Cards camp notes: Day 4 morning session
The fourth morning of Louisville football practice just finished up inside the Trager Center, the Cardinals' indoor practice facility.
Why indoors? It's been rainy all morning. The forecast for the 4:20 p.m. practice for the team's veterans is a little sketchier -- there's a zero-percent chance of rain when practice first starts, but that percentage rises to 30 at 5 p.m.
Either way, practice is open to fans.
And either way, you can expect something similar to this morning's session in many, many ways. For one, the coaches are losing their voices. They've done seven practices in three days, and as offensive coordinator Garrick McGee said Thursday night, they're working 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day. That's essentially Chapter 1 in Losing Your Voice for Dummies.
Friday was also the fourth day of "re-installation" of the playbooks on both sides of the ball. They use the "re" prefix because they installed the playbook in the spring for the guys who were here. For the young'ns who are new to the program, they spent all summer studying those playbooks -- and actually probably started that process back when they committed to Louisville in the first place.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Kyle Bolin had another nice practice with the younger guys, showing poise and control in the pocket. He made a few nice throws that I'll touch on below.
The young defense is getting better, especially in the secondary, where freshman corner Trumaine Washington and redshirt freshman safety Terrence Ross have been doing well. Freshman Cameron Palmer, a linebacker, had a nice pass breakup after a solid read-and-break on a pass into the flat.
"We're just getting better and better every day," Washington said. "The older guys are helping us a lot. They stay with us after practice. In meetings, they talk to us. The safeties they talk to us, too. The linebackers help us during the play."
DAY 3 MORNING STANDOUTS
* Start with Bolin, who rolled out right in 11-on-11 drills and rifled a completion to freshman Cornelius Sturghill, who was already behind the defense and had green in front of him. Bolin and transfer Tyler Ferguson both made some through-the-fire throws into the end zone, too, connecting with the young tight ends for a few nice touchdowns.
* Props go to Charles Standberry and Micky Crum, the freshmen tight ends who both had solid Friday mornings. Standberry destroyed outside linebacker Henry Famurewa on the edge of a run play and engaged him through to the whistle during interior-shell drills. Then he followed that with a nice diving catch in the back of the end zone during red-zone drills.
Crum, who is already built like a prototypical NFL tight end, caught one ball in 11-on-11 traffic and showed safe hands with it. He also made a few eye-catching grabs along the back line of the end zone during those red-zone drills.
* On defense, Washington read a play perfectly, stepped into the passing lane and snatched up a pick. He's done that a few times this week, and seemingly has the entire field open in front of him every time he does it. He also looked sharp in punt return drills, with an ability to catch, make a move and accelerate.
NOTABLE
* I didn't see defensive tackle Dominique Dishman this morning. He's practiced with that group all week, so I'm assuming it's either a promotion or he's hurt. We'll find out this afternoon.
* Redshirt junior Mike Romano, a center from Treasure Coast High in south Florida, won't play football this year. Neither will Jarell McGriff-Culver, a running back last season.
QUOTABLE
"I thought I was the fastest person in high school, then I got to college and I feel like I'm the slowest." -- freshman CB Trumaine Washington
INJURY UPDATE
Defensive back Carl Williams (hamstring) and lineman Danny Burns (dehydration?) both required some attention this morning. Not sure if they're fully hurt or just needed a few minutes. Defensive end Kyle Shortridge practiced most of the morning but I couldn't find him around during the team's 11-on-11 drills at the end of practice.