Louisville Drawing Positive Reviews for Transfer Portal Efforts

The Cardinals have done a great job of navigating the transfer portal so far this offseason.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In this day and age of college football, it's far from uncommon to lose a lot of talent to the transfer portal. With the implementation of the one-time transfer rule last offseason, players are free to move onto a different school without penalty, at least once.

In order for programs to stay ahead of the curve and keep their team on track for success, it's not so much about who you lose in the portal, but who you replace that departing talent with. So far this offseason, Louisville is drawing rave reviews for how they have navigated the portal.

247Sports recently ranked all 15 ACC teams by their efforts in the portal, taking the average transfer rating of the players leaving each program and subtracting that from the average transfer rating of the players entering the program. Louisville came out on top of the conference with a net gains of +3.34.

"Not only did the Cardinals offset losses at running back and receiver, they upgraded on paper," 247Sports' Brandon Marcello wrote.

Last week, The Athletic took a slightly different approach when it came to this subject. They sorted out the 15 ACC teams' portal efforts into three groups: winners, losers and broke even. Louisville found themselves in the later category, with Florida State, Miami, Pitt and UNC landing in the winner's category.

"Head coach Scott Satterfield managed the portal well and picked up several players who can give Louisville meaningful contributions early," The Athletic wrote

Like most Power Five programs, the Cardinals were not immune to to seeing talent depart. 11 scholarship players entered the portal since the start of the 2021 season, with Jordan Watkins, Greedy Vance and Kani Walker being the most noteworthy departures - as all three had starter potential next season.

But on the other side of that coin, Louisville brought in seven players via the portal, with most of them looking to play large roles in 2022. Running back Tiyon Evans was Tennessee's leading rusher before injuring his ankle, inside linebacker MoMo Sanogo brings a wealth of experience from the SEC, and wide receiver Tyler Hudson was one of the best FCS players in the nation last year.

As it currently stands, Louisville is full on scholarships for the 2022 season. That being said, Satterfield is still recruiting the portal should another player transfer from the Cards.

Louisville finished the 2021 season with a mark of 6-7 (4-4 in ACC), including a 31-28 loss in the First Responder Bowl against Air Force. The Cardinals will kick off the 2022 season with a road matchup against Syracuse on Saturday, Sept. 3

(Photo of Scott Satterfield: Matt Stone - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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