Louisville bolsters defense through spring portal window

With Jermayne Lole, Jaylin Alderman, and Tyler Baron departing, Louisville wasted little to no time finding reinforcements for Ron English's unit.

Here is a roundup of Louisville's four, spring transfer portal commitments:

A productive player in the PAC 12 for several years, Myles Jernigan should slide into a role similar to what Stephen Herron held in 2023. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound EDGE put together his best season in 2022, where he played in all 12 games, making 11 starts. Jernigan totaled 32 tackles, three for loss, three sacks that year.

For the 2023 season, Pro Football Focus gave Jernigan a 72.9 defensive grade on 407 snaps, which was the fifth-highest score on Cal's defense.

Louisville needed to add an experienced piece to the linebacker core, and the Cards did just that, landing Texas State's Dan Foster Jr. Foster started all 13 games in 2023, finishing with 52 tackles, with 27 solo tackles. He also tallied 3.5 tackles for loss, three QB hurries, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Foster played 575 snaps for the Bobcats this season.

Rutgers transfer Rene Konga committed to Louisville on Saturday, and figures to be a depth add to the front seven. The 6-foot-4, 290-pound lineman was a rotational piece for the Scarlet Knights for four seasons. Playing in 10 games, Konga totaled eight tackles (five solo), two for loss, a sack, two QB hurries and a forced fumble. The veteran played 189 total snaps in 2023.

MTSU transfer defensive end Richard Kinley was the final commitment of the weekend, announcing for the Cardinals on Saturday night. In 2023, the 6-foot-3, 235-pounder played in nine games with five starts. In 40 career games, Kinley has compiled 82 total tackles, 15 for loss, 6.5 sacks, five pass break ups and two fumble recoveries. Kinley played 400 total snaps this past season.