Louisville lands a commitment from 4-star WR Joseph Stone: 'Louisville is like home'

Joseph Stone is very familiar with Louisville (Ken.). His dad is from there. He still has a lot of family there. As a kid, Stone would spend summers with his grandparents in Louisville. Now, the four-star wide receiver out of Fairburn (Ga.) Langston Hughes is ready to call it his home.

After backing off his pledge to LSU last month, the No. 346 prospect in the On3 Industry Rankings has committed to Jeff Brohm and the Louisville Cardinals.

“Louisville is a place I can go in and work, compete, play and my presence be felt,” Stone told On3. “I love the coaches, the city and it is a place I can thrive. I love the offense and I feel I can excel it in. They move the ball around, they feature receivers and I will have an opportunity to make an impact there.

“Then I feel like I am from there. I live in Atlanta, but I am from Louisville and my people are there to support me. I am close to the coaches and it is a great feeling for me up there. Louisville is like home.”

The staff stayed involved with Stone. Even when he was committed to LSU, there was communication. That paid off.

“Louisville has always shown love. It started my freshman year, then when the new staff took over, they have been on me hard since. The new staff has been consistent, they have shown a lot of love and that is why I kept looking at Louisville.

“It has been intense with Louisville since the beginning of the year. Coach Brohm, Coach Garrick McGee and the whole staff recruited me. I know everyone up there and it has been heavy with them for a while. The way they recruited me made a big difference.”

Stone is commitment No. 15 for the Cardinals this cycle.

Louisville never went away from Stone

Stone has visited Louisville around five times as a recruit. The latest time he was on campus before this weekend was for his official visit in the summer. Since Brohm took over, the Cardinals have been consistent and that kept the ACC program in this race.

“Louisville has always been up there on my list,” Stone said. “Even when I was committed to LSU, I was high on Louisville. I am always going to be where my feet are, so when I was committed to LSU, I was locked in. But my interest in Louisville has always been there. Louisville has always been in my head because of how they recruited me, and I always knew if I went somewhere else, Louisville would be strongly considered.”

This time last month Stone was committed to LSU. He was on the Tiger’s commitment list for 15 months. Towards the end of his run as an LSU commit, Stone started thinking more and more about the Cardinals.

“I have kind of felt like I was going to Louisville for a while. Even when I was committed, I thought about it to be honest. Right after I decommitted, I really knew that was where I wanted to go. Other schools offered, and I visited UCF, but the love never stopped from Louisville. They have always been up there, but once I opened back up, they moved to the top.”

Stone is a believer in Brohm

In year one under Coach Brohm, Louisville is off to a 6-1 start. He played there, he won big games there and the new commit is a believer in Brohm.

“I love how the team is playing and how the offense is passing the ball around,” Stone said. “You look at the team last year, then this year, and you see the team’s energy and how different they look. The program is going in the right direction, they play hard under Coach Brohm and the offense is really exciting.

“I see Coach Brohm as an offensive genius and we just mesh well together. It is a great offensive staff there, they are creative and I think I can excel under them. The fans love Coach Brohm too because of his background with Louisville. It is a great energy up there.”