After failing to flip Arizona State commitment Raymond Epps, Louisville appears to have finally found the junior college tight end it desired. Overnight, City College of San Francisco tight end Cole Hikutini committed to Louisville and should sign shortly and be enrolled for the spring 2015 semester.
I'm extremely proud to say that I will be playing football at the University of Louisville next season #GoCards pic.twitter.com/2ZqVxeipG8
— Holy Colenolly (@colehikutini_07) December 21, 2014
Prior to announcing he would sign with Louisville, Hikutini had been committed to Purdue. Purdue fans began to get a bit nervous when Hikutini was not announced as part of the Boilermakers' mid-year recruiting class. Louisville tight ends coach Pete Nochta gave fans a hint something was up last night.
Early Christmas Present! #GoCards Just got some GREAT News Tonight!
— Pete Nochta (@CoachPeteNochta) December 21, 2014
Hikutini (6'5, 241) is rated the the third best junior college tight end in the country by JCGridiron.com, the junior college recruiting arm of the Rivals network. He's just below Epps, who was the original junior college target for the position. In his highlight video below you can see he's an extremely good receiver that runs good routes and locates the ball well. Obviously, he'll need to improve run blocking, but having another receiving weapon at tight end will help for next season while also allowing Aaron Cochran to redshirt and take his time growing into his tight end/h-back role.
Hikutini will give Louisville two junior tight ends (with Keith Towbridge), a true sophomore tight end (Charles Standberry), and a redshirt freshman tight end (Mickey Crum).