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Satterfield pleased with Louisville scrimmage; Cards prepare for Western Kentucky on Sept. 12


By Rocco Gasparro
University of Louisville

The University of Louisville ramped up preparations for its season opener with the first major scrimmage on Saturday.

Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield took to the field for almost three hours under the heat and sun at Cardinal Stadium. With the opener against Western Kentucky still about a month away (Sept. 12), Satterfield held out a number of key veterans from the scrimmage on Saturday.

“It was a beautiful day in Louisville and a chance to get on the game field,” Satterfield said. “We tried to simulate as much as we can, game situations. We had a lot of situations, as much as we could. Our longest day of camp so far, for sure.

“But a lot of good things and a lot of good competition out there today. Early on the offense did some good stuff and hit some big plays and later on in the scrimmage we saw the defense really rose up and do some good things in the second half.”

Louisville ramped up preparations for its season opener with the first major scrimmage on Saturday. (UofL photo)

The second-year head coach sat out running backs backs Hassan Hall and Javian Hawkins, while wide receivers Dez Fitzpatrick and Tutu Atwell had limited reps. The Cardinals were also missing their two starting safeties.

“Those guys have played a bunch of football, so I thought it was good to keep them out,” Satterfield said.

The scrimmage was split for the most part, with the offense making a number of big plays for touchdowns, but the defense saved their best for the end with a number of key snaps.

“Days like today, we love going back and watching this film,” Satterfield said. “There’s so many things we can learn off of this film and teach off of. Each player will get better off this.”

The Cardinals wrapped up two weeks of practice and will take the next two days off with school beginning on Monday.

“Overall, I am just very pleased at where we are right now at this point,” Satterfield said.

While the offense hit new highs last season, the defense was still a work in progress. On Saturday, the unit gave up a few deep balls, but the cornerbacks rebounded to have a solid day.

“Once they settled down, there really wasn’t many big plays out there,” Satterfield said. “They did a much better job. We have to do a better job, everybody knows, of not giving up the big plays. We have been harping on that the first two weeks.”

The Cardinals return to the practice field on Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m.


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