Louisville football: Cards players ready to rebound from ’embarrassing’ year

Louisville football‘s star players met with the media at the ACC Kick-Off and discussed their willingness to buy-in to the new coaching staff.

Speaking at the ACC football Kick-Off, Louisville football stars Seth Dawkins and Dorian Etheridge were upfront and honest, taking ownership of one of the worst seasons in program history.

On the heels of a 2-10 season, Louisville begins 2019 under new head coach Scott Satterfield who spoke quite candidly of his expectations and the sting of reality setting in after his arrival.

Seven months in, Satterfield’s players have taken the same tone as their coach, and they are ready to turn over a new leaf.

“He’s a lot more approachable,” said Etheridge, a junior linebacker from Charleston, West Virginia. “I think that would be the appropriate word for it. Coach Petrino recruited me out of high school, and me and Coach Satt are probably closer already, even though it’s only been about six months.”

That approachability and “family-oriented” atmosphere as Dawkins put it, is what coach Satt is banking on to turn the program around.

Every player who has spoken, not just the two media day representatives, has reiterated how much the small things mean to them. Coaches letting players visit their offices and having an open-door policy, going to coaches houses for dinner, going out to eat with the coaches, and having regularly-planned team activities seem like the normal thing to do for the new coaching staff, but it’s those small personal connections that were missing with the previous staff.

“When you go 2-10, you’re very open to change,” Etheridge told Mark Ennis on The Drive on Wednesday.

For Etheridge, the buy-in moment with the new coaching staff was about halfway through spring ball. “At the point where our bodies started wearing down, we had to make the decision if we want to get better or worse,” said Etheridge. He added that the team was saying “this is it,” and they just ran with it.

Perhaps having four different defensive coordinators in four years has eased the sting of the transition on defense. Etheridge says that seeing all sorts of different coaching styles has helped them transition, but both players agreed that Satterfield’s schemes are much easier to grasp after playing using Petrino’s pro-style playbook.

Both Etheridge and Dawkins reiterated that they have become vocal leaders under Satterfield. His relationships with them on and off the field are the driving force behind a team in need of a multi-year cultural rebuild.

However, the thing that jumps out the most about Satterfield? “He’s the most laid back coach I have ever had,” said Etheridge. Until you mess up, that is. “Then he’ll gladly intervene.”