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.
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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Excellent insights…you picked up a lot of things I didn’t see and that is exactly the kind of info that fans want.
Agreed that Froman is the starter and that Harris is so good that they won’t be able to keep him off the field.