Luke Kandra becomes the 18th member of Louisville’s 2020 class

Dwayne Ledford targeted a handful of linemen for this class and he just landed one of the first guys that the staff offered. Luke Kandra becomes the fourth offensive linemen in the class after Ledford and former Card Eric Wood put the full press on him this spring. Kandra plays high school ball at Cincinnati Elder where Wood graduated and he also sports a big curly afro like Wood. Kandra chose Louisville over Indiana and he also holds offers from BC, Purdue, and Cincy.

Kandra will likely play guard at Louisville which puts the balance at two tackles and two guards in the class. I don’t know if the staff will look for a center but they should be good there from a depth standpoint after next season. There’s also a possibility of Austin Collins ending up at center. The staff has to be very happy at how they’ve been able to address the numbers issue on the offensive line with nine additions to the offensive line since they took over.

Louisville is getting a guy that I was really impressed with when they offered him. Kandra does just about everything well because he plays with the type of aggression that you like to see. He finishes blocks well on the interior as well as down the field. He also doesn’t ever “catch” block. Everything he does is as the guy with the advantage, even when he’s pass blocking. He also possesses the athletic traits that we’ve seen with the other linemen that the staff has recruited. He can pull and get to his spot on time and he can get out in front of the play on screens and meet his target with a controlled block. He and the other guys in this class all show the potential to do a lot of the things we all wished the line could do over the last handful of years.

A week ago I spoke about my hopes that Louisville will fill out most of the class by the end of July and then turn their focus to a handful of high priority targets. I can’t say that I have much of a feel about how they will close things out after the run they’ve been on. They could have another week like this past week and I wouldn’t be shocked at all. I’ve always felt that they would sign a player or two over the normal 25 but even if they get to that number, it could happen much more sooner than later.