Louisville Football: 2018 class shaping up as one of Cardinals’ best ever

Landing their third four-star signee on the morning of National Signing Day 2018 puts Louisville football in the top half of the ACC class rankings.

Louisville football is putting together a top 30 recruiting class on the 2018 edition of National Signing Day. The morning addition of the top JUCO defensive back in the nation, four-star Northwest Mississippi Community College cornerback Marlon Character Jr., adds possibly the most valuable piece to the puzzle for head coach Bobby Petrino.

Character Jr. started out his college career with the Auburn Tigers before making the jump over to JUCO. Even if the Cardinals do not add another commit on NSD, they still have 23 talented commits ready to go for the 2018 campaign.

With those 23 commits, Louisville ranks as the 30th best class in the nation, and sixth best in the ACC. That’s also with the class rankings not fully updated after the commitment of Character Jr. They’re sure to jump up a few spots, possibly past the NC State Wolfpack and Virginia Tech Hokies in the ACC rankings.

The Cardinals are about to face the tough task of replacing former Heisman winning quarterback Lamar Jackson on the offensive side of the ball. With a team that remained competitive, at a high level in the ACC for the past few years, keeping the incoming freshmen class strong is significant.

In former four-star dual-threat quarterback (ranked No. 5 in the nation at his position) Jawon Pass, Louisville already has the next in line for their starter after Jackson. The Cardinals have to build the rest of the roster surrounding him for the next few years.

This would be the first time that Louisville finishes with a top 30 class in the nation since 2011. Louisville is in great position to round out the NSD comfortably. Here’s a look at the factors that went into the Cardinals pulling such a solid 2018 class, and how it will affect them in the near future.