2023 Louisville Linebackers

Mark BlankenbakerAugust 21, 2023

Louisville was in a precarious position at Linebacker after Monty Montgomery transferred to Ole Miss and Momo Sanogo exhausted his eligibility. Not to mention Dorian Jones transferring to Cincinnati and KJ Cloyd shipping down to Miami.

But the cupboard wasn’t bare for Jeff Brohm and Mark Ivey at Linebacker, despite the departures. Louisville went into the portal, got a few studs out of high school and have some veteran players who have been waiting their turn already in the program.

The Middle Linebacker spot got some help from former 4-star Linebacker Keith Brown. Brown transferred to The Ville from Oregon where he played in 12 games as a true sophomore. Brown was a highly touted high school player and appears to be ready to display the growth of two previous season at the college level.

It will be only a matter of time before Stanquan Clark is a MAJOR force on Louisville’s Defense. Stanquan is a true freshman from Miami Central and was a 4-star prospect coming to the Cards. Clark already has college ready size. His talent will propel him onto the field this Fall and his role is going to grow with his experience on the field. It’s possible either he or Brown could also play WLB.

Everyone remembers Jaylin Alderman’s Pick 6 Touchdown vs. Central Florida during the 2021 season. Alderman made his mark early in his career in the hearts and minds of Louisville fans and he’s still with the program coming back for his 3rd year.

My Projected Depth Chart

MLB

#22 Keith Brown (6’2, 235, Jr.)
#6 Stanquan Clark (6’3, 230, Fr.)
#24 Jaylin Alderman (6’1, 230, Jr.)
#46 Darrian Bell (6’0, 235, R-Sr.)

This Spring both TJ Quinn and Jackson Hamilton both had a great Spring and carried that into Fall Camp. After Spring I would have said Jackson Hamilton had the edge….. and now as the season is about to begin maybe TJ Quinn has pulled ahead? It’s tough to tell. But either way Mark Ivey has two very solid players at this spot. We’ll keep an eye out for TJ Capers (uber-highly touted prospect who joined the program early as a reclass) as he recovers from a surgery. Capers isn’t likely to be on the field until late in the season.

My Projected Depth Chart

WLB

#34 TJ Quinn (6’1, 230, R-So)
#17 Jackson Hamilton (6’1, 220, R-So)
#43 Jack Reiger (6’1, 225, R-Sr.)
#18 TJ Capers (6’2, 230, Fr.) – injured/recovering from surgery

Louisville’s STAR position is a quasi-DB that has to play some Linebacker. So the position has to have flexibility. That person has to be returnee Benjamin Perry. Perry is from Chicago and has played 2 full seasons with UofL including all 13 games last year as a starter tallying 43 tackles, 2 TFLs and 3 PBUs.

Pushing Perry is super senior Gilbert Frierson from the Miami Hurricanes. Frierson has played a lot of football and was one of Miami’s leading tacklers in 2021 & 2020. Frierson left Miami was 113 tackles and 14.5 TFLs and was the #200 player out of high school in the 2018 class. Gilbert was lightly used in 2022 with the coaching change at Miami and is looking for a resurgence in usage.

Antonio Watts added a ton of weight to his frame and is now 225 lbs as a redshirt freshman. Watts looked strong in Fall Camp with several excellent moments. It seems like he’s broken through that freshman mold and ready to make an impact.

My Projected Depth Chart

STAR