Louisville started last season 9-1, was seconds away from knocking off eventual national champion Clemson and lost a tiebreaker to the Tigers for the ACC Atlantic title. And they had the best player in college football — who is returning in 2017.
Yet the Cardinals are getting almost no love in preseason polls and predictions, with many believing they have no chance at unseating Clemson (or Florida State) in the division and flirting with a playoff berth. Heck, even Lamar Jackson is buried in most Heisman odds and was ranked as the No. 6 player in the country by ESPN.
Louisville is ranked No. 16 in the AP Preseason poll (No. 14 in the HERO Sports Top 100), nearly 600 points behind Clemson. They do, however, have an edge over their division rival — and the 24 other teams ranked in the preseason top 25 — in one area. Bobby Petrino's program has made a massive number of offers to 2018 recruits: 376.
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Of those 376 players who've received offers, 18 have committed, which gives the Cardinals 358 outstanding offers, also the most of any top 25 team.
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Here is the AP Preseason top 25 re-ranked by number of total offers to 2018 recruits (according to 247Sports):
