By Rocco Gasparro
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is scheduled to open the football season on Sept. 2 against North Carolina State.
That’s the plan as it stands today, but no one knows if that schedule will remain firm. Because of uncertainty in the world’s health situation with COVID-19, the Atlantic Coast Conference has stated it will make a decision on the opening of the season at the end of July.
While Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield and his team anxiously await what might be the safest route to open the season, the Cardinals conducting business as usual.
The Cardinals opened their player-led-practices on July 13 and have put in four practices thus far. They will had their first team walk-through on Tuesday and are slated to begin fall camp on Aug. 4.
Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield is preparing his Cardinals for the opener against N.C. State. (UofL photo)
“We will worry about today and then tomorrow we will worry about tomorrow,” Satterfield said. “I think it’s so hard to project and see where we are going to be. We have to focus on the here and now.”
Louisville is working through its installation process with all their veterans currently on campus, but they are assisting the rookies to get acquainted with the playbook and giving the returnees a brief refresher course.
Since June 8, the Cardinals have been working through their summer program in three phases due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They brought in a total of 86 players and are working on their conditioning.
While so many questions still need to be answered, Satterfield feels the Cardinals will be at full speed whenever officials feel its safe to compete.
“If you said we are going to play in a couple weeks, that we could put a great product on the field, like in two weeks. I feel that good about it,” Satterfield said.
Coming off an 8-5 campaign in 2019, Satterfield is optimistic about Louisville as he enters his second full season. Offensively, the Cardinals are loaded and have continued to rebuild their defense.
“We have a bunch of veterans and a bunch of guys who played a bunch of ball on both sides of the ball,” Satterfield said. “They feel really good about what we are doing right now.”
Louisville was able to get through half of its spring practice before the COVID-19 pandemic sidetracked the rest of the spring. The Cardinals missed a lot time together because of the pandemic, but Satterfield thinks his team will hit the ground running.
“We will get to Aug. 4 and get back to our install. A lot of it will be determined by how our guys grasp it. I feel good about our first guys,” Satterfield said. “We have a lot of guys back. I think we can escalate some of the install with our veterans, but as you look to guys that are newcomers, you have to be careful. We will play that by ear. Certainly feel so much better than where we were a year ago. I hope we will be able to grow and build off what we did last year and piggy back off that.”
Unlike last season when there was no hype, Louisville is facing higher expectations in 2020.
With quarterback Micale Cunningham and 1,000-yard performers in running back Javian Hawkins and wide receiver Tutu Atwell, the Cardinals won’t sneak up on anyone.
