CARDINALS

Lorenzo Mauldin new face of Louisville football

Jeff Greer
@jeffgreer_cj

Lorenzo Mauldin didn't know what to do.

A product of foster homes with admitted reservations about trusting others, the University of Louisville football star watched Charlie Strong, the coach who recruited and mentored and molded him into an NFL prospect, leave for a new job at Texas.

Unsure about his future at Louisville, the senior defensive end-turned-linebacker reached out to Clint Hurtt, the former recruiting coordinator at U of L who had formed close relationships with the defensive linemen he coached.

"I told him that if he left, that I would leave to go to Texas with Coach Strong," Mauldin said last week at the Atlantic Coast Conference Football Kickoff in Greensboro, N.C.

At that point, Hurtt was still at U of L, reportedly considering his options to stay on staff at Louisville or, if Texas was willing to bite the bullet, join Strong's staff in Austin. He eventually left for a job with the NFL's Chicago Bears.

"When he left, I said forget it," Mauldin said. "I didn't want to leave my brothers there. I stuck with my team."

Seven months later, Mauldin is the face of the Louisville football program, a friendly, talkative senior with dreadlocks that spill out from his helmet.

He might not be a quarterback like Teddy Bridgewater, but Lozo, the nickname he prefers, is revered in a similar way to the former U of L signal caller who was a first-round draft pick in April.

Mauldin modeled U of L's black alternate uniform for his teammates in the days after new coach Bobby Petrino was hired. The video of him walking into the Louisville team room went viral in the ensuing days.

He again modeled the black threads at U of L's ACC party on July 1, when the school officially joined the conference.

He led the C-A-R-D-S cheer at a U of L basketball game, and was the defense's representative at the ACC Kickoff, where his red dreads and brimming confidence made him a popular figure.

And with preseason camp starting on Tuesday, Mauldin is the central figure in a defense that hopes to find similar moxie to last year's unit, which was statistically one of the top two defenses in the country.

He moved from defensive end to outside linebacker in the offseason, and though he missed spring practice after undergoing surgery on his labrum, the transition has been seamless.

Mauldin thinks the move will improve his draft stock, turning him into a potential first- or second-round pick in 2015.

"Not only does it help the team, it helps me as well with the NFL scouts," Mauldin said. "It lets them know I'm able to be versatile with my position."

New U of L defensive coordinator Todd Grantham told The Courier-Journal in February that Mauldin moving positions allows the 6-foot-4, 244-pound player to "play in space."

"(It allows) him to do the things he does coming off the edge," Grantham said. "Any time you can get pre-snap information and are able to anticipate, that allows you to play faster."

Speed is the main attribute of Louisville's front seven, and Mauldin is the chief engine behind it. Grantham installed a 3-4 defensive scheme, changing the Cardinals from their 4-3 base under Strong.

In Strong's defense, Mauldin and fellow defensive Marcus Smith lined up in various ways, standing up, dropping into coverage or even moving to defensive tackle and attacking the opposing center.

However they used him, Louisville's former staff trusted Mauldin, just like the new group of U of L coaches.

Now he's on track to graduate in December and spend the rest of the winter and early spring months working out for NFL teams.

His mind is worlds away from the tenuous days in the wake of Strong's departure.

"You do what's best for you," Mauldin said. "In the end, everybody gets what they want."

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