Offense Hopes to Remain on a Roll Heading into Music City Bowl

LOUISVILLE, Ky. –The University of Louisville offense has a lot to be excited about after winning three of its last four games to close the season.
One of the architects of that success is offensive coordinator Garrick McGee. The Cardinals are averaging 37.5 points per game over the final four games, but knows he has a tough challenge ahead of him in Texas A&M in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl on Dec. 30.

"The defensive front creates a lot of havoc, obviously there are in the backfield a lot, they are a penetrating defense," McGee said. "We have coached against John (Chavis) before and that is that is how his defenses, that is how his philosophy in what he teaches that defensive front to get up the field and create havoc."

The Cardinals begun bowl preparations last Friday and will continue in Louisville up until Christmas Eve. McGee stressed that the Cardinals are using this time to get better and continue to focus on the fundamentals.

"This week will be important for us because we will get a lot better this week, it is the benefit of being in a bowl game," McGee stated. "Our young kids, kids that redshirted, will get a lot of reps this week and we will be able to go and re-teach our schemes almost like we are in training camp mode for this first week before we go all-in and game plan."

Two of the players that have stood out, according to McGee have been freshman safety Khane Pass and freshman linebacker Jonathan Greenard. They have spent the season on the scout team and have gone up against the first team offense to prepare them for the next week's opponent and McGee has seen some good things from both players.

"He has instincts, he can play the ball, I think he is going to be a kid you hear about a lot," McGee said about Pass. "Jonathan Greenard is a really good pass rusher, he gave us a good look all season and now he is going to get closer to coming out of his red-shirt and I think he will be a name you hear from also."

The offensive line has had many different looks throughout the year, but McGee touched on freshman Geron Christian who has been the only one to start every single game.
As a true freshman, Christian has started all 12 games at left tackle for the Cardinals, and has been one of the constants on the ever-changing offensive line. Christian isn't the only freshman to see time on the line either, Kenny Thomas and Lukayus McNeil also started on the line showing the potential moving forward.

"Yeah, the future is bright, now they still have to develop but we had a lot of really young kids on offense that played a lot of snaps in a lot of big games and big environments," McGee said. "Geron (Christian) is the only one who started the whole season every game as the open side tackle against the elite pass rusher on every team. He as a true freshman was out there to start every game so I think he will really develop."

The Cardinals are making their sixth-straight post-season appearance and are facing off against an SEC opponent for the second-consecutive season. However, there is an added advantage, the Cardinals are playing three hours from home, and will have a decided home-field advantage versus Texas A&M.

"Yeah, that is the benefit of a bowl game, playing a very good opponent, a high profile opponent, in a neutral site but a game that is close to our home," McGee said. "So our fans will be there I am sure, our team will be very fired up and we really want to go out and represent our program, represent our university the right way so that everybody in the country can see that we are one of those teams that everyone in the country should be thinking and talking about."

Offense Hopes to Remain on a Roll Heading into Music City Bowl

Players Mentioned

Geron Christian

Jon Greenard

Lukayus McNeil

Khane Pass

Kenny Thomas

University of Louisville Athletics