Cardinals Add Eight Junior College Players
December 19, 2007 | Football
Dec. 19, 2007
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Second-year University of Louisville head football coach Steve Kragthorpe announced the addition of eight junior-college student-athletes to the Cardinal football program on Wednesday.
Due to severe depth problems within the program, Kragthorpe needed to add a number of junior-college prospects to the program.
"We needed to add immediate depth to our program because of our lack of numbers," said Kragthorpe. "I am excited that these players will be here to participate in spring practice."
The Cardinals signed four offensive players and four defensive student-athlete's to this year's class.
Kragthorpe needed help on the offensive line, and signed two solid offensive line recruits in C.J. Millenbah from Grossmont College and Byron Stingily from Joliet Community College. Millenbah is a three-star prospect on the offensive line. At 6-3, 300 pounds, Millenbah is an athletic nasty lineman who can help the Cardinals immediately. He was a two-time Offensive Linemen of the Year within his league. Stingily is considered another athletic offensive lineman who adds a lot of depth to that spot. He started 13 games at tackle and earned first team All-Conference accolades.
U of L lost their two starting tight ends in Gary Barnidge and Scott Kuhn and Kragrthorpe landed Rock Keys from Jones County Junior College to help fill the void. Keys, a second team All-American a year ago, was used mainly as a blocker, but caught nine passes for 119 yards.
The wide receiver position also lost three solid players in Harry Douglas and Patrick Carter to graduation and Mario Urrutia left early to the NFL. Wide receiver Maurice Clark from Saddleback College is expected to come in immediately and battle for playing time. Clark is a speedy wide receiver who All-Conference honors after catching a team-high 43 passes for 628 yards and eight touchdowns.
Defensively, the Cardinals are extremely thin at linebacker and filled a void with the addition of Chris Campa from Butler Community College. Campa led Butler to a national title after leading the team in tackles with 104.
Tyler Jessen, a teammate of Campa at Butler, was brought in to help out on the defensive line. Jessen was the team's third-leading tackler with 88 tackles and three sacks. Butler, who ranked fifth nationally against the run, held opponents to just 204 yards of total offense and 9.1 points per game.
The secondary also suffered a couple of losses and Kragthorpe addressed that need by landing two solid safety signees in Justin Mathews of Jones County Junior College and Josh Wiley of Pearl River Community College.
Mathews final season in junior college was halted after breaking his leg six games into the season. Projected as a preseason All-American, Matthews finished with 31 tackles. Wiley is probably one of the top recruits in the group. He's rated as the 18th-best junior college player in the country, including the second-best defensive back among junior-college players.
