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Louisville got a little bit closer to finishing out their defensive class today when Jaylin Alderman committed to the Cards. Alderman is rated as a 3-star Inside Linebacker by Rivals and he is the fifth player from Georgia to join the class. Derek Nicholson has now landed three players in this class after joining the staff in late January. Alderman chose the Cards over ECU. He also holds offers from App State, Cincinnati, FIU, and Charlotte.
At 6-1/226, Alderman is a little bit undersized but he’s around the size of the other Inside Linebackers the staff has targeted this cycle. He’s a solid downhill guy that should end up at the spot that Dorian Etheridge plays right now. While he shows some decent cover skills, he won’t be asked to do that nearly as much as he will be asked to fill running lanes and blitz in passing situations. That seems to be where he excels in his film.
It took me watching Alderman’s offensive plays to get a feel for him as an athlete. He seemed a little stiff on defense but his offensive film shows he can run pretty well when he opens it up and he has good hips. On defense I like the way he reads and reacts. He’s not a twitchy athlete that gets by on his athleticism but he makes the right read a lot throughout his highlights. He is also a strong tackler.
Alderman is the first commitment in this class that doesn’t have multiple P5 offers. So it’s fair to say that the staff is taking a bit of a flyer on him. About a third of the 2020 class claimed UofL as their only P5 offer so that is part of the upgrade of the prospects we’ve seen. Alderman was named the top Linebacker at the MVP camp earlier this year. He also plays against good competition in Georgia. If the staff was going to reach for a guy, they could’ve done much worse.
COMMITTED ‼️ @UofLFootball #FlyVille21 #GoCards pic.twitter.com/sWLsLe8YER
— Crazy ⁸ (@jaylin_alderman) July 13, 2020