Published Aug 28, 2019
Louisville Football Depth Chart: Four Takeaways
Mark Ennis  •  CardinalSports
Publisher
Twitter
@MarkEnnis

Louisville football followed through on its promise to release its first depth chart of the 2019 season midweek by delivering one today. And man did they deliver one with some surprises in it for fans dying to know who will take the field come Monday night. Here are four quick takeaways from the depth chart released today.

Advertisement

The Prominence of Walk-ons and Transfers

The Louisville coaching has preached the need to sign a large, talented 2020 class because of a complete lack of depth. Nowhere is that more clear than in the prominent positions, across the board, for graduate transfers and walk-ons (former walk-ons). On offense, the Cardinals will start a former walk-on at right tackle and at tight end. On defense, former walk-ons will start at defensive end and outside linebacker. In the two deep, in total, there are six walk-ons or graduate transfers that are all but guaranteed to see the field.

While it would be an overreaction to be overly negative and assume that the players in question can't play, it's never a good sign to have this many guys who weren't originally recruited by the staff as scholarship guys playing or even starting.

The Running Back Depth Chart

Like most people, I've assumed that however the running back rotation plays out, the top of the depth chart would read "Hassan Hall". And then today, it doesn't. Satterfield has praised Hall for his skills almost from the day he arrived. It is downright shocking to see Hawkins in the #1 running back spot on the depth chart. How should we interpret this?

First, I would try not to overreact by realizing even if Hawkins is #1, there will be two running backs (Hawkins, Hall) who will still get close to 75% of the carries. So even with Hawkins first, this likely still only mean he'll get 40-45% of the offense's overall carries. Second, it might indicate just how much the staff values receiving out of the backfield. This is a place where Hawkins has always been a bit better than Hall.

Also, despite encouraging signs from him early in camp, I'm somewhat surprised to see Burkley at the 3rd running back spot over Dae Williams. But, I suspect that battle will continue on throughout the season. This depth chart is a snapshot, not set in stone.

The Defensive Line

If any single one of you thought the defensive ends on opening night would be Dayna Kinnaird and Tabarius Peterson, you quietly kept it to yourself. It's one thing for Kinnaird to work hard enough, given the chance, to earn a scholarship. Or to even earn playing time. But to start? Color me shocked. There are always players who seize the opportunity that a new coaching staff provides, soak up the coaching, and rocket their way up the depth chart to the surprise of many. That's Kinnaird this year.

A four-man rotation of Kinnaird, Ty Tyler, Caban, and Peterson will need a 5th and/or 6th man to develop, especially if the offense struggles. With Kinnaird moving up, it isn't hard to see why Jarrett Jackson decided to simply call it a day and leave. Also, I'd be fascinated to know what they'll do if something happens to GG Robinson. Is there another guy capable of playing the nose after Goldwire that isn't a significant size mismatch?

Additionally, I know it's a one-gap defense that relies on stunting and movement. I recognize that. But I remain petrified that there's exactly one guy over 255 on defense. I don't know how that holds up for an entire season.

Cornerback surprises

At local media day, Bryan Brown went out of his way to praise the play of Marlon Character. I'd heard from additional sources that Character was well on his way to holding down one cornerback spot while there was a fevered battle for the other. Instead, we see that Cornelius Sturghill and Chandler Jones have won the battles. Personally, I like this pair. They're both physical, Sturghill shows so much maturity given the coaching change and the things he's been through personally. Plus, he can absolutely fly. Jones has a chance to hold his spot down for years to come and have he and Yeast at SS be the staples in the secondary of a hopefully big bounceback in 2020.