Stock up, stock down for Louisville football after losing to Alabama
By Jacob Lane
Stock down – Jon Greenard
It’s by no fault of his own that Louisville’s defensive captain’s stock is down, but for the second year in a row here we are. Last year it was Jaire Alexander who was hurt in the first game, early in the game at that. Now this year it’s Jonathan Greenard, who went down in the 1st quarter with what looked to be a wrist injury.
We now know that Greenard has some type of ligament issue and will be out for what Bobby Petrino described simply as “a while” during his weekly Monday press conference.
The Cards struggled mightily once Greenard went out of the game, and I’m sure a part of that had to be getting their bearings straight without their leader. With Indiana State and Western Kentucky on the docket, the Cards should be fine for a few weeks without their star defensive end, while finding someone or a crew of players who are able to temporarily replace him once the team gets into ACC play.
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This is the one player on defense the Cards could not lose.
Stock down – Jaylen Smith
I am no medical expert, nor do I try to pretend to be one, but I would have to guess that Smith was not 100% on Saturday night. Just a few weeks after an emergency surgery, Smith suited up and joined his teammates on the field, but didn’t do much of anything.
There was the play in the first quarter that had a lot of Louisville fans upset when Puma Pass’ throw was picked off in the end zone, where Jaylen Smith had a chance to at least knock the ball down but didn’t seem to make much of an effort to get there. If I gave Smith a concoction that was mostly made of truth serum, my guess is he would tell me that he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about getting hit. Remember, Smith donned the “do not touch” jersey at practice once he returned to the field, meaning he was never hit. I get that Petrino wanted to keep him from being injured in practice, but it looked like Smith was trying to protect that spot.
I fully expect Smith to bounce back and have some big games, but it may take him a few weeks to get back to 100%.