 solo tackles, 24 assisted tackles, 53 total tackles, 9 tackles for loss, two sacks, and one fumble recovery. He was able to record those numbers as a starter under then-defensive coordinator Blake Baker, who is now the defensive coordinator for the Missouri Tigers.

Once Kevin Steele was hired as the defensive coordinator in February 2022, Frierson was on the outside looking in because Steele implemented a 4-3 defense as opposed to Baker’s 4-2-5 defense. The 4-3 defensive scheme is not as condusive to defensive backs as the 4-2-5 scheme is.

But, Frierson does not have to worry about that anymore as he is now a Louisville Cardinal and playing in the old scheme he thrived in. Louisville is excited to have a veteran presence in the secondary and another player from the south Florida area, which continues the Florida-Louisville pipeline that started so many years ago.

Head Coach Jeff Brohm continues his poaching in the portal with this signing and is clearly not finished. Georgia State wide receiver Jamari Thrash was also on campus today and after the recent addition of wide receiver Kevin Coleman, the likelihood of Brohm adding another receiver for his air-raid offense is not completely out of the range of possibilities.