2012: 

The Louisville ground game was doing well with a 2-back attack of Senorise Perry and Jeremy Wright.  The two running backs were together for 9 full games until Senorise Perry suffered a torn ACL against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome in the game’s first series. In the 9 games that the duo was together the Louisville ground game averaged 156.44 yards per game.  After Perry went down the Cards were relegated to just 46.75 yards per game. As it was Louisville rushed for 1595 yards, and clearly Senorise Perry was a HUGE part of the Louisville rushing attack. But the Cards backfield also did quite a bit through the air as well with Cards out of the backfield catching 74 passes for 664 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2012.

Who’s Back?: 

Senorise Perry (6-0, 203, Sr.) is back from ACL surgery.  Perry missed the Spring and appears to be successfully rehabbed.  Charlie Strong questioned whether or not Senorise was 100%, but said that he was working towards a full recovery while in camp.   Senorise played as a true freshman and does have the red-shirt option available to him if his recovery suffers a setback. Senorise rushed for 705 yards & 11 TDs and added 18 catches for 181 yards.  Perry is extremely fast and is also a very underrated inside runner. Perry is currently listed #1 at Running Back along with Dominique Brown on Louisville’s Depth Chart.

Corvin Lamb (5-9, 212, Soph) is fast. Lamb gets rave reviews in practice, from his strength & conditioning staff, and showed several times his ability to break explosion plays. After Senorise Perry’s injury Lamb’s exposure increased, but Lamb still only saw 13 carries for 50 yards (1 TD), and caught 3 passes for 58 yards (1 TD).  Lamb is really exciting with the ball in his hands, but apparently something has held him back from getting on the field.  Pass Blocking? Awareness?  Fumble prone?  No matter what the reason, Corvin has had an entire off-season to get prepared and I’m excited to see if he accepts the opportunity. Corvin is listed #3 on Louisville’s depth chart at Running Back and was held out of the Spring Game with an injury.

Jarel McGriff-Culver (5-11, 204, Jr.) has been in the mix for a while.  McGriff-Culver is a nice pass catcher in a limited role. I feel like he is a reliable ball-carrier and can block.  Jarel caught one ball in 2012, down from 3 in 2011. Jarel had 4 carries for 7 yards in the Spring Game and is listed #2 at fullback for 2013.

Thaddeus Franklin (5-10, 203, Jr) walk on from Tates Creek did not see game action in 2012.

Tyler Sharp (5-10, 228, Soph) walk-on Fullback from Butler did not see game action in 2012. But is listed #1 fullback for 2013. I’m interested in see how much the fullback role goes to Sharp as the Cards really used their Tight Ends as an H-Back in the fullback role late in the 2012 season.  There is certainly an

Who’s Gone?: 

Jeremy Wright  is off to the NFL.  With a year remaining to play college football Jeremy Wright chose to try his hand in the NFL.  After going undrafted, Jeremy signed with the New York Giants organization.  Wright definitely has an NFL body with speed to match and leaves UofL with his degree.  I’ll never forget his kickoff return that basically won the 2010 Beef O’Brady’s Bowl. Jeremy Wright had 824 yards on 211 carries (3.9 ypc) and 10 Touchdowns in 2012 to go along with a really outstanding season catching the ball out of the backfield. Wright was actually 3rd on the team in receptions with 41 for 325 yards and a TD and helped bail out Bridgewater quite often.

Nick Heuser did a nice job at fullback for the Cards and the Louisville native had 10 catches for 57 yards and 2 TDs in 2012 and had a better career than most walk-ons can claim. .

Bo Eggers walked on and finished.  I wish I knew more about the Louisville native and Manual graduate.

Who’s New?: 

Brandon Radcliff (5-9, 220, RS-FR) “Bad Rad” came to Louisville and waited his turn during 2012 while red-shirting.  Brandon picked the Cards over Michigan State, Maryland, Cincinnati, and Vanderbilt and is yet another Miami native to make the move to Louisville. Radcliff split carries his senior season in H.S. and still managed to gain 975 yards & 19 TDs on just 105 carries (9.29 yards per carry).  Radcliff gives the Cards a big option out of the backfield and a youthful runner.  Radcliff is currently listed #4 for the Cards at Running Back and had 5 carries for 56 yards in the Spring Game.

Dominique Brown (6-2, 230, Jr.) is in the “New” section because we really haven’t seen him since 2011.  And even then he was completely RAW.  Brown moved from Quarterback to Running Back for the Kentucky game in 2011 and was a running back from there on out.  Brown hadn’t had any formal running back training and still managed to rush for 533 yards on 140 carries and 4 Touchdowns.  I thought Brown looked great in 2012 Spring Drills and I thought he was going to have a HUGE 2012 season.  Just as 2012 was about to begin, Brown suffered a knee injury and it was decided that he would red-shirt the season and have 2 full seasons remaining. Brown looks STRONG at the beginning of 2013 camp and gives the Cards a potential big time pop in the backfield for 2013.  Dominique is listed as Louisville’s #1 Running Back for along with Senorise Perry. Brown had 9 carries for 79 yards and 2 TDs to go along with 6 catches for 30 yards in the Spring Game.

Michael Dyer (5-9, 215, Jr.) comes to Louisville right as Fall Camp begins after a well-chronicled journey from Auburn, to Arkansas State, and finally from Arkansas Baptist College. Dyer is the 2011 BCS National Championship Offensive MVP from Auburn’s Championship season. Dyer’s impact on Auburn was significant, breaking Bo Jackson’s freshman rushing record, rushing for 2335 yards in two seasons (good for 10th in Auburn school history), and was 1st Team All-SEC in 2011. When Dyer can stay in one place (and out of trouble) he’s proven to be an effective asset to a football team. Now on his 3rd (and most likely final) opportunity Dyer comes into a very talented stable of running backs in a pro-style system.  There really are two questions for Dyer: 1) what kind of shape is he in, and 2) can he catch balls out of the backfield.  If Dyer is in top shape he could challenge for significant carries in 2013, but he’ll also be asked to catch passes after only recording 3 receptions in 2 seasons at Auburn.  Dyer is immediately eligible to play, and we’ll find out as camp progresses how much we should expect to see him in 2013.

DeAngelo Thomas (5-9, 201 JR) comes to the Cards as a walk-on from Butler after a few years off from school and football.  Thomas rushed for 1177 yards and 13 TDs during the 2009 season for the Butler Bulldogs.

Luke Brohm (6-1, 200, RS SO) is a walk-on from St. X and is a part of the famous family of Brohms for UofL football. Brohm moved from QB to FB on the most recent UofL Roster release. Brohm is OUT for Spring Practice.

Griffin Uhl (6-2, 267, RS FR)  redshirted in 2012 and is just a fantastic story.  Uhl did not play high school football, but came to Louisville as a walk-on after impressing coaches via Summer Camps.  Henryville High School does not have a football team, and they also didn’t have much of a school after last Spring’s tornado either.  Uhl excels in the weight room and working out but it remains to be seen whether or not his lack of high school football will limit his development and keep him off the field. Uhl moved from Defensive Tackle to Fullback for Fall Camp.

Outlook

Personally I think a team must have 4 viable running backs to thrive during the college football season.  THIS TEAM HAS 5. Most ball carriers want to be the “feature back” and I think Charlie Strong would love to have a player step up and take the reigns as the #1 guy. BUT the reality is that you have to have backs to “spell” a featured back and you also must have depth to deal with the injuries that a ball carrier between the tackles is going to sustain during a season.  Even the bumps and bruises can take their toll so it’s important to have players who can tote the rock effectively when your #1 guy can’t go.

I LOVE THIS GROUP.  When the have experienced guys like Dominique Brown & Senorise Perry who have played major minutes and are familiar with the system and then throw in a guy who has the talent to be 1st Team ALL-SEC, and then add on top two young/hungry/talented players like Corvin Lamb and Brandon Radcliff………let’s just say the unit is LOADED. With Dyer, the Cards have options if Senorise Perry suffers a setback during camp and they also have very capable players in Lamb and Radcliff who will factor for some playing time.  There really isn’t a reason to allow any of the 5 running backs to get beat up and with Louisville expected to have a lot of games that over before the 4th Quarter I’d expect to see all 5 of these guys get touches throughout the season.

The fullback rotation is a different story.  Louisville really mixed in a lot of their Tight Ends at Fullback towards the end of 2012, and I expect a lot of the same in 2013.  Still having Tyler Sharp, Jarel McGriff-Culver, and potentially Griffin Uhl in the backfield could be very interesting in the offense.  We’ll just have to wait and see on gameday how exactly Shawn Watson plans to use his fullbacks/tight ends.

Yearly Availability

2013: Senorise Perry, Dominique Brown, Michael Dyer, Jarel McGriff-Culver, Corvin Lamb, Brandon Radcliff, Tyler Sharp, Thaddeus Franklin, DeAngelo Thomas, Griffin Uhl

2014:  Senorise Perry* (if he redshirts), Dominique Brown, Michael Dyer, Jarel McGriff-Culver, Corvin Lamb, Brandon Radcliff, Tyler Sharp, Thaddeus Franklin, DeAngelo Thomas, Griffin Uhl

2015: Corvin Lamb, Brandon Radcliff, Tyler Sharp, Griffin Uhl

2016: Brandon Radcliff,  Griffin Uhl

NEXT POSITION

Wide Receivers 8/22/2013 at 8:00 a.m.

Previously Released 

Quarterbacks
Tight Ends

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@UofLSheriff50. Louisville native, University of Louisville Business School Grad c/o 2004. Co-Founder of TheCrunchZone.com

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