Louisville Football: The Future Can’t Wait, Jordan Travis Should Play Now

Bobby Petrino won’t announce who the starter at QB will be for Louisville football ahead of matchup with Florida State on Saturday. We make the argument for Freshman, Jordan Travis.

The entire Louisville football fan base and coaching staff have been searching for the right answer at quarterback for weeks now. It started with Malik Cunningham coming off the bench to save the day against Indiana State and and Western Kentucky. Then, when given the start at Virginia, Cunningham was benched to bring back Jawon Pass.

Neither option seems to be working. The offense put up an embarrassing 3 points against Virginia, even with the defense setting the Cards up with situations like 1st and goal from the 3. This week is the third in a row where everyone is asking who will Bobby start, Malik or Puma?

On Monday during his weekly press conference, Petrino said he’d have to watch the film and talk his guys before making a decision. He reiterated on Wednesday during the ACC teleconference that he wouldn’t announce who his starter will be. So once again, Petrino could be contemplating making a switch behind center.

Most will wonder if it should it be Puma Pass or Malik Cunningham. However, I think the answer is another option: Prized recruit, freshman Jordan Travis.

Louisville can’t afford to redshirt their freshman stud this year. Let’s look at some reasons why the Cards should be investing more in Jordan Travis.

Jawon Pass is not the answer

Prior to last weekend, I believed some of the hype. I’m not sure I bought the “offense will be better without Lamar” take, but there were multiple reasons to think the QB position was one we shouldn’t have to worry about entering this season.

Pass had been with the program for a couple seasons and knew that there would be a day where the ball would be handed to him and he would be “the guy.”

My biggest belief in Jawon Pass came from the fact that the coaching staff was so confident. He was dubbed the starter and even when we heard good things about other QB’s in practice, there was never even a hint of a competition. I trusted Bobby Petrino with the offense, especially at the quarterback position.

Then the Indiana State debacle happened and I thought that going to Malik was the right move, but still considered the “excuses” of the monsoon coupled with the delays to be a valid reason for the poor showing. Then we found ourselves down 14-0 against Western Kentucky. Even though he hadn’t been terrible, I thought benching Pass saved that game.

The final nail in the coffin for me was when he was given the opportunity to come off the bench and be the hero against Virginia. Outside of one garbage time drive with the game out of hand, Pass showed me nothing good. He threw about as bad of a pass as you can into triple coverage that became a costly turnover. His accuracy on even short throws was off, and he continued to take bad sacks in situations where that can’t happen.

Pass is not the answer this year, and the more quickly Bobby Petrino can admit that, the quicker this team can try to get the season back or at least begin building for the future.

Malik Cunningham is not the answer

After I realized that something was wrong with our offense, I thought Malik Cunningham gave us a boost when it was really needed. He came in against Indiana State and while he didn’t wow you with his passing attack, he did make plays with his legs. He actually got some first downs and started moving the offense for the first time all game.

What really encouraged me was that the rest of the team seemed to respond to his energy too. The offensive line seemed to hold up better and the run game at least existed while he was in there. Had he not come in during the WKU game, I honestly think we would have lost. To me he earned his chance to start against Virginia.

Virginia just showed us that Cunningham is not ready to be a starting QB in this league. After having all the first team reps and the entire game plan revolved around him, he failed to deliver. He stares down one receiver, and if that isn’t open he dumps it off in the flat. He can’t see the field and he can’t make quick decisions yet. He needs more time. Malik Cunningham is not the answer.

Jordan Travis Has a Chance to be Special

Jordan Travis may not have been a consensus four star recruit that stared down Nick Saban and chose Louisville, but he’s no slouch either. He had offers from schools like North Carolina, Baylor, and Georgia, and was pursued down to the wire by his home state Florida Gators before choosing the Cards.

All three guys on the roster were recruited as non-traditional, “dual-threat” quarterbacks but Travis may have the best balance. Jawon Pass has the wheels to run when needed, but he’s the big, prototypical pocket-passer that Bobby Petrino has been waiting on to get back to “Bobby Ball.” Malik Cunningham is built in the Lamar Jackson mold, having game-changing speed that allows him to keep defenses on their toes all the times. However, his arm is nothing like Lamar’s. In fact he struggles to make the necessary throws to keep a good defense at bay.

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In his senior season, Travis threw for 2,190 yards with 24 TD’s and ran for 905 yards and 16 more scores. He was then presented with the Lou Groza Player of the Year award that is given to the best player in Palm Beach County, Florida each year. If that sounds a little familiar, its the same award Lamar Jackson won before his career with the Cards.

He’s not on the roster just to fill a spot and help at practice or even to “build for the future.” On multiple occasions this summer Bobby Petrino has been quoted as saying things about Jordan Travis like ” he has the best arm on the team,” “he can really flick his wrist and throw the ball down field,” and most recently “Jordan is ready to go.” If Petrino sees that neither Puma Pass or Malik Cunningham is the answer for now or the future, moving to Travis should be the answer.

This kid has some real talent and should be given a shot after the poor play we’ve seen so far. If that doesn’t convince you that he needs a chance then I’ll pose you one last question.

Louisville Has Nothing to Lose

Louisville has tried both of the other options with little to no success. We are staring down the barrel of a 4-8 season if something doesn’t change drastically. Does anyone really have any confidence that either Pass or Cunningham can take care of business this week against another bad team? No. Why leave it to question? Let’s throw Travis out there and see what he’s got. Worst case scenario is , we are right back where we are today. Best case? We find an answer that works.

Actually, the worst case scenario could be in not giving Jordan Travis a chance. He’s looking at two quarterbacks above him on the depth chart that have multiple years of eligibility left. If he can’t get some playing time after the performance so far this season, what would give him hope that he would get his shot next year or the year after?

With the new redshirt transfer rules that lets players play in up to 4 games without losing their eligibility, we are going to see a lot more transfers than in years past.

Now former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant is the perfect example. If Travis doesn’t think he will ever get his chance at Louisville, there will be teams on the market that would love to let him try at their school.

Louisville can’t afford to let Travis get away without seeing what he has to offer. There’s no guarantee that Jordan Travis is the answer. However, at this point, Bobby Petrino can’t afford to not find out if he is.

If the Cards want a chance to rebuild the 2018 season, maybe Jordan Travis is the answer.