https://louisville.rivals.com/news/...the-2020-louisville-football-recruiting-class
The 2020 Louisville football recruiting early signees by the numbers.
Louisville filled twenty five of their twenty eight available spots with early signatures. Thirteen of those twenty five signees were offensive prospects, eleven will play defense, and they also signed a kicker. The class ranks 36th nationally and sixth in the ACC behind Georgia Tech, Florida State, North Carolina, Miami, and Clemson according to rivals.com.You can look at how rivals crunches the numbers here.
On offense the Cards signed one quarterback, five offensive lineman with one for each position along the line, five receivers, one tight end, and one H-back. On defense they signed one defensive end, three tackles, two linebackers, one rover, two corners, and two safeties. Then of course, they signed a kicker for special teams.
Of the twenty-five signees, one was a four-star, twenty were three-stars, and four were two-stars. These rankings will be updated one more time before they become final. Duane Martin did very well in the Shrine Bowl and will mostly like finish the cycle as a three star.
As far as the rest of the ACC, Clemson landed sis five-stars and fourteen 4-stars, they led the ACC in both categories. No other ACC program landed a five star for the first time in the rivals era. Miami landed no five stars but was second in the conference with eleven four-stars. Florida State landed the third most four-stars with ten followed by UNC with nine, Georgia Tech with four, Boston College with three, Pittsburgh landed two, Louisville, NC State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech each landed one, and Duke, Syracuse, and Wake Forest failed to sign a single four-star.
Dave's Deliberations:
Louisville’s class was solid. They landed five offensive lineman, a really good quarterback prospect, and replenished the receiving corps to the extent they can be picky and take a luxury player at that spot next season. On defense they added depth on the defensive line, an impact junior college defensive end, a four star linebacker, a high three-star corner from Louisiana, and a play making safety from Florida, and one of the best kicking prospects in the country. The fact they bolstered their entire offensive line and their defensive front seven is a big win. In 2017 they landed one defensive end and three linebackers, one of whom transferred before the season. This year that lack of depth hurt them. But now the staff has taken the appropriate steps to fix the two deep.
The one nagging concern is the amount of reaches Louisville signed. By definition a "reach" is a player who had no other Power-Five offers except for the school he signed with. Louisville signed eight prospects fitting that definition, not counting the kicker. That being said, Louisville took a lot of verbal commitments over the summer and most of those eight players shut down his recruitment at that point.
Frequently a reach turns into a miss. Yes some reaches turn out to be the diamond in the rough but there is exponentially more rough out there than diamonds within it.
You can't have recruiting misses and survive in the current instant gratification coaching market. A miss means a guy you took hasn't progressed to your level of football after his sophomore year. Now you're in the secondary market trying to find a JUCO kid or a transfer who can crack your two deep. The secondary market is inherently risky so you may very likely miss there. If so, now there are two scholarships occupying one slot against the cap of eighty-five. A coach looking for grad transfers to make up for two precious misses is probably also looking for a real estate agent.
Going into February with three spots open Louisville can boost their score with some four stars and/or high three stars. They will target another defensive end, and inside linebacker, and perhaps another offensive tackle, quarterback, or corner. All in all this class is a solid step in the right direction and the hope is that success on the field will transfer to the recruiting trail in 2021.
The 2020 Louisville football recruiting early signees by the numbers.
Louisville filled twenty five of their twenty eight available spots with early signatures. Thirteen of those twenty five signees were offensive prospects, eleven will play defense, and they also signed a kicker. The class ranks 36th nationally and sixth in the ACC behind Georgia Tech, Florida State, North Carolina, Miami, and Clemson according to rivals.com.You can look at how rivals crunches the numbers here.
On offense the Cards signed one quarterback, five offensive lineman with one for each position along the line, five receivers, one tight end, and one H-back. On defense they signed one defensive end, three tackles, two linebackers, one rover, two corners, and two safeties. Then of course, they signed a kicker for special teams.
Of the twenty-five signees, one was a four-star, twenty were three-stars, and four were two-stars. These rankings will be updated one more time before they become final. Duane Martin did very well in the Shrine Bowl and will mostly like finish the cycle as a three star.
As far as the rest of the ACC, Clemson landed sis five-stars and fourteen 4-stars, they led the ACC in both categories. No other ACC program landed a five star for the first time in the rivals era. Miami landed no five stars but was second in the conference with eleven four-stars. Florida State landed the third most four-stars with ten followed by UNC with nine, Georgia Tech with four, Boston College with three, Pittsburgh landed two, Louisville, NC State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech each landed one, and Duke, Syracuse, and Wake Forest failed to sign a single four-star.
Dave's Deliberations:
Louisville’s class was solid. They landed five offensive lineman, a really good quarterback prospect, and replenished the receiving corps to the extent they can be picky and take a luxury player at that spot next season. On defense they added depth on the defensive line, an impact junior college defensive end, a four star linebacker, a high three-star corner from Louisiana, and a play making safety from Florida, and one of the best kicking prospects in the country. The fact they bolstered their entire offensive line and their defensive front seven is a big win. In 2017 they landed one defensive end and three linebackers, one of whom transferred before the season. This year that lack of depth hurt them. But now the staff has taken the appropriate steps to fix the two deep.
The one nagging concern is the amount of reaches Louisville signed. By definition a "reach" is a player who had no other Power-Five offers except for the school he signed with. Louisville signed eight prospects fitting that definition, not counting the kicker. That being said, Louisville took a lot of verbal commitments over the summer and most of those eight players shut down his recruitment at that point.
Frequently a reach turns into a miss. Yes some reaches turn out to be the diamond in the rough but there is exponentially more rough out there than diamonds within it.
You can't have recruiting misses and survive in the current instant gratification coaching market. A miss means a guy you took hasn't progressed to your level of football after his sophomore year. Now you're in the secondary market trying to find a JUCO kid or a transfer who can crack your two deep. The secondary market is inherently risky so you may very likely miss there. If so, now there are two scholarships occupying one slot against the cap of eighty-five. A coach looking for grad transfers to make up for two precious misses is probably also looking for a real estate agent.
Going into February with three spots open Louisville can boost their score with some four stars and/or high three stars. They will target another defensive end, and inside linebacker, and perhaps another offensive tackle, quarterback, or corner. All in all this class is a solid step in the right direction and the hope is that success on the field will transfer to the recruiting trail in 2021.
