Ron English, Steve Ellis Comfortable with Louisville's Depth in Secondary

The Cardinals head into the 2024 season with one of the deeper group of defensive backs in the ACC.

Louisville’s Tayon Holloway (20) catches the ball during Spring Practice on Thursday. / Scott Utterback/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program heads into the upcoming 2024 season with a fair amount of depth across the board. The coaching has praised the amount of quality depth on the offensive and defensive lines, while several playmakers have began to emerge in fall camp at the wide receiver and tight end positions.

One of the Cardinals' deepest areas of the field heading into year two of the Jeff Brohm era is in the secondary. Louisville is deep into their preseason fall camp, but ever since spring ball, co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Ron English plus cornerbacks coach Steve Ellis have had nothing but glowing things to say about the quality depth at defensive back.

"I feel good at both safety positions with the two deep, and the STAR at two deep," English said recently after a fall camp practice. "The corners are a legit two deep as well."

The crown jewel of the Cardinals' secondary is, unsurprisingly, returning cornerback Quincy Riley. He led the ACC in pass defense last season at 15, and is generally regarded as a top-100 player in all of college football. As you can imagine, the senior corner has dominated in fall camp, and very clearly looks to be playing on Sunday once his college career is over.

Related: Louisville CB Quincy Riley's Development Taken to 'Another Level'

While Riley might be the best corner on the roster, the other guys in the position's two-deep have thoroughly impressed Ellis - even all the way back to spring ball. UCF's Corey Thornton Illinois' Tahveon Nicholson and UNC's Tayon Holloway all joined Louisville during the winter transfer portal window, and this trio grabbed the attention of the staff from the momentum they set foot on the practice field. Even younger guys like Aaron Williams and Rae'mon Mosby have had flashes of brilliance this offseason.

Put it all together, and Ellis believes there isn't a single weak link at the cornerback spot. In fact, he has challenged his group to be the "strongest link."

Related: Louisville's Transfer Cornerbacks Continuing to Impress in Fall Camp

"We want to be the strongest link," Ellis said earlier in fall camp. "No weak links, man. No matter who's out there, there's no weak links. Whether you're a freshman, a sophomore, or a senior, it doesn't matter. There's no weak links. Whoever is on the field, our job is to get the job done, and to make sure we play the best of our ability as we possibly can."

The corners might be aiming to be the strongest link on the team, but they have some stiff competition for that title over on the back end at safety.

Here is where we have the most anticipated return on the entire roster in M.J. Griffin. He played a crucial role in Louisville's defensive turnaround during the 2022 season, but was forced to miss the entire 2023 season due to an injury suffered last camp.

Related: Louisville's M.J. Griffin Grateful to Return to Action Following Injury

Griffin at one point was called the "best guy in the secondary" by English, but the starter opposite of him in Devin Neal might have something to say about that considering he is the only returning All-ACC defensive back for the Cardinals. Even the backups at free and strong safety in Tamarion McDonald and D'Angelo Hutchinson have made waves. McDonald has taken steps as a leader despite being a newcomer, and Hutchinson is sure to have a role this season considering he has had moments where he earned reps with the ones in fall camp.

The competition has been so fierce in the secondary for the Cardinals that English says that it has been a struggle at times just getting all the necessary reps distributed amongst the cornerbacks and safeties.

"I gotta make sure they get the reps, I'm serious," he said. "I don't say "starter" guy. For example, last scrimmage, one guy got 45, the other guy got 41."

In fact, English went as far to say that this is the deepest secondary that he has seen since 2003, when he was the defensive backs coach at Michigan. This was a Wolverines secondary that allowed just 180.5 passing yards per game, highlighted by a pair of future All-Americans in cornerback Marlin Jackson and safety Ernest Shazor, as well as a future first round NFL Draft pick in Leon Hall.

As for Louisville, they're coming off of a season where they gave up 217.3 passing yards per game for the 57th-ranked passing defense, but also had the 25th-most interceptions with 13. Based on the competition they have seen in fall camp, English and Ellis think that Louisville could have one of the best secondaries in the ACC - if not the FBS.

"It's always good when you have 'iron sharpens iron,' and that's what we talked about with our guys," Ellis said. "It doesn't matter who's out there, the job got to get done. Those guys have done an unbelievable job with some of their training, getting their bodies (right) with their conditioning.

"The offense is giving us a lot of questions we've got to have answers for, so it's been good. For a lot of guys, they have a chance to get reps, they have a chance to get better. I think the competition has really been good for us."

(Photo of Tayon Holloway: Scott Utterback - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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