I want to get this out of the way first: I love DaMarcus Smith. He's a local kid with an insane amount of talent who stayed true to Louisville when he could have easily bolted for seemingly greener pastures.
That said, a commitment from Miami Northwestern quarterback Teddy Bridgewater - who will take an official visit to U of L this weekend - would be the single biggest piece of recruiting news in the history of the Cardinal football program.
Michael Bush and Brian Brohm are The Jazz Singer of modern Louisville football recruiting. They got this thing going. Even with that being the case, neither received a coveted five-star ranking from Rivals. Brohm, despite garnering USA Today National Player of the Year honors, was rated no better than the 5th best quarterback in the country by any major scouting service.
In terms of out-of-state recruits (or defensive recruits for that matter), Peanut Whitehead is still the gold standard. The beast from Alabama was a five-star Scout recruit, a four-star Rivals recruit, and the third/fourth best defensive end in the country. The fact that he chose the Cardinals over Alabama and Auburn was one of the more amazing accomplishments of the Petrino era.
But with Teddy Bridgewater we're talking about a quarterback from Miami whom Rivals has as the second best signal caller in the country and Scout has at No. 3. These are the kids who ordinarily can't tell you what conference Louisville plays in when they commit to Florida or USC or Oklahoma.
Bridgewater has been the starting quarterback at Miami Northwestern - easily one of the two or three most well-known programs in the South at the moment - since his sophomore season. He is a huge name in the state of Florida and people are going to take notice of anything he does. The fact that Bridgewater is even taking an official visit to U of L is astounding. For him to commit would be...up to this point, unfathomable.
Regardless of how his college career played out, Teddy Bridgewater to Louisville would be a tidal wave that would effect this program - in a positive way - for years after his commitment.
This could be a special weekend for Louisville football.