By Russ Brown
Special to NKyTribune
LOUISVILLE — Louisville’s four defensive players who had explored skipping their senior season and entering the NFL draft this spring appeared at a press conference Thursday afternoon to explain their decisions to remain in school.
Safety Josh Harvey-Clemons and linebacker Keith Kelsey had announced their decisions earlier in the week and linebacker DeVonte Fields made his choice known through Twitter Thursday morning. Defensive tackle DeAngelo Brown hadn’t announced his verdict until the press conference.
All four said they wanted to return because they feel the experienced and talent-laden Cardinals could have a special season in 2016.
With that quartet returning, UoffL will have 18 starters back from this past season’s 8-5 team that won six of its last seven games, including 27-21 over Texas A&M in the Music City Bowl.
Fields said he thinks UofL has a chance to win its first ACC championship next year and Kelsey seconded that opinion.
“We have a great opportunity with all the guys coming back next year and the younger guys stepping up as well,” Kelsey said. “I think we have a chance to be a good team if we approach the offseason the right way.”
The decision probably wasn’t very difficult for any of the four because none received a draft projection for the first-or-second round by the NFL’s advisory committee.
“I kind of had my mind made up anyway,” Fields said. “Just because I finished strong. All the hype came at the end or whatever. I can do that the whole season. I plan on doing that, and we’ve got a great team coming back.”
Harvey-Clemons said he felt “a little rusty” in 2015 after sitting out the previous year as a Georgia transfer and also feels he can improve and put together a more complete season.
“I talked it over with my family and coaches,” Harvey-Clemons said, “and I really didn’t have the season that I wanted to have. I feel like I can do a lot better, and I talked to these guys. Once they told me they were coming back, it was a no-brainer for me.”
Brown said he “felt in my heart it was best for me to come back.”
BUCKLEY LEAVING
UofL lost its second defensive backfield coach of the week when cornerbacks coach Terrell Buckley confirmed that he has been hired to coach the safeties at Mississippi State.
Buckley is a native of Pascagoula, Miss. He was part of Bobby Petrino’s original staff in 2014, having been hired from Akron. Earlier this week, UofL safeties coach Greg Brown left to become the cornerbacks coach at Missouri.