Media painting us as evil and two faced in this article from the USA Today.
At least two of the Louisville football program’s 2019 recruits were “thrown for a loop” Sunday night when the incoming coaching staff informed them they would not honor the players’ scholarship offers.
Four players — athlete Anthony Adkins, guard Jack Randolph, wide receiver Stanley King, defensive tackle Denzel Daxon — have now reopened their recruitment. Those changes represent the first movement in Louisville’s recruiting class since the introduction of new coach Scott Satterfield on Tuesday.
Randolph said he received a call from recruiting staffer Pete Nochta, who informed him that “they were just looking to go in a different direction offensive line-wise, and told me I didn’t have the length or the weight to play in their system, so they pulled their scholarship," Randolph said.
After the news Sunday night, a parent of another prospect said, “The answer that was given to (recruits) was they’re trying to go in a totally different direction than anything Bobby Petrino wanted or had going on. So basically they’re cutting them? Because Petrino recruited them?”
“We were told from somebody at Louisville that all of the commits that were still there were going to have their scholarship hold up, no matter what happened with the new coach,” Randolph said.
Louisville’s 2019 class now has just four commits and ranks 125th in the country. The class has been leaking recruits for the past six weeks, during which nine players have decommitted and none have committed.
Asked Wednesday if he had spoken to the seven players who remained committed, Satterfield said he hadn’t yet.
“We’re just now diving into that film, watching them, seeing if they are going to fit our needs, what we want, and we’ll do some more of that tomorrow,” Satterfield said. “We’ll start talking to those guys tomorrow. Then, really try to get the rest of the class — who are some other guys that we need to look at and we’ll get on those guys as well, probably go see a few as well.”
In the four weeks between the firing of Petrino and hiring of Satterfield, athletic director Vince Tyra took on a bulk of the recruiting responsibilities. He reached out to most of the remaining commits and several prospects who hadn’t made decisions or who had committed to other schools.
While Louisville lost two more commits — quarterback Jaden Johnson and tight end Sam Snyder — in the days before Satterfield’s introduction, the last seven remained interested.
“We have the flexibility we wouldn’t normally have because we only have 11 scholarships available to offer, and we have commitments to fill a good portion of those, and those commitments are solid, from my calls with the kids,” Tyra said Nov. 29.
After evaluation, Satterfield had Nochta made calls Sunday night to revoke the scholarships, which shocked the prospects affected. Randolph, who committed last April, was set to graduate from high school Friday, sign Dec. 19 at the start of the early signing period and enroll in early January.
“Now it’s thrown me for a loop," Randolph said. "I’m having to come up with a high school schedule for next semester and having to regroup.”
