U of L football: Behind Monday's closed practice
We didn't get to watch Monday night's closed practice, but Louisville football coach Bobby Petrino and outside linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin gave us some insight into what we missed.
U of L ran through 7-on-7 drills and then held what Petrino called a "controlled scrimmage." The first part of the scrimmage was scripted, he said, with first-and-10s, second-and-longs, runs and play-actions. Then they held a blitzing period.
They ran the first-team offense vs. the first-team defense, the second-team O vs. the second-team D, etc. Then they moved the ball, Petrino explained, and the coaches moved to the sidelines as if it were a game.
"It was the combination of getting ready for an opening game and evaluating how we did with our depth chart," Petrino said. "It was a lot of fun. We got a lot accomplished. We're a long way from where we need to be, but I do think we took a step in the right direction tonight."
Petrino said the focus of Monday's practice, the first with full tackling, was "getting pad levels where they need to be." He mentioned the same challenge with running back Dominique Brown on Saturday, and repeated it again Monday night.
He and Mauldin agreed that practice was "about 50-50" in terms of who "won." The defense made some tackles for loss, and the offense made a few big plays.
"I thought they did well tackling," Petrino said. "We had a lot of guys swarm to the football."
Petrino said expected starting quarterback Will Gardner continued his improvements in recent days and threw "a nice touchdown pass" at one point in the scrimmage.
"He looked better than he did in the first three practices," Petrino said. "He's done a really good job in the past few days focusing on his decision-making and getting his feet in the right position. He took a huge step forward."
Mauldin, who said last month that Gardner's move into the starter's role has made him more vocal this year, was impressed by his team's new quarterback.
"Will is a quarterback that likes to sit in the pocket and read his throws," Mauldin said. "He's a smart quarterback because he knows his checkdowns and he plays with so much passion for the game, it's ridiculous."
One thing of note: Petrino only mentioned four running backs when asked how that position group did, leaving out Corvin Lamb, the team's fastest player who is expected to compete for playing time this season. Lamb's done some work with the return team, but Petrino didn't mention him by name after saying the other four running backs did well on Monday.
"Four guys really ran the ball real well," Petrino said. "They do a good job of competing in practice every day."
Oh, and a final note on the offensive line: The team worked with what's been its usual first-team O-line of Jamon Brown, John Miller, Jake Smith, Ryan Mack and Kelby Johnson for a while before moving Smith over to right guard and bringing walk-on Tobijah Hughley into the first team.
But Louisville's offensive line isn't where Petrino wants it to be. Not even close.
"No, not yet," Petrino said. "We've got a long time to go ... We're just going to let it play out."
DAY 3 MORNING STANDOUTS
Based on what Mauldin said, we can run through a few. Freshman CB Trumaine Washington, juco transfers OLB Trevon Young and S James Sample, and junior DE Sheldon Rankins all got specific mentions. On offense, Mauldin mentioned freshman RB LJ Scott.
"He's a good hands player and a great pass rusher," Mauldin said of Young. "He knows the defense. He wants to learn more about the offense and be able to play them before the snap."
Petrino mentioned Mauldin. "It's great having him in there," he said. "I'm glad it's not live on the quarterback."
NOTABLE
Redshirt junior OL Ryan Mack left practice a little after 8 p.m. -- about an hour before it ended -- but appeared OK, health-wise. He was angry about something, though it was unclear what he said. Mack had been running as the first-team right guard through the first week of practice.
"At this time we have a lot of guys coming and going," Petrino said. "There's always things going on why guys aren't at practice."
QUOTABLE
"It feels good. I came out there with a lot of tenacity because I missed out on the spring. It built up on me so to come out and lay it down on somebody felt good ... (Who'd he hit?) A number of people. I black out when I'm out there. Somebody. Everybody. Whoever." -- senior outside linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin on how it felt to go full tilt with tackling in practice for the first time.
INJURY UPDATE
Petrino said that senior receiver Matt Milton (back) left practice and was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure. The initial reports back, Petrino added, were positive. Milton looked sharp in practice last week, and ran with the first-teamers for the first few days.
Also, in case you missed my tweet from Sunday, redshirt junior Mike Romano, who was listed as the third center on U of L's preseason depth chart, told The Courier-Journal he won't play this fall because of two ACL tears. He is interning with the strength and conditioning staff.