U of L's Petrino pleased with quarterbacks in scrimmage

There were a few moments of brilliance and a few moments of frustration at the University of Louisville's Fan Day football scrimmage Saturday at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

In other words, the first public look at the Cardinals since the previous Saturday was exactly what any observer should expect, and coach Bobby Petrino left the field on a humid afternoon optimistic about the way his team played.

"I thought we got a lot accomplished," he said. "As we watch the video, I know we're going to see some things that we really like and some things that we really need to clean up. There will be a lot there that we can really build on."

Stats weren't available after the scrimmage, but expected starting quarterback Will Gardner completed 18 of 24 passes through about three quarters of the workout, throwing for 141 yards and one touchdown with one interception.

The redshirt sophomore's 7-yard TD pass to Eli Rogers early in the scrimmage capped one of at least two scoring long drives that Gardner engineered. The first was 13 plays for 75 yards. The second took 11 plays to go 65 yards, with L.J. Scott running 6 yards for the score.

Freshman quarterback Reggie Bonnafon threw two TD passes, including one of the best plays of the scrimmage. The Trinity High grad perfectly lofted a ball some 40 yards downfield to receiver Matt Milton, who caught it in stride and completed the 65-yard touchdown play.

Bonnafon also finished a 15-play, 65-yard drive with a 2-yard TD toss to Lamar Atkins.

"They really showed that they can play the game," Petrino said of the two quarterbacks. "We have to be more consistent. We made some mistakes. We had some protection issues.

"We didn't see certain blitzes come at times, but when we had things right and they were able to set their feet, they both can make the throws that you need to make."

Running back Michael Dyer had another impressive showing, as did expected starter Dominique Brown. The two came off their first cuts with speed and power and blew into the secondary on multiple occasions.

The defense struggled mightily at first, though the pass rush would have generated more havoc and more three-and-outs if sacks were allowed.

Redshirt freshman Chucky Williams, who can play safety or cornerback, dropped an interception early in the scrimmage but snapped one up toward the end. He also delivered the hit of the practice, crunching Rogers on an underneath route in the red zone.

Andrew Johnson, likely to start at cornerback with Terell Floyd's move to safety, made a diving interception of Gardner after the "halftime" break. Johnson turned off his man, DeVante Parker, and came back on a throw that clearly came as a result of a miscommunication between Gardner and Parker.

"We're way ahead of where we were in spring," Petrino said, complimenting the pass rushers. "But I didn't like giving up the big plays, particularly with the No. 1 defense in there, so we've got to improve on that."

Several stars picked up lumps during the 2½-hour workout, with Dyer (knee), Floyd (forearm), cornerback Charles Gaines (lower leg) and linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin (groin) leaving to see the training staff at one point or another.

Only Dyer didn't return. Petrino said later that the senior has a knee bruise but should be fine. Petrino also said an X-ray on Floyd's forearm came back negative.

The goal of this scrimmage went beyond the on-field product, Petrino explained. The staff wanted the team to go through the game-day experience, from the training room to the locker room to the pregame field preparation.

In that area, Petrino seemed happy.

"Those things were well done," he said. "You can see that we have a lot of senior leadership and a lot of experience on the team. They took the field with good energy and went out and competed. Obviously, we made some mistakes, but overall I thought it was a good day."

Reach Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter @jeffgreer_cj.