Louisville athletics: The state of the University address

Welcome to the state of Louisville athletics address. Each week we’ll examine the University of Louisville athletics from football to recruiting to Cards in the Pros.

In the words of John Ramsey, “It’s a great day to be a Card,” and while many may feel that-that’s hard to believe, I know it to be true. Though some of the Louisville athletics programs are under performing, there are others on campus that are trending upward.

Each week I’ll take a look back and give an update on all the major Louisville sports from football to basketball to women’s basketball to baseball to even recruiting and updates on our former Cards in the pros.

At times this pill may be hard to swallow, but others we’ll get to examine just what makes being a Cardinal fan so special.

I hope you’ll join me on this journey.

Louisville Football

As I sat in Cardinal Stadium on Saturday with a glimmer of hope of getting a W, it was quickly shattered when Wake Forest went up 21-7. For Louisville the game looked for the first two minutes, as on the first drive Trey Smith broke of a 52 yard touchdown run. From there it was all downhill.

If you’re like me, you’re tired of hearing about the Matt Colburn narrative, but I think it’s fitting for this season. The last game he’ll play against Bobby Petrino is his career day and could be the fork stuck in Bobby, signifying he’s done as the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals football program. 20 carries for 243 yards and a hat trick of TD’s, a run around Cardinal Stadium throwing up our beloved “L’s.”. He scored more touchdowns against Louisville than he has combined all season.

I’m normally not a fan of firing a coach mid-season, especially a college coach, but it might be the best thing for this season. Losing five straight will take its toll on any team  but especially a team that was thought to be better. Safe to say those national media guys who projected Louisville to go 4-8 weren’t wrong.

It’s not the record that hurts as bad as the way it’s unfolded. Yes, the Cards are a relatively young football team, as many fans and people around the program have conveniently brought up in defense of Bobby Petrino. But the effort, or lack thereof, the undisciplined play, and the inattention to detail in practice and on the field, has led the Cards to be outscored 215 – 113 in their five conference games. This is a team that is destined for 0-8 in the ACC and nowhere to go but further down if Bobby Petrino is brought back for another year.

Louisville takes the field against the top team in the league Clemson this weekend. The Cardinals go on the road to Death Valley as 38 points underdogs. Things are about to get worse folks.

Football Recruiting

As we know by now, last Friday Doss High standout Shawnkel Knight-Goff choose Kentucky over Louisville (for the second time in his recruitment process). Getting the local kids is not a huge priority to me personally, I feel like go get the best players no matter where they are from. This Kentucky class of 2019 is a different, there’s really good talent in the state and especially in Louisville.

Milton Wright and J.J. Weaver are the top two prospects uncommitted and rank two and three in the state in almost every major recruiting ranking. Both are in your backyard and in close proximity, so as the head coach of Louisville you have to land those prospects.

With Petrino likely out at the end of season, whoever the new coach is will have some ground to make up for those guys… Unless, it’s Jeff Brohm. Both Wright and Weaver have been heavily recruited by Purdue for the last several years.

If things stay status quo, you can likely kiss commitments from any local players, aside from Aidan Robbins, who hails from Manual High School, goodbye.

Louisville Basketball

On a happier note Louisville basketball kicked off “unofficially” this past weekend when the team took on the #1 ranked D2 school in Bellarmine. The Cards pulled out a close victory, in what was an extremely sloppy game. However, there were a lot of really good takeaways for a team that has been practicing with their head coach for just over three months.

After watching the game on Sunday I came away even more convinced that VJ King and Jordan Nwora are going to be monsters for the Cards this season. Against Bellarmine, V.J. led the team with 17 points and a solid 6 rebounds. I know Nwora had a rough go shooting the ball against the Knights but that won’t happen during the season, I guess you could say first game jitters.

I’m sure Coach Mack will take this film and work out some of the issues we saw. He’s still adjusting to this team also, finding roles for players but if that game was an any indication of what Steven Enoch is going to be then I’m here for it.

I was impressed

The Cardinals take the court again on Nov. 3 at 7:00 pm as they take on Simmons College in the KFC Yum! Center.

Basketball Recruiting

Basketball recruiting has been fun to say the least since the Mack era has begun. With his “Super Six” class locked down, he’s not stopping. Already reaching out to guys in the 2020 and 2021 classes.

Jaemyn Brakefield, a 6’8, 210 pound forward from Huntington, WV, who has offers from just about every blue blood program, is one of the top names in the class of 2020 and a guy that the staff apparently loves. As reported by Jake Weingarten, Brakefield was on campus this past weekend when he received an offer from the staff.

Maybe it’s just me but its kind of refreshing following recruiting under the new staff. My heart was broken one too many times while following recruiting under the previous regime, so I scaled back. But quickly new head coach, Chris Mack, has pulled me back in. Only on campus for seven months, Mack has locked up the #1 class, according to ESPN, in 2019 and is already starting to pull together another great group for 2020. I look forward to learning about the guys he’s been bringing in.

** Editors note: This section might end up being the most fun of them all.

Women’s Basketball

While a lot of focus has been on football and the new era of Louisville men’s basketball, we absolutely can not forget about Women’s basketball. This is a team that is likely going to be one of the best ever during the Jeff Walz era, led by one of the biggest stars in all of college basketball, Asia Durr.

This past week Durr received several big nods from the ACC’s media and coaches, as she was selected to the preseason First Team all-conference team and picked to finish second for ACC player of the year.

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Louisville was projected to finish second in the conference in 2018-19, but easily could be the top team when the season concludes.

The Cardinals will open up with Western Kentucky in Bowling Green on Nov. 6th at 8:00 PM.

Cardinal Alumni

Here we’ll give a shout out to former Cards in the pros who have had solid performances throughout the week.

DeVante Parker, who played in just his third game of the season, kicked off a great weekend for former Cardinals as he snagged 6 receptions for 134 yards in the loss on Thursday night football. This came just a few days after his agent blasted Miami head coach Adam Gase for making him a “healthy scratch.” Could a trade be on the horizon for the former first round pick?

Lamar Jackson got this first passing touchdown Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, just a week after scoring his first rushing touchdown.

Jackson went 4-5 for 46 yards.

Staying in the NFL, former Card, Jaire Alexander, had a break out game against the Rams. Alexander broke up 5 passes and had 7 tackles. Alexander wasn’t the only former Cardinal defender who made his mark, Sheldon Rankins had two sacks during his Saints prime time win against the Vikings, and finished with 3 tackles, 2 TFL, and 3 QB hits. Rankins got busy.

On to the hardwood, Donovan Mitchell is showing no signs of a sophomore slump, after what many considered to be one of the greatest rookie campaigns in recent years. Following up his 38 point performance against the defending Western Conference Champion Houston Rockets, Mitchell dropped 22 points and 6 assists, in a Jazz win against the undefeated Pelicans.

It wasn’t just Mitchell who balled out this past week. Former Card, Montrezl Harrell, who signed a nice contract extension with the Clippers, put together one of his best games as an NBA player. Against the Rockets, Harrell dropped 30 in just 28 minutes, while grabbing 6 rebounds and blocking 2 shots.

Closing Statement

Being a Louisville fan has it’s downfalls, but damn I love being a Card. Basketball season is upon us and both the men and women teams should be fun to watch this year.

Football is what it is at this point. To be honest I’m just ready for it to be over. Like everyone, I’m ready to move on and see what the off-season brings us (hopefully Jeff Brohm).

Until next time Card Nation. Take care and Go Cards!