Notre Dame football must be prepared for an extremely talented Louisville defense
If you think back to the 2023 season, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish didn’t have a ton of blunders on the season. Perhaps the most frustrating game of the season was their 33 to 20 loss to the Louisville Cardinals, which the game wasn’t nearly as close as that final score. The Irish put together […]
If you think back to the 2023 season, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish didn’t have a ton of blunders on the season. Perhaps the most frustrating game of the season was their 33 to 20 loss to the Louisville Cardinals, which the game wasn’t nearly as close as that final score. The Irish put together an underwhelming and disheartening performance that day.
Notre Dame gets a chance to have some revenge on Saturday when Louisville travels to South Bend. Despite head coach Jeff Brohm being highly regarded as one of the best offensive minds in college football, the defense is the unit who potentially brings the most issues. Here are the top Louisville offensive players to know.
EDGE Ashton Gillotte
Gillotte has become one of the most productive defensive lineman in college football over the last couple of years. He enters the game with 33 tackles for loss, 23 sacks, and four forced fumbles during his career. He is a thickly built EDGE at a little less than 6-3 and over 270 pounds. The Cardinals will use Gillotte all over the defensive line, possessing a good blend of power, effort and quickness. While he isn’t your traditional pass rusher who can work from wide alignments, Gillotte is a dominant player at the point of attack.
CB Quincy Riley
One of the biggest breakout cornerbacks in college football last fall was Riley, who began his career at Middle Tennessee State. A smaller defensive back at a hair under 5-11 and 187 pounds, Riley is ultra aggressive and has good overall movement skills. He’s a very intelligent cornerback, who has intercepted seven passes and broken up another 20 during the course of his Louisville career. Notre Dame has the clear length advantage but will need to match his competitiveness.
Interior defensive line
The deepest part of this Louisville team is arguably the interior defensive line. While he isn’t a player who is talked about nationally, you can bet that will change quickly when more people get eyes on Rene Konga. A former Rutgers transfer, the 6-4, 290-pound interior rusher is an explosive athlete who was unblockable against Georgia Tech. Notre Dame will have their hands full with No. 90.
Outside of Konga, Louisville also has a couple of other solid players in Dezmond Tell and former Harvard transfer Thor Griffith. Both of them are shorter defensive lineman but play with tremendous leverage. The Irish will have to play with good pad level, and be physical in the run game. That group will be ready.
