The Cardinal Countdown: 90 Days Until Kickoff

#90 Jared Goldwire

Class: Senior

Ht/Wt: 6-6/305

Position: Defensive Line

Hometown: Tacoma, WA

Twitter: N/A

Thoughts: I buried the lead a bit back on Day 92, but replacing G.G. Robinson in the nose tackle spot was something I had my eye on as far back as November of last year. The importance of that spot in any 3-4 scheme is critical but with Coach Brown’s aggressive play calling and with the movement of the ‘Card’ linebacker at the second level having an anchor, or as I referred to it a few days ago, a “cornerstone” on the defensive line is indispensable. Now, while I’ve watched and wrote a fair share about college football in my life I have no shame in letting my opinion take a back seat to the coaches who see these guys every day. It just so happens that my thoughts and Coach Brown’s were in alignment pertaining to Goldwire’s 2019 season.

I frankly thought Goldwire was going half speed a lot of 2019, and I saw it on a few plays where a big stop was needed. In an interview back when Spring practice started Brown called out Goldwire as one of the guys who had ‘flipped the switch’, realizing he was a starter now and needed to act like one, elaborating that Goldwire seemed okay with being a backup last season and often studied and trained as one as well. For a man standing 6-6 and 305 with a good amount of athleticism, it bothered me that he couldn’t find a spot to be on the field with more frequency. Goldwire himself said he was uncertain of playing the nose guard position but understood why the staff moved him over there and is now looking forward to taking on the challenge, even telling reporters in the spring he had to take on a new ‘lone wolf mentality’.

Now before we bury his 2019 season, I do want to point out that Goldwire showed flashes of what he can do in 2020 and he certainly wasn’t a liability. Fighting back from some shoulder issues and an ACL injury in early 2019 one of Goldwire’s better games in my opinion was against NC State where he was able to showcase some of his abilities on multiple levels. While the two plays before this sequence below resulted in him getting pancake blocked and getting taken out of the play on a stunt, for three plays in a row he was the ‘lone wolf’ and grabbed three straight solo tackles in three different ways.

Play 1: Filling the gap in the middle

Play 2: Chasing down a broken pocket QB scramble from behind

Play 3: Penetrating the line and getting a TFL on an outside dive

(ACC Network is being a real jerk face about allowing embeds of their videos recently, so follow the YouTube link and pick it up at 1 hour, 25 minutes, and 28 seconds for the clip)

A successful season from Goldwire could translate to hearing his name in next years NFL draft according to Coach Brown, and while I certainly hope he fulfills that long term goal in the short term I’d love to see him keep up his new found focus and work on his endurance. The Cards may not need him to be an every down player but bumping your snap count by upwards of 50% from one season to the next will take a toll on his very large body. If we see “Spring Goldwire” in the Fall, I honestly think this new ‘animal’ helps propel Louisville’s defense to that next level. He can be that good.

Sweet Tweet:

No twitter for Goldwire so I’m gonna share a post from the football account where we get to hear Javian Hawkins do a radio spot back in his hometown. I think Mike posted this a couple weeks ago but absolutely worth the listen if you missed it.