By Annie Moore–
As Louisville fans enter the cold, football-less winter, there is much for the Cardinal faithful to be excited about for next season. Perhaps one of the most exciting prospects for next fall is the excellent defense. With 14 starters and several other key players returning, and some interesting new faces, Todd Grantham’s defense could be a force to be reckoned with.
“I’m really excited about what we’ve got coming back, because they know how hard it is and how hard you have to work and that nothing is just given to you,” said head coach Bobby Petrino. “You have to earn it and go take it. I think we’ll have a confident team, a team that will work extremely hard in the offseason. We’ll push it really hard. We’ll be able to get bigger and stronger and faster with the young guys.”
Defensive Backs
Several familiar faces will be back next season including Shaq Wiggins, Jaire Alexander and Josh-Harvey Clemons. Harvey-Clemons elected to complete his senior year instead of being drawn to the bright lights of the NFL Draft, much to Louisville fans delight.
Harvey-Clemons was a part of a four-man group of juniors who all submitted their evaluation papers for the Draft and opted to return for their senior years. The other three in that group, defensive tackle DeAngelo Brown and linebackers Devonte Fields and Keith Kelsey.
The Cards also signed junior-college transfer Ronald Walker, one of the top juco prospects in the country. Walker comes from Copiah-Lincoln College, where he had 15 tackles and one interception last season. Walker enrolled in classes in January and will be available for practice this Spring.
Wiggins, who had to leave the Cards’ Music City Bowl win in the first half due to a strained lower back, was replaced by Alexander. The freshman had a coming out party in Nashville, with a career best 10 tackles, six in the first half, and a punt return for 32 yards. His sophomore campaign shows much promise. Along with Wiggins, Williams, Harvey-Clemons, Trumaine Washington, and several other prime time players, make for a pretty sinister secondary.
Linebackers
Louisville’s linebacking core will no question miss ‘Never Nervous’ James Burgess, who was a cornerstone of the Cardinal defense in the 2015 season. Burgess had 92 tackles last season, second only to Kelsey.
The importance of Kelsey returning cannot be overstated for this Louisville team. Kelsey led the team in tackles with 107. And was outdone on several other stats by fellow returning LB, Devonte Fields. Fields had 22 tackles for loss last season, almost double the next closest on this Louisville team. He also led the Cards in sacks, with 10.5. Three of Fields’ sacks came in the Music City Bowl.
“We have a chance to be a really good team next season,” Kelsey said. “We have a lot of players returning and with the young players stepping up, we have an opportunity to have a great season, but it starts in the offseason.”
Kelsey’s enthusiasm is well-founded as Louisville will return a veteran linebacking core, which will tear its way through the Atlantic Coast conference once again.
Defensive Line
The defensive line lost a couple of key components to graduation this year. Pio Vatuvei, DeAngelo Brown and Sheldon Rankins will all be missing from the sidelines this coming season.
They also add Chris Williams, a junior college transfer from Northwest Mississippi Community College. Williams played high school ball with both Wiggins and Jaquay Savage. Williams enrolled in January and will be available immediately to help fill the void on the line left by Vatuvei and Rankins.
The Cards lost cornerback coach Terrell Buckley, and safeties coach Greg Brown left to go to Missouri.
Another loss that will certainly be noticeable on special teams is kicker John Wallace. Wallace set several records in his years as a Card, including total career points, and career field goals.
But there is much to be optimistic about headed into this offseason on the defensive side of the ball. With Grantham at the helm and lots of key returners, the future looks bright.
