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Today marks six months to the day until 2021 football recruits can sign with their chosen school. Louisville is also just about halfway done with the 2021 recruiting class. So it only makes sense that we take a look at what the class will look like on December 16th when the early signing period kicks off.
Each position has currently committed players as well as the players that I think they will add to the class. I’ve also added a confidence meter for each player.
QUARTERBACK
Louisville needs one quarterback in this class and I think they’ve put nearly all of their effort into landing Sanders. Not only is he a talented quarterback who has room to grow but he has also been working the back channels as a recruiter for whatever school he ends up committing to.
CONFIDENCE: High
RUNNING BACK
Louisville landed their running back for the class last week when Cooley surprised most of the national and regional recruiting guys by passing on Florida for UofL. It wasn’t a well kept secret around Louisville but overall it was a pretty big surprise for Cooley to pull the trigger for the Cards with Florida offering recently and Duke putting in a ton of effort to keep him in North Carolina.
Louisville should be done here.
TIGHT END
Louisville seems to want two Tight Ends in this class and Shead is a guy that they recently targeted. He’s a former basketball prospect that picked up a Louisville offer that was immediately followed by an Alabama offer a week later. So he’s probably a decent prospect. Louisville doesn’t have an immediate need at either Tight End spot so landing a guy that needs some development while also having obvious potential would be great.
CONFIDENCE: Low
WIDE RECEIVER
Louisville might have to replace Tutu Atwell in this class and they could do a lot worse than Huggins-Bruce. He combines a great blend of speed and quickness and he’s a guy that should flourish with Gunter Brewer’s coaching.
CONFIDENCE: High
Gunter Brewer and the staff offered a ton of receivers in this class but it seems like their honing in on just a few guys and Cannon is at the top of the list. Cannon is a big kid at 6-3/205 and he should fit well in the outside receiver role that we saw Seth Dawkins play last season.
CONFIDENCE: Medium
OFFENSIVE LINE
Louisville needs at least one more interior Offensive Lineman and Gonzales is the obvious choice for one of those spots. He dropped his top five about a month ago and just recently every recruit in the class made it a point to tweet him to join the class. That felt like a coordinated effort that might be a sign that he’s making a decision soon.
CONFIDENCE: High
It appears that Louisville still wants another tackle in this class and I don’t feel all that great about where they stand with the guys they’ve been after so far. They’re still offering guys which typically means that they don’t feel too confident so that’s why I think they might end up going with Merrill who has held an offer for a while now and seems to be high on UofL. I’ll openly admit that I’m going out on a bit of a limb here.
CONFIDENCE: High
DEFENSIVE LINE
Unless a very high level player comes available I think the staff is done here.
LINEBACKER
Kollie has the potential to be the gem of the recruiting class and I’m becoming more confident each day that Louisville has a legit chance at landing him. He’s been offered by just about every top SEC school but I know the staff feels good about him picking the Cards.
CONFIDENCE: Medium
Jackson recently picked up an offer from UVA so that gave me a bit of pause when it came to where he stands with UofL. Any time a kid could stay home and play for a good school, you have to assume it’s a big factor. Louisville was in on him very early and they’ve been consistently recruiting him so I think they have to feel good about their chances.
CONFIDENCE: Medium
My understanding is that Louisville wants to take two inside linebackers in the class and they’ve been working on flipping Paul for months now. He’s a Nebraska commit but he hasn’t shut down his recruitment. That leaves the door open for Louisville and I think they’ll work on him for the entire six months left in this cycle if they need to.
CONFIDENCE: Low
HYBRID
Ben Perry will likely end up at Card but it’s my understanding that he could also end up sticking at Safety. My thinking is that they’re counting him as a linebacker and they’ll take five guys there and two safeties.
CORNERBACK
As I’m typing this, Walker is getting more and more predictions from the recruiting experts to pick Louisville. He seemed to be a lean to Louisville before he picked Boston College a while back and after backing off that pledge it became pretty obvious that he favored Louisville.
CONFIDENCE: High
Out of all of the guys Louisville is targeting right now, Chestnut is the hardest to get a read on. He seems to be holding out to take visits but at this moment he hasn’t indicated exactly who would get visits. My thinking is that once Walker commits, the third corner in the class will follow suit. I’m just not sure that third guy will be Chestnut.
CONFIDENCE: Low
SAFETY
Quinn is a legacy recruit who is trending on 247 and Rivals to UofL. He will be announcing his commitment this week and I’d be pretty surprised if it’s not the Cards.
CONFIDENCE: High
OPTIONS FOR THE LAST SPOT
Louisville should be taking 25 guys in this class and my working theory is that a few positions could take an extra guy. The spot will likely go to
Louisville probably needs a third receiver but I’m not sold that they’ll take two guys that only fit in the slot. I could see them taking two outside guys with Jordan Watkins being a guy that has flexibility to move to the slot.
Edwards was supposed to commit a good while back but for whatever reason he held off. I wouldn’t be shocked if he swooped in to take the last corner spot. Or maybe they take him as a safety.
Parker is a high level tackle prospect but I don’t know that UofL can pull him away from Tennessee if they have a spot for him.