Cardinals Continue the Installation Process
March 22, 2014 | Football
March 22, 2014
LOUISVILLE, Ky.- University of Louisville offensive coordinator Garrick McGee re-united with head coach Bobby Petrino to win a national championship and continue to put up big crooked numbers up on the scoreboard.
Two of the best offensive minds in the country have teamed up at UofL to help fulfill that goal, and the process has started, as the Cardinals have finished their first three practices of the spring.
The Cardinals put the pads on the for the first time on Friday and will do a half-practice, half-scrimmage on Saturday morning in the Trager Indoor Practice Facility.
"It should fun, that first live tackle," offensive coordinator Garrick McGee said about Saturday's first scrimmage.
"(We will) get to see them play football. We've kind of been playing basketball out here with no pads on for the first few days."
The Cardinals continue to install the new offense to the players, and the Cardinals are learning on the fly.
"We still have a lot of learning to do," sophomore quarterback Will Gardner said. "I feel like it's coming along well, but it's only day three so we are in day three install. But we keep learning and keep pushing."
Gardner, who appeared in six games last season, completed 8-of-12 passes last season and threw a pair of scores, has shared reps through spring practice with redshirt freshman Kyle Bolin and senior Brett Nelson.
Gardner likes what the Cardinals are doing in the first week, and is trying to continue to learn the offense, while commanding the huddle and take charge of the offense.
"It's different," Gardner said. "It's a whole new offense, but it's still football. It's new terminology and I feel like everyone is catching on, but we still have a lot of work to do."
McGee, who worked with Petrino at Arkansas, likes what he has seen in the early going, but wants to continue to see improvement in the installation of his offensive scheme. McGee is his player's effort and work ethic, while admitting that this is a long process and will take some time. Good thing for the Cardinals, its only day three of spring practice, but McGee likes the effort.
"They're really working hard," he said. "The thing is, offensively, that all eleven people have to be on the same page. It takes a while to get everything clicking. We install a lot of offense, and we have a really complex defense."
While in the midst of a quarterback competition, Gardner is a step ahead of the quarterbacks, according to Petrino, and his offensive coordinator likes what he sees from his talented sophomore signal-caller.
"He's doing a good job, he's really studying football," McGee said. "Understanding what ball to throw, understanding how zone pressures work, and how to find players and open your shoulders- everything that it takes to be a quarterback on this level is what he's learning."
The Cardinals will their first look at where they are in the learning process on Saturday, when the Cardinals conduct their first scrimmage. It will be interesting to see how far they have come, but see how much left they have to figure out.
