Petrino Pleased with Tuesday's Humid Practice
August 19, 2014 | Football
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LOUISVILLE, Ky.- With less than two weeks to go before the 2014 opener, the University of Louisville football team received a cruel joke with one of its most hot and humid practices of fall camp.
After a mild summer, Mother Nature turned up the heat.
"It was a good hot one out there today," head coach Bobby Petrino said following Tuesday's practice. "It was something that we needed. We have had kind of cool weather so to have some humidity that we had to fight through was something we really needed."
The Cardinals needed to come back and impress their head coach after a lackluster Monday practice, which was disappointing to Petrino with the game being so close.
"I like the way we practiced today," Yesterday wasn't our best practice, but the guys came back today, practiced with good intensity. We were sharper, we executed better. So I thought we did a good job in practice today."
With just a few practices left before taking on Miami, the Cardinals are starting to get better on both sides of the line, and Petrino likes the way the defense is putting pressure on the quarterback.
"Our offensive line is getting better working together," Petrino said. "Our No. 1 defensive front can really rush the passer. I think that's going to be a luxury for us that we're not going to have to just bring blitzes and dogs to get after the quarterback. We should be able to do it with the four-man rush."
The Cardinals haven't officially named a starter at quarterback for the opener, but there is a good battle brewing with sophomore Will Gardner and true freshman Reggie Bonnafon. Gardner has taken most of the snaps with the first team, but Bonnafon continues to show he is ready to play at the highest level.
In his first stint with the Cardinals, Petrino played both Stefan LeFors and Brian Brohm in 2004, and Petrino thinks he may be able to run the same kind of rotation where he played the back-up in the second quarter.
"Well that's something we're really considering, he's doing a really nice job," Petrino said of Bonnafon. "I'm really impressed with his maturity. He works extremely hard at it, you know he jumps in the huddle and takes command, and he certainly can make the throws that you need him to make. Again, it's about timing and getting the ball out of his hand on time, but he's certainly doing a nice job of it."
Petrino aslo throught Gardner had one of his best practices of the fall, showing a good touch and timing with the offense.
"Will (Gardner) right now is working with the first offense and he's our No. 1 quarterback right now," Petrino said. "We definitely have it decided to name a starter, because I don't like doing that. But I like what I'm seeing from Will. He had a really good practice tonight, our timing was good, he was probably the most accurate he's been all fall. So it was good to see."
Gardner has had two scrimmages under his belt and continues to progress with each practice, but he knows he still has to get better
"We have come a long way since fall camp started," Gardner said. "I think things are starting click and its back to normal again so things are looking good right now."
The Cardinals' defense switched to a 3-4 defense this season under defensive coordinator, which has helped get ready for the same defense Miami will run on Sept. 1
"We see similarities with both defenses because they are both 3-down defenses," Gardner said. "That helps us a lot preparing for Miami being that we have seen our defense all spring and fall camp."
The Cardinals still have a lot of preparation to do over the next two weeks, but as the heat turns up outside in the middle of August, Petrino keeps turning up the heat in practice to get ready for Labor Day night.
