Strong Continues to Test the Cardinals
April 01, 2010 | Football
April 1, 2010
Louisville, Ky. - Charlie Strong continues to get the most out of his football team as the Cardinals finished their fifth practice of the spring on Wednesday. Louisville conducted a productive 26-period practice that ended with the team scrimmaging for the last six periods.
Louisville's practice Wednesday was a test of wills. The coaching staff refuses to give this team an inch and continues to coach the team on every single play.
"We want everyone to do what are expected to do, and as a football coach if they aren't doing what they are expected to do, we have to get in their face. Our whole coaching staff is like that. We all want this team to be succesful and to do that we have to coach hard."
The Cardinals started practice working with the field goal unit. Chris Philpott, connected from 47 yards, but also had two attempts blocked
Strong has put a lot of emphasis this spring on tackling, and the Cardinals are gonna learn to tackle, like it or not. Louisville did a number of tackling drills in the open field with the linebackers and running backs, and the wide receiver and secondary.
In the scrimmage portion of practice, his team went through a number of situations. Senior Bilal Powell and red-shirt Jeremy Wright both ran hard when their numbers were called. Wright showed an ability to hit the whole hard and break tackles.
Senior tight end Cameron Graham made a number of big plays in the Cardinals' spread offense attack. He broke free on a couple of routes down the field and showed an ability to run after the catch.
Strong continues to challenge the defense and wants them to be more competitive.
"We're not tackling well right now and we're not getting lined up," Strong said. "It's a whole new defense. It's a good thing that today is [practice] number five."
Louisville returns for practice #6 Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. The Cardinals will conduct their second major scrimmage of the spring Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m.
