Report CARD: Recruiting
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July 1st brings in a new era for the ACC as Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame officially join the conference. It also is the dawning of a new conference, the American Athletic Conference. I hope Commissioner Aresco pardons Louisville fans for not greeting this day with applause and cheers. What we will relish is one final year with two old rivals in Cincinnati and Memphis.
Last week I took a look into the Louisville Cardinals future, their 2014 football recruiting class. Over the course of last week it has changed as the Cards received seven commitments in five days, it was truly a busy week. The week started with the news that Detrick Dukes switched his commitment to his home state Georgia Bulldogs but this bad news was short lived as the new commitments began to trickle in.
It started with a pair of commitments from Danial Gresham and Zykiesis Cannon. Gresham is the top fullback in the 2014 class and a top 40 runningback. Before originally committing to Texas, he had offers from Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Tennessee and others. The 5-11 225 lbs back was born and raised in Louisville before moving to Texas at age 12. As a junior he ran for 979 yards for an 11.38 yards per carry with 18 TDs while also picking up 18 tackles and 3 sacks on defense. Louisville won the ACC battle for Cannon, a 3 star WR/S.
Next it was 6-3 220 lbs DL Rashawn Shaw, Rivals #18 DE. Shaw also had offers from LSU, South Carolina, Tennessee and others. This could lead to a commitment from 4 star LB Sharieff Rhaheed who is a teammate of Shaw but who is currently committed to LSU.
6-6 321 lbs OL Danny Burns quickly came next. Burns is ranked as the #32 OT by Rivals. He also had offers from Michigan St, Maryland, Nebraska, West Virginia and others. It is good to see the Cards adding quality size to their offensive line.
A pair of 3 star prospects finished off the round of 2014 commitments for the week, bringing the Cards total number of commits to 20. In contrast, the Cards only had 6 commits at the same time last year. LJ Scott is a top 50 RB who had offers from Wisconsin, Indiana and others while Cam Polk is an athlete who is ranked as a top 60 WR.
This set up Louisville for their biggest surprise of the week, their final commit of the week. 4 star MLB 6-4 230 lbs James Hearns was making plans for junior college when he learned Wednesday that he had achieved the necessary grade on his ACT to make him eligible for the 2013 class. He visited Louisville on Friday and signed on Saturday. Hearns bolsters the Cards 2013 class, giving them four 4 star recruits and a total of 17 signees. He will enroll July 10. Originally he had offers from Alabama, Florida, Florida St, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, South Carolina and others. His grades made him a risky prospect and lead him from parting ways with Florida in January. On signing day he “almost” signed with Kentucky but their coaches didn’t want to take a chance on his grades. Hearnes is a teammate of Louisville’s 2014 commit Jeff Williams.
The Cards commitments didn’t end with football as the basketball team also picked up a commitment from a 5 star prospect. JaQuan Lyle is ranked 18th overall in the class of 2014. Lyle, a 6-4 180 lbs combo guard, is a versatile guard that can play and defend three different positions. He joins the Cards pair of 4 star commits, #29 Quentin Snider PG and #36 Shaqquan Aaron SF. This bumps the Cards class up to #2 in the rankings, trailing only North Carolina. The Cards likely will now turn their attention to picking up two big men. The Cards have offers out to Tray Lyles, Myles Turner, Goodluck Okonoboh, Elbert Robinson and others.
In other basketball news the Cards saw Gorgui Dieng selected at #21 in the NBA draft by Utah, but will end up in Minnesota, and Peyton Siva selected at #56 by Detroit. It was announced that the Louisville market was #1 for the NBA draft. Senior Luke Hancock made team USA in the 12 man World University Games and sophomore Montrezl Harrell made the USA under 19 World Championship team.
It was a busy week for the Cards. Not only did they help solidify their 2014 football class, with 7 players in the top 40 at their position, but they also strengthened their 2013 class with a rare June pickup. It would’ve been considered a great week with just the football news but the basketball pickup and the NBA draft selections made it an extraordinary week. The only way it could have been better is if they picked up more 4 star football commits so on this report Card I will have to give the Cards an A for the week. Even though this has the makings of the Cards best football class ever, they are still only in the top 5 of the ACC.
Related articles
- Louisville 2014 Football Recruiting Update (atlanticcoastconfidential.com)
The Confidential 
Awesome!!!
More good news for the Cards as Rhaheed has decommitted from LSU. He is considering Alabama, Arkansas and others but says that Louisville holds a slight advantage at this time.