Louisville Football Recruiting Update

The early signing period for college football begins on December 18th and Scott Satterfield and his staff are close to putting a bow on the 2020 class. The class sits at 24 commits right now and Satterfield says that he expects nearly all of those players to sign during the early period. Things are fairly quiet right now but a few newsy things have happened over the last week.

On Sunday, Josh Griffis committed to Louisville after ending his commitment with Florida State. Griffis was a target early after the new staff took over but seemed to be set on staying in Florida. The staff kept tabs on him even after he picked FSU and that relationship helped them land him after Willie Taggart was fired.

One thing that really stood out to me was the fact that Griffis made it known that he was waiting to hear about what would happen with Odell Haggans before he made any decisions but that changed before he got an answer. Griffis made two trips to Louisville and those trips changed his mind. The staff did a great job of figuring out what they needed to do to get this kid to flip and they pulled it off. It was a theme with some of the guys they landed this summer but flipping Griffis and Jordan Watkins were more impressive to me.

Jamel Starks and Ja’Darien Boykin confirmed yesterday that they will both be in school at Louisville next year. The staff had planned on them both being able to finally make it to school but as usual, you don’t know until you know. Jamel Starks tweeted directly that he will be on campus in January and Boykin tweeting anything at all is newsworthy.

The staff being able to recruit with the knowledge that both of these guys would be here is an underrated aspect of this whole thing. They had to rebuild the roster at offensive line, defensive line, and tight end. The staff was able to do that to a degree while also adding depth in the secondary.

I’m not even going to pretend to know all of the rules that surround academic standards and all that comes with it. What I will say is that this staff deserves credit for identifying the options that these guys had and getting them on board with a plan that allows them to enroll in January and still be freshmen. It’s also my understanding that these guys essentially just start next month as if it were the beginning of last semester. They’ll be freshmen with five years to play.

One of Louisville’s top targets tweeted that he had a great in home visit the other day but didn’t identify the school. Don’t say I never did anything for you because I keep up with this creepy recruiting stuff these days.

Greedy Vance took an official visit to Louisville back in October after he decommitted from Arkansas. He hasn’t taken any other visits and doesn’t seem to be looking at any other schools from what I can see which is a good sign. It also seems like a good sign that Vance’s cryptic tweet was liked by nearly every coach or staffer UofL has. It’l likely a sign that Vance is waiting until his season is over or until signing day to make his choice known.

If Vance becomes a part of this class, it would mean that 4 of the top 6 members of this class would be on the defensive side of the ball. Boykin was the top rated player in the 2019 class and the lone four star. Starks would also be one of the top players in the 2020 class per the composite. So, in a sense, UofL is doing a good job of addressing the defensive side of the ball with young players.

Louisville still has three spots in the class if you count Vance as a done deal. Without any inside knowledge I believe that the staff will look to add three more defensive players. Cornerback, Inside linebacker, and Edge seem to be the most likely spots they will add someone. Offensive line is also a possibility if they can somehow land Marcus Dumervil or flip Thomas Shrader. Here’s a list of some other guys I think they’re focusing on:

Jakorian Bennett - Cornerback

Bennett is a 4.3 guy that visited back in October. He’s in high demand with visits to some schools that might have an easier sell on playing time.

Mason Cobb - Inside Linebacker

Cobb got an offer after the season ended and he’s already had two in-home visits from Cort Dennison. The second visit included Dale Jones and Cobb will be on campus for an official this week. Cobb has offers from Arizona and Oklahoma State as well as a handful of ivy league offers.

Ryan Smith - Inside Linebacker

Smith got an offer way back in May during a camp visit to Louisville but I’m not sure he was a big priority until recently. Bryan Brown and Dale Jones made a visit recently but as of now it doesn’t look like he’s scheduled to make an official visit to campus. Smith picked up an offer from Duke right before the coaches visit and with all of his ivy league offers, he might be more intrigued by a school with more of an academic pedigree. He was recently voted as the Georgia 6A regional defensive player of the year. So he can play.

Lakevias Daniel - Cornerback

Louisville has targeted a handful of JUCO corners and Daniel is one of the top corners in the class. He’s ranked as the 8th best JUCO corner in the country and he recently broke off his commitment with Ole Miss after their coaching change. Ole Miss has seen a handful of guys re-commit to the class or remove their name from the transfer portal since they made a new hire, and I kind of get the feeling that could happen here too.

Jaqwondis Burns - Outside Linebacker

Burns is another Ole Miss decommit but he is also an IMG Academy product. That could factor in his decision as Zay Peterson and Josh Griffis are his teammates.

Yaya Diaby - Defensive End

Louisville is the leader for Diaby but it remains to be seen if they will take another defensive end in this class. I think they will but I don’t have any inside information on that. They need a guy that can come in and play right away and the JUCO product is exactly that.