Jeff Brohm adds Joe Crocker to Louisville football's recruiting class as signing day looms

Brooks Holton, Louisville Courier Journal
·2 min read
Joe Crocker, the three-star offensive lineman for Franklin Road Academy, is pictured here at the school's football field in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, June 8, 2021.
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With National Signing Day looming, Louisville football head coach Jeff Brohm has added a third offensive lineman to the Cardinals' 2023 recruiting class.

Joe Crocker, a three-star tackle prospect from Nashville, Tennessee, announced his commitment to U of L via Twitter on Sunday night. Crocker originally pledged to Mississippi State last summer but reopened his recruitment before the December early signing period.

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After taking an official visit to Louisville over the weekend, Crocker decided that he will call the 502 home for his college career. The 6-foot-6, 310-pound senior at Franklin Road Academy also reportedly visited Michigan State and Wisconsin over the past year.

The 247Sports.com composite rankings list Crocker as the 44th-best offensive tackle in the country and the No. 20 overall prospect in the Volunteer State. When he inks his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday, Crocker will officially join Luke Burgess, the 32nd-best tackle, and Madden Sanker, the 12th-best interior lineman, as a key piece of Louisville's offense in the years to come.

Crocker spent the early years of his childhood living in England due to his dad's profession. American football was foreign to him when as a fourth-grader his family moved to Nashville. But having a nearly 5-foot-6 frame helped him pick up the game on the fly.

"I used to be a huge soccer kid — I played it all my life," Crocker told The Tennessean in June 2021. "I grew up watching soccer. Obviously, I got into football now when I got into fifth grade. I was a big kid."

"The physicality aspect is different (from soccer)," former Franklin Road Academy coach Bill Whittemore, who resigned before Crocker's senior season, told The Tennessean in 2021. "He started to slowly fall in love with it."

In his final year playing for FRA, Crocker helped the Panthers rush for 1,178 yards (8.7 per carry), according to MaxPreps.com. The team finished 10-2 after reaching the quarterfinal round of the Division II Class 2A playoffs.

Reach recruiting and trending sports reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jeff Brohm adds to Louisville football 2023 recruiting class: NSD news