Scouting Louisville basketball's 2025-26 roster: Kobe Rodgers

After leading Louisville basketball to one of the largest turnarounds in Division I history, Pat Kelsey built a 2025-26 roster that's garnering lofty expectations. This summer, The Courier Journal is taking a player-by-player look at the team, dissecting what each one will bring to the Cardinals. Up next: Kobe Rodgers.

To catch up on previous entries in the series, click here.

Chucky Hepburn found a graphic May 30 on X, formerly Twitter, making the case for Louisville basketball's backcourt as the best in the country entering the 2025-26 season.

Mikel Brown Jr.? Check. Ryan Conwell, Isaac McKneely and Adrian Wooley? Check, check and check.

Hold on, though. Pat Kelsey's former PG1 was quick to point out a glaring omission.

"Kobe Rodgers gonna surprise everybody," Hepburn wrote.

Rodgers is flying under the radar after redshirting Year 1 of the Kelsey era to recover from a knee injury he suffered during Charleston's loss to Alabama in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Some may overlook the 6-foot-3 guard from Cincinnati, but those who have been watching him work certainly aren't.

"Kobe's having an unbelievable offseason," Kelsey told reporters in July. "He's quicker, stronger, more athletic than he's ever been."

"Kobe represents everything we want our program to be about," the coach later added. "He's playing as well as he ever has in his career; he's a phenomenal leader. We're relying on Kobe big time this year to be really, really good for us."

Can Rodgers deliver in his final season of collegiate eligibility? Here's a breakdown of his game and what his role could be for U of L in Year 2 of Kelsey's tenure:

Scouting report: Recapping Kobe Rodgers' 2024-25 season

We'll approach Rodgers' scouting report the same way we did fellow redshirt senior Aly Khalifa's, by leaning heavily on his production during the 2023-24 season.

Kelsey lured Rodgers to Charleston after he started every game of Nova Southeastern's undefeated run to a Division II national championship in 2022-23, during which he averaged 13.2 points and two steals per game. In a statement upon Rodgers' signing, the coach billed the guard as "a true two-way player with phenomenal basketball instincts."

Making the jump to the DI ranks, Rodgers appeared in 31 of the Cougars' 35 games (18 starts — including the final nine games of the season). He averaged 9.7 points on 50% shooting (45% from 3-point range) and notched a 1.4 assist-turnover ratio with 4.6 rebounds and a team-high 1.2 steals across 21.7 minutes per contest.

Per KenPom.com, Rodgers' offensive rating (123.4), assist rate (21.4%), steal percentage (3.1%) and fouls drawn per 40 minutes (5.3) during Coastal Athletic Association play ranked among the top 15 in the conference. He was named to the CAA's All-Tournament team for averaging 10.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and two steals across three games in the nation's capital — helping Kelsey & Co. secure back-to-back automatic bids to March Madness.

"Every championship team has guys with Kobe's character in its core," Kelsey said in a statement when Rodgers signed with Louisville. "He is an incredibly efficient player who contributes to winning on both ends of the floor: a terrific defender with an offensive game that continues to develop."

Rodgers and Khalifa were cleared to return to practice in mid-January. They finished the 2024-25 season as members of the Cards' scout team. Let's revisit Hepburn's post to X from May; who do you think was guarding him at practice during the final two months of the campaign?

Reflecting on his redshirt year last month, Rodgers said: "While you're sitting out, it's not fun. But, at the end of the journey, it's going to be well worth it."

He explained, "I've been able to read the game even better, get my body healthy, get my mind right — get ready to do what I can to help this team win."

Kobe Rodgers' 2025-26 outlook with Louisville basketball

If Louisville stays healthy in 2025-26, it'll likely be tough for Rodgers to crack the starting lineup. That shouldn't diminish his role on the team, however.

It's been said several times during this player-by-player scouting series: With more bodies at his disposal, Kelsey is aiming to play at a much faster pace, with a deeper rotation, in Year 2. Having spent more time than any other scholarship player on the roster in the coach's system, Rodgers tracks as a dependable option off the bench.

He has the experience and playmaking chops to serve as Brown's primary backup. He's also a versatile scorer, and his efficiency from 3 during Charleston's 2023-24 season begs for a larger sample size; maybe there are some instances where he lines up next to Brown or Wooley at the 2? He also punches above his 6-3, 185-pound frame as a rebounder and could emerge as one of the stingiest perimeter defenders on the team. That's one way to separate yourself.

Can't wait to see @KobeRodgers11 suited up in #11#GoCardspic.twitter.com/ZRRc4MKweu

— Louisville Men's Basketball (@LouisvilleMBB) June 10, 2025

The question is: Can Rodgers do all of the above consistently against high-major compeition? It's hard to imagine his minute share and usage rate being anywhere close to what it was in 2023-24 at Charleston, 48% and 22.6%, respectively.

If he can, and his running mates live up to the hype, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better DI backcourt.

"A lot of people don't see my worth or whatever as big as other pieces on the team," Rodgers said. "Whatever my role is, whatever I need to do to help the team win, that's what I'm going to do."

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball roster 2025-26: Kobe Rodgers scouting report