Petrino Pleased with Day One of Spring Practice
March 24, 2015 | Football
LOUISVILLE, Ky.- There wasn't much spring on Tuesday as the University of Louisville opened up spring practice in cold, windy temperatures on the practice fields.
Facing weather in the 40s, the Cardinals worked out for about two hours in shorts and helmets, and head coach Bobby Petrino was pleased with the effort on the first day.
"It was a good first day," Petrino said. "We made mistakes out there and have a ways to go, but I liked the effort. We need to get better tomorrow during practice."
The Cardinals did a lot of individual drills on the first day, and ended practice with a lot of team work. Petrino also put emphasis on special teams, especially the punting game.
One area that stood out during practice was the wide receiver position. The Cardinals lost most of their receiving corps from last season, but Petrino singled out his entirely new group of pass catchers. James Quick is the only wide receiver returning who caught more than five passes in 2014.
"I was excited about our receiving group," Petrino said. "Traveon (Samuels) definitely had speed, quickness, and can catch the ball. I thought (Charles) Standberry did a good job as the slot receiver. I thought Jamari Staples made some plays down the field. I think it's a good group of wide receivers, but we just have to keep getting better in practice."
Quarterbacks Reggie Bonnafon and Kyle Bolin worked with the first unit in practice on Tuesday, while Kyle Ferguson received his work with the second unit.
"We will rotate the quarterbacks as the week goes on," Petrino said. "We put Reggie and Kyle with the first unit, but they will all gets reps with the first group. We will rotate it as the week goes on."
One of the leaders on the offense this year will be Brandon Radcliff, who is the team's leading rusher, but this is going to be the year he must step in as one of the leaders.
"It was a great experience to be out there today," Radcliff said. "It was great to be back out there playing football and I'm looking to take more of a leadership role."
Linebacker Keith Kelsey, one of the leaders on the defense, was excited about the direction of the defense despite missing a lot of key pieces from one of the nation's top defenses.
"There were a lot of new faces out there today," Kelsey said. "I thought we had a pretty good first day. There is still a lot to learn at each position, but I thought everyone did pretty well."
Keith Brown, who moved outside on Todd Grantham's defense, stood out today as he makes his position change to gives the Cards more speed on the outside.
"Keith is a great football player," Kelsey said. "It really helps out defense. We are more versatile and give us more speed on the outside. It just really helps our defense."
The Cardinals were able to get a lot accomplished on the first day of spring practice, but everyone knows there still is a lot to work on over the next three weeks. The progress hopes to continue on Wednesday when the Cardinals hit the field for the second practice of the week.
