Louisville football: Teddy Bridgewater and Lamar Jackson shine week one

Fighting to make the opening day roster

Reggie Bonnafon – RB, Carolina Panthers

Opponent: Chicago Bears

Stats: 4 carries, 23 yards, 4 targets, 4 receptions, 30 yards 

James Burgess – MLB, New York Jets

Opponent: New York Giants

Stats: 1 total tackle 

Cole Hikutini – TE, Minnesota Vikings

Opponent: New Orleans Saints

Stats: 1 target, 1 reception, 12 yards 

Keith Kelsey – MLB, Pittsburgh Steelers

Opponent: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Stats: n/a

Marcus Smith – OLB, Washington Redskins

Opponent: Cleveland Browns

Stats: 1 total tackle 

Jaylen Smith – WR, Baltimore Ravens

Opponent: Jacksonville Jaguars

Stats: 2 targets, 0 catches

Keith Towbridge – TE, Buffalo Bills

Opponent: Indianapolis Colts

Stats: 1 target, 1 reception, 21 yards 

Trevon Young – OLB, Los Angeles Rams

Opponent: Oakland Raiders

Stats: 6 total tackles (3 solo) 

Other players trying to make 53-man rosters who didn’t record stats:

Colin Holba – LS, San Francisco 49ers

Lukayus McNeil – OG, Dallas Cowboys (was cut by Oakland just a few weeks back)

Malik Williams – RB, Pittsburgh Steelers

Reaction: As you can tell a lot of former Louisville football stars are doing their best to latch on to their respective teams’ 53-man roster. To do, they have to use all four preseason games to their advantage.

Most players didn’t get the opportunity to shine like they probably would have liked, but one guy who stuck out was Los Angeles Rams defensive end/outside linebacker Trevon Young. We all know this dudes story, and how incredible it is for him to even be playing football against after breaking his hip back in 2016 in the Music City Bowl against Texas A&M.

Young was only active one game last season after being drafted by the Rams in the sixth round in 2018, and moving forward a roster spot is far from guaranteed. But after his six tackle night, which included three solid solo tackles, he has surely caught the eye of the Rams coaching staff.

It will still be an uphill battle for Young to make the Rams opening day roster, but with a few more performances like what we saw against the Raiders, he’ll have done all he can do to impress.

Reggie Bonnafon has been a standout throughout training camp thus far at the running back position for the Carolina Panthers, and he got some extended playing time against the Bears in week one. He definitely didn’t disappoint. Bonnafon had four carries for 23 yards, including a 17-yard run, as well as four receptions on four targets for another 30 yards. Due to playing nearly every position on offense during his time at Louisville, Bonnafon is a unique weapon for Cam Newton and the Panthers.

Jaylen Smith has had a nice couple of weeks of training camp, making several eye-opening catches in scrimmages. He got some run late in the game for the Ravens against the Jaguars but was not able to reel in a catch on either of his two targets.

His rapport with Lamar Jackson will only take him so far, and if he’s unable to make any sort of noise in games, there really isn’t a good chance of him making the Ravens squad, even with their need for receivers.

There are still three more weeks of games and plenty more opportunities for every player on our list of former Cards in the NFL to shine.