Petrino Meets with Media, Spring Football Nearly Underway
March 21, 2016 | Football
The Cardinals' annual spring game is on April 16 at 1 p.m.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Let the countdown begin – the Cardinals are one day away from the start of spring football practice and 27 from the annual spring game.
Head coach Bobby Petrino, entering his seventh season at Louisville, addressed the media on Monday and spoke about the start of spring practice that begins on Tuesday afternoon. The Cardinals return 18 starters – 10 on offense and eight on defense – from last year's team that went 8-5 and won the Music City Bowl over Texas A&M.
"Well, I am excited to get started, I am really looking forward to the spring," Petrino said. "We do have a lot of players coming back; that is exciting for us and I think this is a spring that we really need to take some steps forward and get better and really improve. We should be able to execute our offense and defense better and make more strides because of the experience we have coming back."
Louisville will hold five open practices – March 22, March 29, March 30, April 5, and April 6 – over the next month leading up to the Red-White game on April 16 at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium at 1 p.m.
The Cardinals bring back a wealth of talent – and experience – on both sides of the ball.
Safety Josh Harvey-Clemons, defensive tackle DeAngelo Brown, and linebackers Devonte Fields and Keith Kelsey all returned for their senior seasons at Louisville, which boasted one of the nation's top defenses in 2015. The Cardinals finished the year 18th in total defense, 14th in rushing defense, and intercepted the 14th-most passes in the country (17).
Offensively, bowl MVP Lamar Jackson leads an explosive group that includes receivers James Quick, Jamari Staples, and Jaylen Smith, and running back Brandon Radcliff. Jackson led the team in rushing with 960 yards and 11 touchdowns and threw for 1,840 yards and 12 scores.
It's been two months since the Cardinals' 10th bowl victory, and in that span, Louisville has made significant progress in the weight room from their workouts.
"Our players had a really good offseason; they worked extremely hard in the weight room, they worked on their speed," Petrino said. "We had a great testing week. I was very impressed with our players and the way they competed and the excitement they had throughout the entire testing week."
Jackson, who was a focal point of the Cardinals' success last year, underwent a noticeable maturation throughout the season. Petrino, though, said most of that took place when the regular season was complete.
"I feel like he really made a lot of strides in our bowl preparation in his ability to both under the center and his footwork," Petrino said. "His understanding of defenses was a great improvement from the end of the season to how he played in the bowl game and you saw that happening in practice. We just have to build on that, we have to continue to get his footwork right. I want him to be able to have a lot of confidence in his accuracy and most of that for him starts with his footwork in the proper position and just being more consistent in throwing the ball with accuracy and timing and really growing up and maturing in the passing game."
Even though the signs are pretty clear Jackson will resume the role as the signal caller for 2016, Petrino still has plans for junior Reggie Bonnafon, who had an impressive testing week, and is expected to contribute even more to the offense.
"I was really impressed with Reggie's (Bonnafon) jump; that's getting up there – that is really getting up there," Petrino said. "I think he shocked everybody because he was competing hard with (Jamari) Staples and they were going back and forth and he blew him out of the water. He (Reggie) got him by two-and-a-half inches, which is amazing, but it is fun to see those guys compete in the weight room and get ready for it."
While Louisville will not feature too many new faces on the field, the Cardinals' sideline is sure to show a few.
Recently, the Cardinals hired Lonnie Galloway as the co-offensive coordinator – offensive line coach Chris Klenakis will share the role – and wide receivers coach. He is widely considered one of the nation's best recruiters and top developer's for the wide receivers position. He previously served as the associate head coach and wide receivers coach for three seasons at West Virginia.
Nick Petrino also joined the staff in a full-time position and will mentor the quarterbacks.
"It is going to work great, I have always enjoyed watching his work," Klenakis said on working with Galloway. "I had the privilege of being in the Big 12 Conference three years ago and playing against West Virginia, so I saw their offense a lot on film and I was always impressed with the caliber of players he has produced."
Galloway, who has produced four highly sought NFL Draft picks since 2012, described the type of receivers he is going to build as 'someone that is very tough, attacks practice, someone who loves to compete, down to earth, someone that will work hard and ready to go out.'
"I'm very excited," Galloway said in his first press conference on staff. "They are a talented group and I am ready to go out and work with them. I have been blessed to coach some talented kids and the thing that hopefully they will tell to people that didn't know them is one, if you coach them hard, you better love them. So, you know my thing here will be here is letting guys know me and this is what I expect and that is a two-way street. At the end of the day, what I say and what Coach Petrino says is what we are going to do, but I will stand up for you if you think you have a point."
On the defensive side of the ball, Keith Hayward joined the Cardinals to lead the secondary with Cort Dennison serving as the assistant secondary coach and recruiting coordinator. Heyward, who has spent 11 seasons at the collegiate level, will inherit one of top secondary groups in the nation with all four starters from last year's team returning. The foursome of Harvey-Clemons, Chucky Williams, Trumaine Washington, and Shaq Williams combined for 12 interceptions.
"We have some new coaches in here so it will be fun to get out on the field and see their personalities come out and how they coach their players so that is exciting for me," Petrino said. "I am really excited about Lonnie Galloway coming in as our wide receivers coach/co-offensive coordinator. Also coach Klenakis taking over the role as co-offensive coordinator so I think it is going to be a really good match."
For information on tickets for the Cardinals' 2016 campaign, visit GoCards.com.
