2023 Louisville Football Position Breakdown: Tight End

Due to both youth and system inexperience, the tight end room for the Cardinals could be one of the biggest weak spots on the entire team.

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 tight ends.

Position Roster Movement:

Returning (2): Nate Kurisky, Duane Martin
Departing (5): Marshon Ford (NFL Draft), Isaac Martin (Graduation), Dez Melton (Transfer - San Diego State), Victor Mullen (Medically Retired), Francis Sherman (Transfer - Arkansas)
Incoming (2): Joey Gatewood (Transfer - UCF), Jamari Johnson (HS)

Projected Depth Chart:

1. Josh Lifson* (6-3, 235, Gr.)
2. Jamari Johnson (6-5, 260, Fr.)
3. Joey Gatewood (6-3, 230, R-Sr.)
4. Duane Martin (6-2, 260, Jr.)
5. Nate Kurisky (6-3, 230, So.)
6. Gage Reale* (6-2, 230, So.)

*walk-on

Breakdown:

Louisville's upcoming 2023 season will mark the start of a new era for a variety of reasons. As it pertains to the the tight end room, it will be the first season since 2016 that Marshon Ford will not be on the roster.

Originally joining the roster as a walk on, Ford departs the Cardinals as one of the best tight ends in school history. All-time amongst tight ends at UofL, the Louisville Ballard HS product ranks second in touchdown receptions (18), and fourth in overall receptions (127) and receiving yards (1,585).

Believe it or not, his departure is only one major factor as to how different the tight end room will be this upcoming season. On top of that, the position is going to be utilized in the complete opposite manner under new head coach Jeff Brohm than it was under former head coach Scott Satterfield.

While Satterfield uses tight ends (save for Ford) almost exclusively as blockers for the run game, tight ends in Brohm scheme are an underrated aspect to the success of his pass-heavy attack. Just ask Payne Durham, who taken in the fifth round of April's NFL Draft thanks to his pass-catching prowess under Brohm.

On top of that, the current tight end room is a mix of both youth and relative inexperience to what they will be asked to do in 2023. The six tight ends on the roster, which comprise of four scholarship players and two walk-ons, quite literally have almost zero experience/production in the passing game. The combined career totals of these six player is just six receptions for 94 yards and a single touchdown. In fact, according to PFF, they have combined to play just 89 career snaps where they are designated as potential targets in the passing game.

That's why, at this current time, walk-on Josh Lifson is likely going to be your day one starter at tight end. Not only does he have the only receiving touchdown in college amongst this group (a nine-yard score against Pitt last season), but he looked comfortable as a pass catcher during the spring. In the spring game, both of his receptions went touchdowns, and he logged 42 receiving yards in the process. One was the beautiful double-reverse flea flicker, and the other was in the redzone, where it already seems like he is building a repertoire with quarterback Jack Plummer.

However, it would not shock me at all if true freshman Jamari Johnson was your starting tight end by the end of the season. He is tailor-made for an offense like this, possessing the overall size and pure athleticism that you would want out of a receiving tight end. While he did have his fair share of "freshman moments" in the spring, there were also a handful of times in the open practices where he looked almost unguardable. His high school film showed that he has a good catch radius and does a fantastic job when it comes to generating separation.

The wild card at this position is Joey Gatewood. The former top-50 prospect spent the first four years of his collegiate career as a quarterback, whether that was at Auburn, Kentucky or UCF, then made the transition to wide receiver last offseason ahead of his second season with the Knights. However, Gatewood didn't play a single snap in 2022, and his abilities as a pass catcher are largely unknown. He does have the size, athleticism and physicality that you would want from a tight end, so it's entirely possible that, after getting used to the position in fall camp, he could step up and be a contributor.

After that, the youth and pass catching inexperience at tight end really kicks in. Duane Martin has just four receptions for 57 yards over his first three years in college, Nate Kurisky has logged zero stats as a receiver after redshirting his true freshman campaign in 2022 (and is in the process of learning his third offensive scheme in as many years), and walk-on Gage Reale played just two run-blocking snaps last season in his true freshman campaign.

Fortunately, the tight end room has a great position coach in Ryan Wallace leading the charge. He was with Brohm in all six of his years at Purdue, starting as a quality control coach before finally earning the role of tight ends coach for the 2022 season. That year, Durham put together this best season of his career, catching 56 passes for 560 yards and eight touchdowns, all of which were second on the Boilermakers only to Second-Team All-American wide receiver Charlie Jones.

But the bottom line is, even with Wallace's coaching prowess and the potential of guys like Lifson and Johnson, the tight end position is unquestionably the weak spot on this offense. Not only is it relatively thin numbers-wise, but it's a group that - for a variety of reasons - just is not used to catching passes at the college level. Brohm's offenses have always had their most success when they have a go-to tight end in the passing game, and there simply isn't one - at least right now. Time will tell if anyone will take that step forward this season.

Other Position Breakdowns:

• Quarterback
• Running Back
• Wide Receiver
• Offensive Line
• Defensive Line (coming soon)
• Linebacker (coming soon)
• Cornerback (coming soon)
• Safety (coming soon)
• Special Teams (coming soon)

(Photo of Josh Lifson: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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