2023 Louisville Football Position Breakdown: Cornerback

The Cardinals have a healthy mix of experience, talent and potential at corner despite losing their top player.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As we inch closer to the start of the 2023 college football season, Louisville Report will break down each individual position on the Cardinals' roster. Next in our positional breakdown series, we take at look at the cornerbacks.

Position Roster Movement:

Returning (4): Jarvis Brownlee Jr., Derrick Edwards III, Trey Franklin, Quincy Riley
Departing (3): Kei'Trel Clark (NFL Draft), Rance Conner (Transfer - Georgia State) Chandler Jones (Graduation)
Incoming (4): Storm Duck, Marquis Groves-Killebrew, Marcus Washington Jr., Aaron Williams

Projected Depth Chart:

Cornerback

1. Jarvis Brownlee Jr. (6-0, 190, Jr.)
2. Quincy Riley (6-0, 185, R-Jr.)
3. Marcus Washington (6-1, 185, R-Fr.)

Cornerback

1. Storm Duck (6-1, 200, R-Sr.)
2. Marquis Groves-Killebrew (6-0, 180, R-Fr.)
3. Aaron Williams (6-2, 185, Fr.)

Nickelback

1. Trey Franklin (5-10, 180, R-Jr.)
2. Derrick Edwards III (5-11, 180, R-So.)

Breakdown:

When looking at Louisville's defense last season, a lot of the success they experienced last season was due to the prowess of the front seven. When you lead all of the FBS in sacks and come in the top ten in tackles for loss, that's a fair assertion to make.

But something that was largely lost in the grand scheme of things was that this was also partially due to the fact that the Cardinals performed well in the secondary, particularly in the second half of the season. Despite struggling over their first five games when it came to giving up big plays, Louisville still finished with the No. 22 overall passing defense at 197.0 passing yards allowed per game. The Cardinals also snagged 15 interceptions for the season, which was good for 14th in the nation. The linebacking corps did help with that previous total, but still.

Heading into the 2023 season when looking specifically at the cornerback room, while Louisville does lose one of their best corners this century in Kei'Trel Clark to the NFL Draft, this unit has potential to perform at an elite level in year one of the Jeff Brohm era.

First, we'll start with Louisville's top returner at the position in Jarvis Brownlee Jr. Last season, Brownlee was admittedly boom-or-bust, suffering occasional lapses in coverage (his 587 yards allowed as the closest defender led the team, per Pro Football Focus) -  most notably against his former team in Florida State.

But when he's Dr. Jekyll and not Mr. Hyde, Brownlee gave Clark a run for his money for the title of "Louisville's best corner." His 66 total tackles was third on the team and topped out the secondary, while also adding 2.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and a team-best 12 pass breakups. The latter tied for second in the ACC, with his 14 overall pass defenses also tying for second in the league.

Brownlee's best work came against the run, hence the amount of tackles he amassed. As it pertains to his consistencies in pass coverage, he appeared to take large strides forward in this department during the spring. He regularly demonstrated his physical and irritating nature to opposing wideouts, while also doing better when it came to not losing them down the field in coverage. If this all comes together in the fall, an All-ACC nod is all but guaranteed.

He'd probably have the title of best cornerback currently on the roster, had Louisville not picked up a cornerback through the portal who was actually an All-ACC selection last season. After spending his first four years at North Carolina and making a brief stop with Penn State in the spring, Storm Duck re-transferred and wound up with Louisville.

Duck is coming off of the best season of his collegiate career. He logging 46 total tackles along with one for loss, a forced fumble, while leading UNC with three interceptions and nine pass breakups, earning a Second-Team All-ACC selection in the process. Like Brownlee, Duck also performed well as a run defender and around the line of scrimmage last season, but was a lot more consistent when it came to dropping into zone coverage and staying with his receiver in man coverage.

Brownlee and Duck will be Louisville's starting cornerback tandem, but Quincy Riley is going to get plenty of run as well. It wasn't Clark or Brownlee who led Louisville in interceptions last season, it was Riley with three - all while playing just the 11th-most snaps on Louisville's defense last season at 437. His final stat line for the season also featured 27 tackles, a tackle for loss that was a sack and two pass breakups. As you can imagine, Riley was one of Louisville's best assets in pass coverage, with his 73.1 coverage grade on PFF leading the Cardinals' secondary as a whole. He was held out during the spring due to injury, but expect Riley to be a regular fixture of Louisville's defense in clear passing situations.

Behind this trio of primary boundary cornerbacks are three young corners with loads of potential. Marquis Groves-Killebrew and Marcus Washington Jr. are both former five-star prospects who saw limited playing time as true freshman at their previous stops of Texas A&M and Georgia, respectively. Both players have incredibly high ceilings thanks to their raw talent, and with some continued development and coaching, could be ready to be regular pieces of the cornerback rotation.

Aaron Williams is also in this category, but it remains to be seen how much he will actually play in 2023. The former high four-star prospect and incoming freshman actually played with a torn ACL in parts of his senior season at St. John Bosco, and had surgery to repair it in January.

Thats not to say that the other two scholarship cornerbacks on the roster, Trey Franklin and Derrick Edwards III, don't have a place this upcoming season. Whenever the defense calls for a five DB formation and the STAR - the linebacker/safety hybrid in the new 4-2-5 system - is replaced by a nickelback, expect these two to fill in here. Franklin has shown flashes of potential in the past after logging a couple interceptions in 2021, and Edwards is coming off of a solid spring.

The new system should benefit the secondary as a whole as well. In 2022, Purdue ranked 18th in the FBS in passes intercepted with 14, and 33rd in total passes defended with 60. Their overall passing defense was 48th at 213.8 passing yards allowed per game, but in 2021 - co-DC Ron English's first year with the Boilermakers - it was 33rd with 208.7 passing yards allowed per game.

Overall, Louisville has to feel good about the current state of the cornerback position. While the unit as a whole will have to continue working on their consistency in pass coverage, there's reason to believe that the Cardinals should not have a super slow start in this regard next season and give up a ton of big plays like they did early in the 2022 season.

There's a healthy mix of experience, talent and potential at this position. If it all comes together, especially if the defensive line can help them play complimentary football, Louisville could be on their way to posting another top-25 passing defense.

Other Position Breakdowns:

• Quarterback
• Running Back
• Wide Receiver
• Tight End
• Offensive Line
• Defensive Line
• Linebacker
• Safety
• Special Teams

(Photo of Jarvis Brownlee Jr.: Mike Watters - USA TODAY Sports)

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