Jeff Brohm compares Ashton Gillotte to George Karlaftis

Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm is big on the Ashton Gillotte and George Karlaftis comparisons this season.

Karlaftis, who played under Brohm at Purdue, was a first round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs. Gillotte is on the same trajectory as the former Boilermaker.

Unpromoted, Brohm compared his current EDGE rusher with his former after he was asked about Gillotte’s jumps this season.

“Well, Ashton reminds me a lot of George Karlaftis, who we had at Purdue, who was a first round pick of the Chiefs,” Brohm said. “Kind of can play defensive end but maybe move inside as well. He has the dual threat ability to do both where he’s a strong end that can, in our opinion, play on the edge of the defense, set the edge, come off the line of scrimmage with power and pop, yet has some speed and quickness as well. 

“You want to move him inside and create some mismatches and he can do that very, very good also. He creates push, he’s got quickness and agility, he understands football, he is really strong, doesn’t miss a practice, doesn’t miss reps. I mean, he’s just very durable.” 

Gillotte is certainly durable and he had the moxie to back up Brohm’s claims before the coach and his staff arrived at Louisville. If you haven’t heard of Gillotte at this point, well, now you have.

“He’s already played quite a bit so he had experienced before we got here,” Brohm said. “And he’s proved very valuable in this defense that we rotate guys in there and try to keep them fresh as well. But you know, he’s a dominant player for us. And it shows up every week.”

This season, Gillotte has 30 total tackles, 15 solo tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks and three forced fumbles. Gillotte had seven sacks in 12 games last season.

In total, he has 73 total tackles, 42 solo tackles, 26 tackles for loss, 19.5 sacks, one pass deflection, two fumble recoveries and four forced fumbles.

As a member of the Class of 2021, Gillotte was a three-star recruit out of Boca Raton (Fla.) High, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 150 overall prospect in the state, the No. 114 EDGE in the class and the No. 1,149 overall prospect in the class.