College Football

Louisville Football: ESPN Names The 25 Best ACC Players For 2017

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:18 p.m. ET

Fansided, Derek Snyder/FanSided via Big Red Louie

We take a look at which Louisville football players were chosen by ESPN as being among the 25 best ACC players returning for 2017.

The Louisville football season will be here before we know it, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t interesting things to talk about until then. The Cards are looking to takeover the conference by finally beating Florida State and Clemson next year, but until then, we take a look at who the top players will be for 2017.

Jared Shanker, an ESPN Staff Writer, ranked the 25 best players in the ACC that will be returning to school for the 2017 season.

As you can imagine, there were a ton of Florida State and Clemson players on the list, but the Cards did happen to get two players on the list:

1. Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville: Last season fell apart when Jackson was no longer able to compensate for a Swiss-cheese offensive line. A better line under a new position coach will make Jackson even better.

-Jared Shanker from ESPN

I don’t think it’s any question that Jackson is the best player returning for next season in the ACC. With Watson and Cook entering the NFL Draft, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner will look to land a conference title for Louisville for the very first time.

22. Jaire Alexander, CB, Louisville: The cornerback and returner has a flair for the dramatic, coming up with interceptions and return touchdowns in critical games. Many of the defensive pieces around him at Louisville are now gone, so even more responsibility will fall on his shoulders.

-Jared Shanker from ESPN

I was a little surprised to see Alexander ranked so low on this list. He was rated by many media outlets as being one of the best cover corners in the entire country in 2016. It may be because he plays for Louisville, but there’s no reason why he should be this low on the list.