Louisville releases depth chart for week 1 vs. Syracuse

Ahead of Saturday night’s game at Syracuse, Louisville football has released its first official depth chart of the 2022 season. It’s not without a few surprises.

Here’s what we’re rolling with against the Orange:

Thoughts:

—It was going to take a pretty dominant fall camp effort for one of the running backs to earn the starting spot without an “OR” next to his name, and it looks like we got that from Tiyon Evans. He’s winning the Heisman.

—With all the buzz around his name I suppose it shouldn’t be a huge shock to see that Tyler Hudson is the only WR who really separated himself from the others at his position.

—Being able to rotate liberally on the defensive line has been a theme from the coaches during fall camp, so I suppose starters don’t matter there quite as much as they have in recent years. That said, it’s still a bit surprising to see Jermayne Lole listed as a backup for week one. I’m still expecting a monster season from the Arizona State transfer.

—Kei’Trel Clark, the player many believe to be Louisville’s best on either side of the ball, is still battling for a starting spot. The other CB spot is still up for grabs as well.

—Josh Minkins beating out Temple transfer MJ Griffin for the strong safety spot would have been a mild surprise heading into the summer.

—The placekicker job still being up in the air is ... maybe a little bit concerning? You would have hoped one of those guys would have separated themselves by this point. But who knows? Maybe they have and this is just to keep up appearances.

—Jawhar Jordan taking one to the house on the opening kickoff against his old team would be the most ideal start to a season ever.

We’re back, baby. Let’s have ourselves a season.