Louisville Football's 2023 Final Position Group Grades

The 2023 season is now in the books for the Cardinals, so it's time to hand out the final report card.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 2023 season is now officially in the books for the Louisville football program, so it's time to update their position group report card for the final time.

Year one under head coach Jeff Brohm was certainly successful, but it didn't exactly end on a high note. While the Cardinals went 10-4 with their first ever appearance in the ACC Championship Game, they ended the season on a three-game losing streak. Some position groups met or exceeded expectations, while some left a little to be desired at times.

Louisville Report offered an analysis back during the Cardinals' bye week at the midway point of the season, and we've reassessed the team's performance and our previous grades to offer a look at what went right and what went wrong:

Quarterback

Midseason Grade: B-
Final Grade: C+

When you look at the stats, Jack Plummer honestly had a good season. He was the ACC's second-leading passer at 3,204 yards, was second in completion percentage at 64.8, third in touchdowns at 21 and wound up being a Third-Team All-ACC selection. But stats only tell part of the story. Plummer was wildly inconsistent, as he struggled at times with decision making and his overall feel for the pocket. While he helped guid Louisville to 10 wins, he was undoubtedly a large factor as to why the Cardinals lost their final three games of the season.

Running Back

Midseason Grade: A
Final Grade: A+

Running back was the best position group for Louisville this season, and I don't think there's much debate here. For starters, Jawhar Jordan was one of the most explosive backs in all of college football this season, finishing with 1,128 yards and 13 touchdowns. But when he was limited with a hamstring injury in the second half of the season, Isaac Guerendo stepped up and then some, and he wound up tallying 810 yards and 11 touchdowns himself. Add in the pass-catching abilities, both players finished with over 1,000 yards from scrimmage. Not to mention Maurice Turner was a reliable third string option.

Wide Receiver

Midseason Grade: B
Final Grade: C+

Ultimately, Louisville got a lot more out of their receiving corps in year one under Brohm than they had over the last few years of the Scott Satterfield era. Jamari Thrash was one of the best receivers in the ACC with 63 catches for 858 yards and six touchdowns, while plenty of others stepped up at various points. However, as the season went on, this unit as a whole began to struggle immensely with drops and generating separation. This was especially the case in the second half of the season when Thrash was hurt.

Tight End

Midseason Grade: D
Final Grade: C

Sure, the tight end spot did wind up being the weak spot on the offense like we had projected in the preseason. But to this position's credit, they got better as the year went on, and were actually a factor in the passing game over the final few games of the regular season. Joey Gatewood made a handful of key plays, and Nate Kurisky ended the season very strong. However, the overall production from the position was still about average (35 catches for 377 yards and five touchdowns), not to mention the blocking from everyone except Duane Martin was abysmal.

Offensive Line

Midseason Grade: B
Final Grade: B-

Louisville's offensive line wound up being great in one regard, and very pedestrian in another. While they were just okay at allowing sacks and tackles for loss (85th and 51st nationally, respectively), some of this was been because of Plummer holding onto the football too long. PFF's stats back this up, as Louisville's six main linemen all posted pass block grades above 69, and two have grades over 75. On the other hand, run blocking wasn't been nearly what was expected, as four of the six main lineman had run block grades under 61 (60 is average).

Defensive Line

Midseason Grade: C+
Final Grade: B-

Louisville wound up having a lot of players step on on their defensive line. Defensive end Ashton Gillotte (14.5 TFL, 11.0 sacks, three forced fumbles) took home multiple All-American honors, while Mason Reiger, Jermayne Lole, Stephen Herron and others all came through at various points of the year. However, the line as a whole was up-and-down. While they helped Louisville post the 10th-ranked rushing defense in the FBS (99.8 rush yards per game allowed), they were very streaky rushing the passer (38th in sacks at 2.43 per game) and had a handful of games where the opposing quarterback was way too comfortable.

Linebacker

Midseason Grade: B+
Final Grade: B

This area was viewed as the defense's weak area heading into the season, but it was a pleasant surprise. T.J. Quinn made plays all over the field (team-best 92 tackles), Jaylin Alderman had a good bounce-back season in a bigger role (second on team in TFLs at 7.0), Benjamin Perry proved to be an X-Factor at the STAR position, and Stanquan Clark showed flashes of his long term potential. While this position group was hit-or-miss when dropping into coverage, they played a massive role in Louisville's stout run defense.

Cornerback

Midseason Grade: A-
Final Grade: B

Quincy Riley and Jarvis Brownlee established themselves as one of the best cornerback duos in the ACC. Riley in particular was one of the best corners in all of college football, as he is currently tied for 10th nationally in pass defenses with 15 (3 interceptions, 12 PBUs). However, the corners weren't perfect. While Brownlee took a big step forward in his game, he was still prone to the occasional massive blown coverage. Plus, Storm Duck was very inconsistent in the second half of the season when he had to step up following Brownlee's foot injury.

Safety

Midseason Grade: B
Final Grade: B-

Things could have ended in disaster at this position. M.J. Griffin had to miss the whole season, and both Josh Minkins and D'Angelo Hutchinson had to miss some time due to their own injuries. However, Cam'Ron Kelly and Devin Neal stepped up to the plate in a big way. Things weren't always perfect, as the coverage on the back end wasn't that sharp at times, but both were incredible factors in run support and made plays when needed. Neal and Kelly finished as the No. 2 and 3 tacklers on the team at 74 and 70, respectively, while Neal led the team in interceptions with four.

(Photo via Orlando Ramirez - USA TODAY Sports)

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