Boca Raton DE Gillotte Louisville bound

Since signing Heisman winner and NFL MVP Lamar Jackson in 2015, Louisville has had plenty of success recruiting Palm Beach County.

Boca Raton standout defensive end Ashton Gillotte is the latest Palm Beach star to commit to the Cardinals, announcing his decision Sunday night on his Twitter account.

“I decided, through a lengthy process and talking with my family and all the coaches on multiple staffs, I decided [on] Louisville,” Gillotte said.

Since signing Jackson in 2015, Louisville has secured four more signings from Palm Beach County: Atlantic’s Henry Bryant III, Palm Beach Central’s Renato Brown, Palm Beach Gardens’ Jarrett Jackson, and Benjamin’s Jordan Travis.

Gillotte said the Louisville coaching staff was a major reason why he picked the Cardinals.

“Coach [Mark] Ivey, coach [Cort] Dennison, they’re all really good people, down-to-earth,” Gillotte said.

“Right off the bat, I enjoyed talking to them. Coach Ivey’s the type of coach that I could see taking him on a fishing trip after a game or something. … They’re just those kind of coaches. Not to say they won’t put you straight when you’re out of line, but that’s what I like. It’s similar to my coaching staff right now: They’ll joke around, but when it’s time to get serious, they’ll get serious.”

Gillotte said he was also impressed with the staff’s ability to turn around the program. Louisville went 2-10 under Bobby Petrino in 2018. Coach Scott Satterfield led the Cardinals to an 8-5 record last year.

“You can see that there’s something there,” Gillotte said. “You just needed to get people in and get them all together.”

Gillotte said he hasn’t visited the campus yet, but he’s been to Louisville. He said most of his family is from nearby Ohio.

“It makes the transition fairly easy,” he said. “For example, if I really needed something, I could drive or my family could drive down two or three hours and be on campus.”

Gillotte said the coronavirus pandemic has had an effect on his recruitment, saying that he was considering taking visits and was looking forward to playing spring ball.

“I definitely wanted to take visits, but I can’t say I’m disappointed with my selection or my options I had,” Gillotte said. “I wish I did get to play spring, though. That was something I was really looking forward to.”

Gillotte, who is one of the top rising seniors in Palm Beach County, is rated a three-star prospect by 247Sports’ composite ranking. He is the No. 69 weak-side defensive end and No. 1,385 overall player in his class, according to the ranking.

Gillotte was a first-team All-County selection as a junior after racking up 87 tackles, 16 sacks, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a safety.

Gillotte chose Louisville over four other teams: Duke, Pittsburgh, UCF and Vanderbilt. He said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll visit other schools besides Louisville, but he doesn’t expect another team to sway him.

“I don’t think it will change my decision at all,” he said.