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7 questions for Louisville football

Jeff Greer
@jeffgreer_cj
Louisville football coach Bobby Petrino gives the Cardinals instruction on Friday during the 2014 UofL Football Spring game at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. April 11, 2014

The 10-week summer term at Louisville begins Tuesday, and players have begun returning to campus to start their summer courses and workouts.

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With the college football season previews coming out in force, let's answer some key questions facing Louisville ahead of the 2014-15 season.

1. Can Will Gardner build off a strong spring?

The most important player on Louisville's team -- if you can have one in a game that uses 22 players on offense and defense -- is the quarterback. Redshirt sophomore Will Gardner replaces Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville football's modern prodigal son. That's no easy task. But Gardner did it with poise and presence this spring, immediately staking claim to the starting job during team athletic testing in January and never relenting in his pursuit to be the Cards' signal caller.

By spring's end, the question wasn't about who'd start. It was about who'd back up Gardner, who threw for approx. a million yards in the spring game and looked accurate and smart in the pocket. What we didn't see in that spring game was how Gardner faced pressure situations. Louisville chose not to allow blitzing and pressure calls from the defense during the spring game, instead opting to limit the defense to base sets. That means Gardner -- and the offensive line -- didn't quite experience the full-bore rush.

Gardner has so many weapons at his disposal, starting with receiver DeVante Parker, and showed this spring that he planned to use them. He had good chemistry with Parker, sophomore James Quick, tight end Gerald Christian and senior slot receiver Eli Rogers. He also had some explosive help from the running back corps.

That should provide some comfort as Gardner transitions from fighting for a starting job to being "the guy" leading a team into the ultra-competitive ACC.

2. How healthy is the defense?

Several key players on defense missed spring practice. Defensive end-turned-outside linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin sat out after labrum surgery. Linebacker Keith Brown was sidelined by a knee injury in September and hasn't seen the field since. Jermaine Reve, a former slot corner and penciled-in starter at safety, hurt his knee in spring and coach Bobby Petrino said Reve would be "out for some time." Backup defensive end Kyle Shortridge is fully recovered from foot surgery in March and expects to participate in summer workouts.

The linebacking corps has a lot of young talent, which eases the blow of Brown and Mauldin missing out this spring. In fact, it helps the younger players see more first-team reps in practice. Mauldin is 100 percent again, while Brown, a middle linebacker who Petrino said could be a star this fall, is nearing a return.

But the injury to Reve is a tough one. We'll get to the safeties in a minute, but not having Reve is a dent in an already-damaged position group. Louisville needs all the help it can get at safety, and Reve's experience would've been helpful there. It's not clear when he'll return.

3. Where does the offensive line stand?

By the end of last season, the offensive line was Louisville's biggest problem. There were three reliable players -- John Miller, Jake Smith and Jamon Brown -- on the line, but Bridgewater was under constant pressure against Cincinnati and other late-season opponents. That bum-rush at Cincinnati allowed Bridgewater to put on one of his top performances in his entire career at Louisville, but it also exposed a glaring weakness on a team that didn't have many others.

Smith moved to right guard this spring after starring at center last fall. Miller and Brown are the left-side pairing. Petrino used Tobijah Hughley at center in the spring, with Aaron Epps at right tackle. Epps left high school at 6-7, 250, in need of some bulk, and is up to 6-7, 280 as a redshirt junior. His development, along with Hughley, might be the key to keeping Gardner upright this fall.

4. Was Spring Game Michael Dyer for real?

If the Michael Dyer we saw in the spring is the same Michael Dyer this fall, Louisville will have a dynamic option in the backfield. Dyer missed part of spring practices but ripped off 150 yards and three touchdowns in the spring exhibition game. He was quick, decisive, elusive and game-breaking. He looked like the running back who helped Auburn win the BCS title.

Dyer didn't have much of a 2013 season. He got 44 carries in seven games. He missed the end of the season because he needed sports hernia surgery, which also kept him out of the team workouts this past winter and the early part of spring practice. But Dyer worked out on his own and impressed Petrino before re-joining the team and continuing his impressive return. If he can keep up the explosiveness in the fall, Louisville's offense will have a home-run hitter at tailback to pair with bull-dozers Dominique Brown and LJ Scott.

5. Where do the newcomers fit?

The aforementioned Scott might be the biggest impact freshman on the roster. He's already a college-sized running back, and he had a huge spring game against his more experienced teammates. Another incoming freshman, local product Reggie Bonnafon, will compete for the No. 2 quarterback spot after Kyle Bolin and Brett Nelson did nothing this spring to win that backup spot behind Gardner. Trevon Young, a juco transfer, competed in spring practice and adds depth to Louisville's pass rush.

No newcomer is more important to Louisville at this juncture than James Sample, a safety who transferred to U of L this spring and fills the Cards' biggest position of need. Same goes for Michael Johnson, an incoming freshman. More on that below.

6. How does the defense adjust to Todd Grantham's 3-4 base set?

Every coach has a system. New defensive coordinator Todd Grantham arrived at Louisville with a 3-4 scheme. Former Louisville coach Charlie Strong used a lot more 4-3 and 30-base defenses, but he experimented with every formation under the sun, and his team's versatility allowed him such freedom.

Losing seven key guys from that defense, which ranked second in the nation in scoring defense, is a bit of a punch to the gut. But the players who do return adapted well to Grantham's 3-4. At least the early implementation of it this spring. This summer's workouts are the next big step -- how much did the returnees study the playbook, and how much more advanced can Grantham get with his ideas? Those are the big questions that'll be asked when training camp starts.

7. What does Louisville do at safety?

I already mentioned the importance of Sample, who should come right in and compete for a starting job. With Reve's injury and a leaky spring-game performance for the first- and second-team safeties, Louisville's defensive lid is its biggest weakness. And even Reve was moving from slot corner to safety, though he was recruited at that position out of high school.

Safety was always going to be a challenge after losing Calvin Pryor (early entree to the draft) and Hakeem Smith (graduated). That's why Petrino hammered the safety market as soon as he took over at Louisville.

Sample transferred in and Michael Johnson has an athletic, big body for a freshman. Both players will compete for time with Jarrod Barnes, Gerod Holliman, Chucky Williams and Richard Benjamin.

It's not that the group isn't talented, but there has to be some progress this summer. Charles Gaines and Terell Floyd are very good cornerbacks, with Gaines considered one of the best in the country and Floyd an experienced starter, but they can only do so much in the passing game.