Practice Blog #9 - Cardinals Conduct First Scrimmage
August 14, 2009 | Football
Aug. 14, 2009
Louisville, Ky. - Head coach Steve Kragthorpe turned on the lights for the first time in 2009 as the University of Louisville conducted its first major scrimmage of summer camp.
Running about 75 plays, the Cardinals conducted a situational scrimmage under the lights at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on Thursday night. With BIG EAST officials on hand, the first team offense went against the first team defense, and also the second teamers went head-to-head against one another.
Kragthorpe scripted plays from the 35-yard line and went through a variety of situations during the course of the scrimmage. The Cardinals closed the scrimmage with red-zone situations.
One player who stood out to me was junior running back Bilal Powell. After having off-season surgery, Powell looks like he returned to form, running with power and a purpose Thursday night. He was the leading ground-gainer for the Cardinals, collecting runs of 25, 15 and 56 yards.
Victor Anderson scored a touchdown when he raced 65 yards for a score and Darius Ashley had a 18-yard scamper for a score. Wide receiver Andrell Smith ran a nice route to get open for a 12-yard touchdown reception.
The quarterback battle seemed pretty even once again with Justin Burke and Adam Froman splitting reps with one another. They both did a good job of spreading the football around as 10 different receivers caught passes for the Cardinals with Trent Guy and Andrew Robinson leading the way with three apiece.
Linebacker Antwan Canady had an interception for the defense, while Karldell Dunning made a nice play to knock a pass down. Greg Scruggs knocked a couple of passes down at the line of scrimmage.
The Cardinals return to the practice field on Friday afternoon before holding a double-session practice on Saturday.
