LOUISVILLE, Ky. – NFL Draft season is in full swing. The Reese’s Senior Bowl wrapped up a couple weekends ago, and the NFL Scouting Combine is set to begin later this month. As you can imagine, with the 2025 iteration of the draft slowing inching closer, big boards and mock drafts are starting to get published en masse.
Before publishing his comprehensive “The Beast” draft guide in April,The Athletic’s Dane Brugler got in on the big board action, publishing his updated top-100 2025 NFL Draft Big Board on Monday. On it were a trio of now-former members of the Louisville football program.Following a fantastic showing at the Senior Bowl, quarterback Tyler Shough vaulted up Brugler’s big board, and is now his No. 59 draft prospect overall. He’s the No. 4 quarterback behind Miami’s Cam Ward, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart.
While defensive end Ashton Gillotte and cornerback Quincy Riley both had “down” years from a statistical standpoint, they’re still regarded as top-100 prospects by Brugler. Gillotte comes in as the No. 71 prospect, while Riley isn’t far behind at No. 77.
Coming over from Texas Tech to play his final year of collegiate eligibility, Shough was able to play a full healthy season for the first time in his career, and it paid off massive dividends. Starting all 12 regular season games, Shough completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 3,195 yards and 23 touchdowns to just six interceptions.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pound signal caller was the 13th quarterback in school history to throw for 3,000 yards in a single season, most recently accomplished by Jack Plummer last year.
Shough spent the previous three seasons of his collegiate career at Texas Tech, but was unable to play a full season each year, and spent the first three seasons of his collegiate career with Oregon. In 26 career games, he has completed 63.2 percent of his throws for 4,625 yards and 36 touchdowns to 17 interceptions, along with 714 yards and 10 scores on the ground.
While Gillotte had a little bit of a slow statistical start to his senior campaign, the 6-foot-3, 275-pound edge rusher still managed to be one of the most impactful defensive linemen in the ACC by regular season’s end. Starting all 12 regular season games, he finished with 43 total tackles (23 solo), 10 for loss and 4.5 sacks.
The Boca Raton, Fla. native’s best season came as a junior in 2023. Starting all 14 games, Gillotte collected 14.5 tackles for loss, 11.0 sacks, three forced fumbles and 45.0 tackles overall. His sack total led the ACC, was good for eighth in the FBS, and was ninth on the single-season sack list in Louisville history.
Gillotte departs the Cardinals as one of their top pass rushers in program history. Playing in 51 career games while starting all 37 games over the last three seasons, his 41.0 career tackles for loss ranks fifth in school history, while his 26.5 sacks comes in at sixth.
While Riley got off to a slow start to his 2024 campaign and was hampered by an ankle injury, he was still one of the best defensive backs in the ACC. Playing in 10 regular season games while starting eight, the 6-foot-0, 195-pound corner led the ACC in pass break ups with 13, while collecting 33 tackles (21 solo), three for loss, two interceptions and a forced fumble.
Columbia, S.C native’s best season in college came in 2023. He finished the year with a team-best 12 pass breakups, and was second on the Cardinals in interceptions with three, leading the ACC with 15 pass defenses. He also collected 49 tackles and 1.5 for loss.
In 55 career games between three seasons at Louisville and three seasons at Middle Tennessee where he started his collegiate career, Riley collected 159 tackles (112 solo), 12 for loss, 2.5 sacks, 15 interceptions, 40 pass break ups and a forced fumble.