Louisville Football: Breaking down transfer QB Luke McCaffrey

Louisville football has added a new quarterback to the mix in transfer Luke McCaffrey from Nebraska and here’s what the additions means for the Cardinals. 

The Louisville football program had a tough year last season, winning just four games and losing seven. But adding talent to the quarterback position is always a good thing and that’s what the Cardinals did on Monday.

The Cardinals added former Nebraska quarterback Luke McCaffrey from the transfer portal after he spent two seasons with the Huskers.

When McCaffrey signed with the Huskers in the 2019 recruiting class, he was one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country and a solid four-star prospect.

However, he never really found his way with the Huskers. He was given the chance to start this season and he led the Huskers to a win over Penn State but he struggled to throw the football with accuracy and was soon replaced.

Yet, in the right system, McCaffrey could still excel and it was clear that it wasn’t going to happen at Nebraska, at least for a couple more years.

But that doesn’t mean that McCaffrey is walking into a situation where he’s guaranteed playing time with Lousiville football — in fact far from it.

The Cardinals return starting quarterback Malik Cunningham who threw 20 touchdown passes last season for Louisville but also threw 12 interceptions in 11 games.

McCaffrey, who excels as a runner had 530 yards on an average of six yards per attempt plus four touchdowns with Nebraska, did complete 63 percent of his passes this season but had six interceptions compared to just one touchdown.

Outside of the interceptions, it’s really hard to judge McCaffrey as a passer. He’s only had two career games with 20 passing attempts and he was rotated in and out with Adrien Martinez, which wasn’t an easy situation for either quarterback.

Cunningham has thrown for more than 2,000 yards in each of the past two seasons and only had six picks in 2019, so McCaffrey could push him, but it’s not likely he wins the job.

But, the nice thing about McCaffrey is that, should he choose, he could play for four years with Louisville football and that will give the Cardinals a talented backup, with some of the same abilities of Cunningham to develop behind him.

Competition can be a good thing and McCaffrey could push him or could see some situational opportunities as a runner or receiver, but down the road, he could be the starting quarterback and that’s why you have to like this move for Louisville football.