Louisville LB TJ Capers Continuing to Grow Following Critical Comments

The redshirt freshman linebacker for the Cardinals drew criticism from the coaching staff earlier this year.

Louisville linebacker T.J. Capers (1) / University of Louisville Athletics

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Fall camp is now in full swing for the Louisville football program. The Cardinals kicked off their three-week long preseason practice period last week, and year two of the Jeff Brohm era is less than a month away from kicking off.

While Louisville is in the very early goings of fall camp, having only conducted a few practices up at this point. However, a few players have started to draw the attention of the staff, whether that be due to their play, or the amount of reps they have seen. For linebackers coach Mark Ivey, T.J. Capers is someone that has started to stand out to him.

"The last few days, T.J. Capers has gotten more reps than he's ever gotten," Ivey said Friday. "He's fully healthy now, which is huge, because he was not last year. You talk about a guy that showed up, and got himself mentally engaged. I'm not gonna say prepared, but engaged. Then got his body healthy, went through spring ball, and he's a very different guy right now.

"To be able to see him get reps yesterday and today, he's starting to remember how to be physical, which is cool. Sometimes guys come back back from an injury, they got to work through it a little bit. There's a little bit of that timidness that that sometimes you have to overcome. It was good to see him yesterday, and today he was having fun now."

It's a far cry from the coaches' stance on Capers earlier this year. During the first week of spring ball, co-defensive coordinator Ron English what asked his thoughts of how the former five-star prospect has looked since arriving on campus, and he provided some staunch criticism.

"I got to see more," English said. "I don't anticipate any role yet. T.J's got to do what we ask him to do. Whatever it is we ask him to do, he's got to do that. There's some things that we've asked him to do that he has not done. As you can tell, I'm not pleased about it at all. We want him to have a role, we brought him here to do that, he's a highly recruited guy. But he's got to do what we ask him to do, and it's not an option."

Considering his pedigree as a high school prospect, this answer certainly raised some eyebrows. At the time of his commitment to Louisville in January of 2023, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker/edge rusher hybrid ranked as high as the No. 5 prospect in the Class of 2024 according to Rivals, and was the highest-ranked prospect to ever commit to Louisville in the modern recruiting era with a 247Sports Composite rating of .9957.

The Miami, Fla. native would later reclassify to the 2023 cycle so that he could sign with Louisville a year early - partially so he could rehab a knee injury - and he still ranked as the No. 126 prospect nationally. Despite having the ability to play in four games before burning a redshirt, Capers did not see the field this past season.

But ever since those critical comments made from English back in March, Capers has morphed into a different player. Ivey noted towards the end of spring ball that Capers "made a decision to try and improve daily," and added on Friday that he has only gotten better since being challenged by English.

"I think what he did with that information was great," Ivey said. "First thing he did was, 'Hey, tell me what I can do.' We made that map, that little plan, and that guy has done a nice job. There's still lots of room to grow, but he's done a nice job taking the information he gathered, and then going and making changes. That's what you want.

"If you're going to coach guys and give them information, you want to take the information and grow from it, there's no doubt. Is he where he's going to be a year or two or three from now? Absolutely not. But what he is, is lightyears ahead of where it was last January, February as we started spring football."

Even some of his teammates have noticed a change in Capers' behavior. While fellow inside linebacker Jurriente Davis, a transfer from Texas A&M, has only been around for roughly half a year, he has noticed the growth from Capers. Being the oldest linebacker on the roster, Davis has even taken Capers under his wing.

"We got a good relationship, because I'm the oldest in the room and he's the youngest, and we play the same position," Davis said. "He comes and ask me questions about fronts and different packages to make sure he's doing the right thing. He just wants to learn, so that's pretty good on him that he wants to learn, and get better at a young age. By the time he's my age, he'll be lights out."

(Photo of T.J. Capers via University of Louisville Athletics)

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