CARDINALS

Louisville football loses top defensive transfer Jermayne Lole for season

Alexis Cubit
Louisville Courier Journal

ORLANDO — The injury bug has come for Louisville nose tackle Jermayne Lole once again.

The Arizona State transfer, who announced his commitment to the Cardinals in May, is out for the season with an elbow injury, a Louisville spokesperson confirmed Friday evening before U of L took on the University of Central Florida. He suffered the injury against the Orange, Louisville confirmed.

In his final season with the Sun Devils, Lole sustained a triceps injury and didn’t play at all in 2021. He transferred to Louisville and was Dezmond Tell’s backup against Syracuse in the season opener. Jared Dawson is listed as the third-string nose tackle and will move up as Tell’s new backup.

Lole, who has one more year of NCAA eligibility, tweeted before Friday's game after the news broke: "I’ve been through the toughest times, God got me through it. No timing can compare to his. I’ll be back and better… #L1C4"

Lole played 18 snaps against Syracuse, according to the team. He did not record a tackle in the 31-7 loss.

Cardinals defensive line coach Mark Ivey praised what he saw from Lole during fall camp despite not having game tape on him. 

“He's pretty exceptional. There's no doubt,” Ivey said of Lole. “He's a large person that is quite light on his feet and he has strength, exceptional strength. … Tell and him squatted 600 pounds past parallel, and I saw with my eyes. That's an impressive feat. They can move exceptionally well. Both of them very light, very quick on their feet.”

The news Lole was out for Friday's game was first reported by ESPN Louisville's Mark Blankebaker; 247Sports reported Lole will miss the season.

Louisville is set to kick off against UCF at 7:30 p.m.

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Lole was the No. 2 overall transfer prospect in the spring and rated as the No. 2 interior defender in the country by Pro Football Focus. Prior to his 2021 injury, Lole had 24 tackles (17 solo, five for loss) and two pass breakups in a pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

In his Sun Devils career he had 123 tackles (20 for loss), 11 sacks and eight pass breakups.

He was expected to compete with Tell for the starting defensive tackle spot and had the history, talent and size (6-foot-3, 324 pounds) that was supposed to aid a Cardinal run defense that allowed 4.4 yards per carry a season ago.

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Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Alexis_Cubit.