All Entries Tagged With: "Troy Pascley"

Only the second practice but Louisville football is fun again

Copyright (c) 2010 U of L Card Game

Victor Anderson (20) bursts from a crowded backfield on his way to daylight during the second day of practice for the University of Louisville football team. Friday’s session was the last one open to the public.

Copyright (c) 2010, UofLCardGame.com

Michaelee Harris, a freshman from Florida, has already dazzled Louisville fans after only two days of practice. Based on Friday’s performance, he expects to catch everything thrown his way.

Beautiful afternoon for football, nice breeze, lots of shade. Perfect in every way for the final practice open to the public.  More than 800 wanting their University of Louisville football fix.

Mostly the crowd is quiet during the sessions, straining to pick up on what the coaches are saying, trying to separate the wheat from chaff on a field with players often divided by positions into four or five groups.

These sessions are vastly different from the previous coaching era. Charlie Strong seems to be everywhere and in everybody’s face, as are all the coaches. They don’t let anything slide.

As when Darius Ashley saunters back into line to await his turn. “Why you jogging?” bellows Vance Bedford, defensive coordinator. “We’re picked to finish last in the conference, and you’re jogging?”

That’s just the way it is, and that’s what it’s going to take to make up for lost time.

Some fans can’t help but get involved, as in the one who beseeches: “Come on, Cards! West Virginia’s going to go at you a lot harder than that!”  Attracting a wide grin from Victor Anderson.

Speaking of Anderson, he appears to be all the way back, as in 100% recovered from all the injuries that kept him sidelined most of last season. Couple of break away runs Friday, as impressive as he was when he was finally inserted into the lineup during his freshman season.

The crowd can’t contain itself watching Michaelee Harris, the Florida freshmen wide receiver. He has moves U of L fans haven’t seen since Harry Douglas. But he’s taller, maybe just as quick, with bigger hands, and hopefully more durable. He’s going to be a great one.

Dominique Brown, the freshman from Cincinnati, appeared more at ease taking signals. He’s plenty mobile and has a strong arm, reminiscent of Chris Redman and Hunter Cantwell with those bullet throws.

Adam Froman will be the starting quarterback, based on his performance Friday. He seems to be a lot more confident. May have something to do with him knowing what the coaches expect of him for a change. He’s hitting receivers on a regular basis.

Troy Pascley seems to have all the tools, big target, speed, knows the plays. All he has to do is start catching passes, none of this hit and miss stuff we’re still seeing.

The overall impression one leaves with is the practice sessions are tightly organized, players know what’s expected of them, and no nonsense is tolerated. This is not what one usually finds during practice sessions of teams picked to finish last in the conference.

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New Beginning For Louisville Football

No problem finding the head coach at the practice field. Charlie Strong’s is the booming voice one encounters upon descending on a University of Louisville football practice.

Strong is not the only coach getting in players’ faces. They all do it, all the time. Make a wrong turn, look lethargic, fail to deflect a pass on defense, miss a catch or block on offense. Make a mistake of walking and not running to the next drill. Look like you’re daydreaming, not paying attention, or somewhere out there:

Catch hell, and lots of it.

The practice field sounds much like a military parade ground, with drill sergeants all around, each focusing on fundamentals on the opening day of spring practice. Reminiscent of the days of Bobby and Paul Petrino, perfectionists with little tolerance for shortcomings.

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A couple of surprises with the quarterback situation, with Luke Woodley, a highly-touted recruit from Texas, among the missing. He was said to have enrolled but didn’t stick around for the semester. Whether he returns in the fall is up in the air.

Justin Burke, a questionable returnee, was wearing his familiar No. 13, taking snaps along with Adam Froman and Will Stein.

Adam Castro, a never used backup quarterback, is no longer on the roster.

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Among the wide receivers making a super first-day impression was Doug Beaumont, making some impossible catches with defenders blanketing him.

Troy Pascley continues to look like a great receiver except that he wasn’t catching everything. Not always his fault.

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Josh Chichester, a 6-foot-8 wide receiver, was the target of a little ribbing by wide receivers coach Rod Dugans proclaiming Chichester to be the tallest receiver in America. One suspects Dugans was sending some sort of message about his expectations.

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Good crowd of about 1,100 fans, more or less. The coaching staff has even installed some bleachers to accommodate fans. Nice touch, a first, never occurring to previous football bosses.

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Louisville Football Halfway To Where?

By Paul Sykes

Louisville football is about where most fans thought it would be at this time of the season, despite all the chatter about not meeting expectations. Whether the team has shown improvement or not may strongly hinge on one’s perspective, whether one looks at things objectively or subjectively.

• At the halfway point, Louisville is 2-4 overall and 0-2 in Big East play. My preseason picks and had Steve Kragthorpe’s team at 3-3, the Kentucky loss the only miss.

• Louisville has actually gained more first downs than the opposition, 119-111. Of these, 62 have come by air and 49 on the ground. I would have lost the bet on that stat.

• As for the highly-debated lack of third down conversions, Louisville has converted 35 of 91 times while limiting the opposition to 35 of 90 third down successes.

• Three linebackers lead  the tackling. Jon Dempsey with 33 solo, 31 assisted, Chris Campa with 21 solo and 20 assisted and Antwon Canady in fourth place with 17 solo and 12 assisted. Telling fact: both Dempsey and Campa are juco transfers.

• Justin Burke, despite his sidelining, still leads in passing attempts, passing touchdowns and interceptions. Louisville is averaging 237 yards through the air, the opposition 201 yards.

• Louisville has coughed up the ball seven times this year while recovering only one. U of L has lost at least one fumble in nine of the last 10 games.
  

• The longer the better? Ryan Payne is a perfect one of one attempt from 40- yards out on field goals. He’s three of four from 30-39 yds. and three of five from 20-29 yds.

My nominee for missing in action is Troy Pascley who had 12 catches and four touchdowns last season. Nowhere to be found in 2009. The pleasant surprise has to be Cameron Graham,  a junior who has overcome the injuries that plagued him last year with 12 catches and two touchdowns.

How do you see the U of L finishing the season? Who has been a pleasant surprise thus far? Who are the underachievers?

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Louisville Football Halfway There?

Thoughts going into the Louisville vs. Kentucky football game:

• Now we know exactly what Tom Jurich meant when he declared a little over a year ago that U of L football was in a rebuild mode, adding “I just hope we can get through it.” The negative talk directed at Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe is off the charts in some quarters (i.e., messsage boards).
• Would anything be sweeter than force feeding the garbage talk down the throats of the haters? Some sound a lot like Alabama fans going after Mike Shula a couple of years ago. But Shula had one 10-2 season and Alabama had five decades of tradition.
• Louisville’s opening game was the longest, most boring game the observer has seen in all of his years of watching U of L football. Maybe there was a reason for that, as in showing absolutely nothing to a hated arch rival. One can always hope. Make that one must hope.
• There’s a lot of talk about Louisville’s explosive backs. Victor Anderson is, for sure. But Bilal Powell didn’t show anything last season. And Darius Ashley has yet to set foot in a college football game.
• If U of L’s wide receivers are a strong point, we have yet to see that either. Scott Long and Trent Guy have spent almost as much time nursing injuries as playing games. Josh Chichester is far from being a proven receiver. Doug Beaumont has yet to find the end zone. Troy Pascley shows only flashes.
• How will Justin Burke respond to the UK wall of noise. There has been at least one estimate that 80,000 people will show up a Commonwealth Stadium. That would be standing room only in a 67,600-seat stadium. If Burke was nervous against Indiana State, he could be a basket case in Lexington.
• Ryan Tydlacka, brother of former U of L kicker Wade Tydlacka, kicking for Kentucky when Louisville’s kicking game is among the needy.
• U of L has 21 players from the Ville. Kentucky has 15. How long will it take them to overtake U of L at the current pace?
• Tom Jurich said two years for the rebuild. We’re just a little over the halfway point.

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Louisville Receivers Need Someone Who Can Deliver

By Paul Sykes

You can have the best quarterback in the conference but if there’s no one  to throw to, your passing game will suffer — as it did during Hunter Cantwell’s frustrating senior year in the spotlight.  With a little luck, whoever wins the University of Louisville football’s QB battle will have some decent options.

Doug Beaumont, the sophomore receiver from Male who dazzled with his catches and moves, returns as one of the major threats in the slot. Beaumont had 62 receptions and 750 yards in 2008. Beaumont performed admirably in the absence of an injury-plagued receiving unit but he failed to make it into the end zone. He’s too good a player to have that happen much longer.

Scott Long was U of L’s No. 1 receiver going into last season.   If Long has fully recovered from some serious injuries, he will be a clutch, go-to receiver. The senior was on the field in only three games but pulled in 11 catches while scoring two touchdowns.

Trent Guy

How well Trent Guy will do after recovering from injuries on the heels of his recuperation from gunshot wounds is another huge factor. The senior missed five games last year, but has shown the speed and skills to make defenses second-guess themselves. He’s the heart and soul of this team.

Troy Pascley came on late in the year for 12 receptioand 252 yards, reaching the end zone four times. He has the speed and the moves … all he has to do is catch the ball.

If the Cards want to go tall, sophomore Josh Chichester, at 6-foot-8, is the ideal target. The big guy from Ohio had 30 grabs for 341 yards and four touchdowns.

Damien Dixon and Andrew Robinson are waiting in the wings for duty if the injury bug returns. Robinson has world-class speed and good hands but had only seven handles in 2008.

Tight end appears to be well fortified.  Senior Pete Noctha, out of Lexington Tates Creek caught nine throws and tallied two touchdowns despite only playing six games. Former defensive standout Johnny Burns looked in 18 tosses and one touchdown. Nate Nord and Mike Fennerty could compete for time as well.

With depth at all receiving positions, the Cards will have the potential to be dangerous. But they must avoid the injury bug and have a quarterback who can deliver if they are to enjoy a productive season.

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