By Andrew Krumme
The University of Louisville is home to one of the fastest-growing athletic programs in the country. Besides joining the Big East, Tom Jurich and company have built top-of-the-line facilities to draw some of the best athletes in the country to play for the Cards.
Cardinal athletics will welcome a variety of new faces next year in what may be one of the most comprehensive groups of newcomers on any campus in the country. Last year proved that U of L is getting better recruits: the freshmen and transfers who made the biggest impression this year were baseball players Chris Dominguez, David Padgett and Terrence Williams.
The football team welcomed a deep recruiting class as they announced their signings in February. Deantwan “Peanut” Whitehead, Brandon Heath and Josh Chichester are considered the top three new football faces expected to play next year at U of L. Whitehead highlights the group as one of the highest-ranked recruits ever to sign with U of L. The 6-foot-6 defensive end hailing from Birmingham, Ala., was ranked among the top 60 seniors by http://www.rivals.com and is considered among the top 10 defensive ends coming out of high school.
Heath is another top 100 recruit and comes in figuring to contribute in the secondary right away, most likely as a safety. Heath was widely considered among the top high school football players from the talent-rich state of Florida and passed up offers from the likes of Florida, West Virginia and Tennessee to play for Head Coach Bobby Petrino and the Cards.
Chichester is a 6-foot-8 wide receiver from West Chester, Ohio, and will team with Mario Urrutia as one of the tallest and most talented young wide receivers in the NCAA.
The wildcard among the new football players for next year is the sophomore transfer Chris Vaughn. Vaughn was ranked as the top recruit in the New England region by SuperPrep and combines a nice frame (6-foot-3, 220 pounds) with great speed. Vaughn transferred in from Notre Dame.
Head Coach Ron Mann and the track and field team inked a highly recruited 5K runner in Michael Eaton. “Michael is a top-tier athlete, and he’s a young man that we expect to do a lot of great things during his career at the University of Louisville,” Mann said.
Katherin Alcorn is another high-profile recruit from Connor High School in Northern Kentucky. She was a three-time state finalist in cross country and track.
Head basketball Coach Rick Pitino will no doubt rely heavily on his new recruits next year as he welcomes in five new players to the men’s basketball team. Earl Clark and Derrick Character are the names to know for the Cards on the hard court. While rumors have circulated about both players’ ability to qualify, the coaching staff is confident that both will be on campus next year to contribute. Clark is a wiry 6-foot-9 and was a consensus top-20 recruit among the nation’s seniors.
Pitino was optimistic about Clark and compared him to NBA great Scottie Pippen. “He has the size and length of Scottie Pippen. He has the ability to handle the ball like a point guard at 6-foot-9. He plays way above the rim. We’ll get to work on his strength when he arrives.”
Character is an interesting project and is the Cards’ second player to be ranked among the top prep players in the nation. Nevertheless, Pitino said he has a lot to work on to be a good college player.
“Derrick [Character] has the most improvement to make of all of our recruits. But if he can improve to the level I am anticipating, he can be an unstoppable force in college basketball. He has great hands, a great touch and is strong without spending time in the weight room. The things we’ll have to work with him on are his focus and his passion for the game of basketball. We’ll get his body fat down where he’s much quicker and stronger. With the discipline in this program, the sky’s the limit to how good he can become if he’s willing to pay the price.”
While basketball and football are clearly Louisville’s most high-profile programs, other sports also made some moves bringing in some of the top talent in the country.
Volleyball signed its highest-ranked recruit in school history, Samantha Dabbs. She is ranked as the No. 22 recruit in the nation by http://www.prepvolleyball.com. Fellow recruit Lecia Brown, who was selected second team All-State in Florida, recently qualified for the Sanofi-Aventis International BioGENEious Challenge for research in controlling asthma. She’ll be heading to U of L this year as well.
David Simon, the top-ranked tennis player in Austria, highlights a recruiting class for the men’s tennis team that http://www.tennisrecruiting.net ranked as the 10th best in the nation.
Catcher Melissa Roth and pitcher Kristen Wadwell, who earned best pitcher award at the 2005 U19 National Championships, will both be competing for playing time on the softball team next year.
The soccer teams made changes in their coaching positions in addition to bringing in new players. Ken Lolla, who led Akron to an 18-1-4 mark last year, will be the new face on the sidelines for the men’s team. Lolla brought in Mike Avery from Notre Dame to be assistant coach.
On the women’s side, former Butler Head Coach Woody Sherwood was picked up as an assistant coach for the Cards.
For more information and updates on recruiting and coaching changes, visit http://ww.uoflsports.com.
