LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Phil Steele college football yearbook ranked the University of Louisville defensive line the No. 12 group of players at that position in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
ProFootballFocus upgraded that ranking to seventh-best in the 15-team league. Not great. Not terrible. Just OK.
Lindy’s Yearbook ranked just one U of L defensive lineman — end YaYa Diaby — as one of the 12 best in the ACC.
Mark Ivey, the Cards’ defensive line coach, has another view on the impact the group will make during the 2021 season.
Ivey is convinced the Cards’ defensive line will be a team strength, considerably better than last season when U of L limited opponents to 179.9 yards rushing per game, the lowest total since 2017.
Ivey said that he expected the unit to improve “drastically.” He said the three-player competition at nose tackle was unrelenting, forcing the coaching staff to make changes in the depth chart twice during the first four days of practice.
He said the Cards’ five newcomers across the defensive front had improved the team’s talent as well as its depth.
Ivey did not speak like a guy who was concerned that six opponents would rush form more than 200 yards the way the season unfolded in 2019 or that five opponents would average more than 5 yards per carry against Louisville the way teams did during in 2020.
“The conversation for 2 1/2-to-3 years now has been about depth and about trying to develop depth and that’s still to me about as important a piece as anything,” Ivey said.
“I think we took a huge step last year. And I think you could tell that. The defense improved greatly — statistically. Obviously we would have liked to have done better with wins and losses ...
“... I think you’ll see some gains again this year, because I think right now, we’re staring at a situation where, although it improved in Year 2, I think it’s going to improve drastically in Year 3, because I think we were very fortunate in the five young guys that we were able to get in here.
“It’s going to create pressure from the bottom (of the depth chart), which will eventually be the middle, which will eventually be the top with talented players that can get off the ball and move and are explosive. Some of those guys have some tremendous length and size as well.”
In other words, Ivey is not concerned that Steele does not rank any Louisville defensive linemen among the top 16 in the ACC. Ivey has not lost a bit of sleep over the recruiting rankings from 247Sports that show none of the Cards’ defensive newcomers are ranked higher than three-star prospects.
Truth be told, Ashton Gillotte, a defensive end from Boca Raton, Florida, has created as much buzz as any freshman in training camp, and Gillette is a three-star recruit who was ranked the 164th-best prospect from the state of Florida and not ranked at all as a national recruit.
“He’s been, not a surprise, I shouldn’t say a surprise but he’s been a treat the whole time,” Ivey said. “He’s been what we thought he was and maybe even more ... He’s going to be excellent.”
The gurus are not aware that Gillette has added 40 pounds to the 6-foot-4-inch, 220-pound physique he had in high school without sacrificing quickness. Ivey touted Gillette’s physical and mental skills, saying that he was a determined student who wants to learn how to make plays.
The most compelling competition is at nose tackle: a daily battle between Malik Clark, redshirt junior; Jacquies Turner, a former all-Conference USA transfer from Southern Miss and Dezmond Tell, a freshman from Dutchtown High School in Stockbridge, Georgia.
“It’s really entertaining right now,” Ivey said. “I mean really entertaining ... you may see a rotating starter at that position ... those three right now, it’s nip and tuck every day as to who’s playing better and who’s going to be the guy that starts the next day.
“Which is a great thing to have. I think the depth has really picked up and the depth is quality depth.”
Depth and talent that Ivey expects will result in the best defensive line play the Cardinals have had in several years.
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