DeVante Parker was the 4th highest ranked WR on the list

Athlonsports.com has ranked the 50 best players in the Big East and 6 Cardinals made the list. Teddy Bridgewater, Hakeem Smith, Mario Benavides, Adrian Bushell, Preston Brown, DeVante Parker and Roy Philon were the Louisville players listed and the top spot belongs to Rutgers LB Khaseem Greene. Hard to argue with any of their picks but I have a sneaking suspicion that the list might look a bit different after this season For example, I can see any one of Louisville’s defensive ends – whether it’s BJ Butler, BJ Dubose or Marcus Smith – have a breakout year and rake in the post-season accolades. Same can probably be said for Philon’s next door neighbor on the defensive line, Brandon Dunn. Or perhaps it will be a guy like Eli Rogers or Dominique Brown? Suffice to say, this Louisville team finally has a ton of weapons and absolutely no shortage of top-notch talent. Here’s the excerpts on the Louisville players and you can read the entire thing here.

4. Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Louisville
As expected, Bridgewater experienced ups and downs as a freshman last season. He threw an interception in his only pass attempt in the opener against Murray State but finished the year with five touchdown tosses over the final two games. Bridgewater’s play was crucial to keeping Louisville in the Big East title hunt last season and will only get better as a sophomore. With plenty of weapons at his disposal and a talented offensive line, Bridgewater should finish 2012 ranked among the top five players in the Big East.

8. Hakeem Smith, S, Louisville
After a Big East Rookie of the Year award back in 2010, Smith turned in a first-team All-Big East season as only a sophomore last fall. The Jonesboro, Ga., native has quickly supplanted himself as one of the most versatile safeties in the country. The junior has posted back-to-back 80-tackle seasons and has a chance to enter the NFL Draft in 2013 with another great campaign this year. Especially, if he can lead the Cardinals defense to a Big East Championship.

11. Mario Benavides, C, Louisville
Benavides was hobbled early last season due to a knee injury and his leadership and presence on the offensive line was clearly missed. In his absence, Louisville managed only one rushing score and managed 83 rushing yards against FIU. The Cardinals line improved once Benavides returned to the lineup, recording at least 100 rushing yards in eight of the last nine games. The senior should be the Big East’s top center and has been selected to the Rimington Award watch list.

23. Adrian Bushell, CB, Louisville
Bushell joined Louisville just before the start of last season and finished as a first-team All-Big East selection. Despite not having much time to get acquainted with his new surroundings, he recorded 50 tackles, one interception and blocked two kicks. Bushell should be Louisville’s top corner and build upon a promising 2011 season.

31. Preston Brown, LB, Louisville
Replacing middle linebacker Dexter Heyman is the biggest concern for coordinator Vance Bedford this fall. However, Bedford and Charlie Strong hope shifting Brown from the outside to the interior will keep Louisville’s defense ranked among the top 10 nationally in rush defense. Brown recorded 84 stops last year.

38. DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
With Teddy Bridgewater’s development comes opportunity for Parker. As only a sophomore, six of his 18 total catches last fall went for touchdowns.

50. Roy Philon, DT, Louisville
Philon was a key cog in Louisville’s run defense last season and should only get better as a junior in 2012. He recorded 36 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 2011.

Louisville head coach Charlie Strong spoke to the media today at the annual Gov’s Cup luncheon in which he addressed a variety of topics including: The team’s expectations, the UK rivalry, the downfalls of social media and the progression of Teddy Bridgewater.

* Video courtesy of the Courier Journal

When Charlie Strong took over this football program in 2010, the cupboard was bare nearly everywhere, but there were few areas more in need of help than the defensive line. As reported by CL Brown a while back, the average size of a Louisville defensive lineman in the 2010 season opener was 6-3, 263 lbs. For those unfamiliar with the average defensive lineman size, that is basically the equivalent of having a 6-5 or 6-6 player playing center for a D-1 basketball team. Strong and defensive line coach Clint Hurtt had their work cut out for them and have since developed this unit (through both coaching and recruiting) into a potential strength for the 2012 season.

Despite a much stronger unit than two years ago, the unit will still have its obstacles to overcome. First, someone in the unit will need to step up as a leader, as they will be without Greg Scruggs (now with the Seahawks) and William Savoy. Both of these players last year served as great leaders both on and off the field, especially Savoy, who had to work his way up from a walk-on to a scholarship player. There will be no seniors lining up this season on the defensive line, but the group will include juniors BJ Butler, Brandon Dunn, Marcus Smith, and redshirt juniors Roy Philon and Hunter Stout. The logical choices to be leaders would be the eldest two of the group, Philon and Stout (especially Philon, a projected starter who will see significant minutes), but any and all others could and should step up to the opportunity.

The other obstacle the team will need to get past is the injury bug. Last season, the d-line was arguably one of the teams strongest units going into the season, but subsequently faced injury after injury. Smith, Dunn, Philon, and Butler all got hurt during the season. Philon only missed one game but he played hurt essentially all year, according to what Hurtt told Brown. Hurtt also mentioned that the injuries to the younger players hurt their progress as all were making great strides. This is an athletic and talented group, especially Smith, who came in as a quarterback and can play pretty much any position on the field outside of offensive line. For them to reach their full potential, they need a season of injury-free football. That is impossible to demand, as injuries happen and can hit at horrible times (see basketball team for reference), but if completely healthy, this d-line could be one of if not the most dangerous d-lines in the Big East.

This unit has multiple members with star power. BJ Butler was as dominant of a freshman defensive end as a player can be in his position. He regressed a bit in his sophomore campaign due to injuries, as stated above, but could and should regain his stride as a junior. Marcus Smith is just a superb athlete who can play almost any position on the field outside of offensive line. He came in as a quarterback (and was pretty good in camp) and has excelled on the defensive side of the football. Two names to really keep an eye out for are sophomores BJ Dubose and Lorenzo Mauldin. Dubose is simply a beast. He is 6-5, 265 lbs and looks like he can win a fight handily with an fully grown, adult male, silverback gorilla. He was they type of player you saw as a freshman and thought, “He looks 28.” He has great size, agility, and will only improve from his outstanding freshman season. Mauldin was a bit of a mystery last season, as he bounced back and forth between defensive end and tight end. He has since been moved back to DE full time, and he looked great in the Spring Game. He was a highly touted recruit and has great size (6-4, 242 lbs), but due to lack of playing time last year, he may take his share of lumps. His potential is through the roof, though, and he should be effective just through his abilities. Redshirt sophomore Jamaine Brooks will back up Dunn at the nose tackle position, but generally speaking, is much better suited for the position size-wise than Dunn. While Dunn is not a small man at all, weighing 285 lbs, the prototypical big-time nose tackles in college and the NFL weigh in excess of 300 lbs (see players like Dontari Poe and Josh Chapman formerly of Memphis and Alabama). Brooks comes in weighing a whopping 326 lbs. Yet, while having a size advantage (and arguably long-term potential) over Dunn, Dunn clearly is superior in his abilities, and if Brooks wants to knock him out of the starting rotation, he is really going to have to improve his technique.

The group of freshmen within the d-line are also something to be excited about this season, but especially for the future. While not signing a high number of them, Strong and co. did a great job landing some solid d-linemen in the offseason. Quality over quantity, as they say (although it is an area we will still need to address for future classes). The two freshmen who could play right away are former three-star recruits from Georgia defensive tackle D’Angelo Brown (6-1, 316 lbs) and defensive end Sheldon Rankins (6-2, 287). One name fans will likely not hear this year, but should be one to cheer for down the road is freshman defensive tackle Griffin Uhl.

If you have not heard about Uhl’s story, you need to check it out, as it is quite an amazing one. The young man is a preferred walk-on, but has the size (6-2, 270 lbs) and strength to play D-1 football. Yet, there was a problem. His high school did not have a football team, so he had to go above and beyond to get noticed. He literally taught himelf to lift and train and would go to camps by himself, since he had no team to travel with. One coach who took notice of him was Clint Hurtt, who believed he had the potential to earn a scholarship after walking on (no one was going to offer a player that did not play organized football), and Uhl has since arrived on campus. This could end up being another great story of a Cardinal football player, or then again, it could not, but it will be an interesting one to follow nonetheless.

The defensive line is definitely going to be one of the strengths of this team, there is no doubt about that. They have the talent, experience, and enough depth to be one of the top units in the country. They just cannot have the injury woes they faced last season. At any rate, it is a group the staff will be much more optimistic about than when they arrived in 2010.

Your only all-UofL sports talk show is back tonight on ESPN 680 and ESPNLouisville.com from 6:00-8:00 with special guest, Dr. James Ramsey, President of the University of Louisville.  We will get his thoughts on:

- Conference realignment

- his stint with the Presidential Oversight Committee for the football playoff

- analyze the strengths of UofL’s athletic program and how those can figure in to other options down the road

- discuss the school’s position with he Big East

- How UofL is improving its academic image

- and more

Other topics that we will get into:

-Rozier going to prep school and how the roster will be affected

-The Governor’s Cup press conference

-Should UofL reconsider 2-for-1 series in football?

-National “experts” botching Louisville stories

To be apart of the show you can always tweet us @LvilleSprtsLive, call us at 267-9680, or text us on the ESPN 680 text machine at 437-9680.

Barber struggled at times last night, but also showed flashes of greatness

Last night Louisville fans got a chance to watch two of their biggest targets go head to head with some of the other top prospects in the class of 2013. Anthony “Cat” Barber and Troy Williams’ Boo Williams AAU club made an appearance on ESPNU to take on the Harrison Twins and the Houston Defenders in Orlando, Florida. All four of the schools still being mentioned by Barber (Alabama, Kansas, Louisville and to a lesser extent, NC State) sent their their head coaches and they all sat in a line on the front row to take in the action. Anthony Grant (Alabama), Bill Self (Kansas), Mark Gottfried (NC State) and Rick Pitino all showed their support on the opening night of the final live evaluation period of the summer. While the Defenders pretty much blew out Boo Williams (73-54, to be exact) Louisville fans were able to get a much better idea of what to expect from the Louisville recruits. Here’s a sample of what I took away:

*Remember, this was just one game. Granted, both sides were playing extremely hard due to the coaches being there and the fact that it was on national television, but still, it was just ONE GAME.

- First thing’s first: whoever gets the Harrison twins are going to be contenders right off the bat. They’re that good. Aaron Harrison (the shooting guard) led all scorers with 21, burying 4 deep threes, getting to the line at will off the dribble and sticking a few mid-range jumpers. He possesses an explosive first step, despite wanting to mostly go left. He crossed over Barber and a few other defenders more than once to free himself up for an open look. Andrew (the point guard), who later said he was limited by a sore back, was pretty damn productive himself. I’m not sure how many points he ended up with, but I can tell you that he had at least 6 assists alone on alley-oops to future 2-sport Texas A&M commit, Derrick Griffin. Griffin is a beast in his own regard, standing an imposing 6-6, 220 lbs, he’s not only a 5-star WR on the football field, but he’s a 4-star top-100 player on the basketball court, too. He put on a freakish athletic display all night and punished the Boo Williams front-court with dunks, put-backs and rebounds consistently. But back to the Harrison twins for a second. Not only are they outstanding offensive threats, but perhaps their greatest attributes are their size and defensive prowess. At a legit 6-5 (maybe bigger), both possess outstanding size for either guard position (specifically Andrew at the point) and both move their feet incredibly well on defense. They used that size and lateral quickness to give Louisville prospect Anthony Barber trouble all night.

- Barber had a pretty rough night. Plain and simple. He was bothered by the twins’ size out front and could never really get into the groove of things. The only time he really stated getting into the lane and make consistent plays was when Andrew Harrison went to the bench for a few minutes. But the key word there was consistent. He certainly had his moments, even with Harrison guarding him. He flashed an insanely-quick crossover on more than one occasion and really thrived the few times that he tried to focus on getting into the lane and finding teammates. He was looking for his shot too much in the first half and once he settled in and began looking to make plays off the dribble, he looked a lot better. Defensively he was ok. He has quick, somewhat active hands, but you can tell that there’s just not much coaching going on with that team. They looked selfish on offense and lost defensively throughout the game. Once a college-level coach gets a hold of Barber, it’ll be a much different story.

- Troy Williams looked great offensively. He finished with around 15 points and 7 boards and showed a variety of moves around the rim as well as from the 15-foot range. Unfortunately he had the unenviable task of guarding Griffin for stretches of the game, so defensively it was hard to tell just how effective he was. He has good size (around  6-6) but he has outstanding length…….if that makes sense. What I’m trying to say is, the dude has long arms and his lanky frame could one day be transformed into a defensive juggernaut. Right now though, just like Barber, he looked a bit lost on the defensive end. Again, I blame much of that on coaching. There were stretches when the Defenders (coached by the Harrison’s father, Aaron Sr) looked like a well-oiled machine, running plays up top and throwing back-door passes (a-la Princeton) for wide-open dunks and lay-ups. Conversely, the Boo Williams squad ran a variety of 1-on-1 plays and then failed to get back in transition multiple times. Again, with proper coaching, big things could happen. Tons of potential there for Williams.

- One other interesting note: at halftime the announcers started talking about Louisville recruit Kentan Facey and actually began comparing him to Chris Walker. The 6-9 Walker, a consensus top-10 player, just committed to Florida over Louisville and a few other schools and seems to be one of the top prizes in the entire class. Facey, on the other hand, is relatively late bloomer and is a rising 3-star not even ranked in the latest scout.com top-100. But he appears to be a diamond in the rough and Louisville is reportedly after him very hard at this point. The announcers went on to say that while Walker has a better offensive game right now, the 6-8 Facey could be a better player down the road.

Here’s a video with some highlights from last night.

Not sure if this has been put out there yet, but still a good behind-the-scenes look at TWill.

He’s certainly had attitude problems in the past,but hopefully his stint in Sacramento has allowed him to turn the corner and sign a nice free agent contract soon.

The blogginist coach in the country is back at it again, giving the fans a new summer update on how the players are doing. You can read what the coach has to say here.

Here are some highlights:

-In 3 of the 4 key areas of improvements Pitino lists, Russ Smith’s comes up. The Coach wants him to improve his assist-to-turnover ratio, field goal percentage, and three-point percentage. Russ will always be Russ, but those are definitely three areas the fans would like to see him improve upon as well.

-Says Kevin Ware will play multiple positions (which we all may have seen coming with the news on Rozier) and is a much different player (in a good way) now that he has had a full offseason to work. He mentions his jumper has improved as well. If Ware could develop a consistent jumper, he could be one of the most dangerous 2-guards in the country (that last sentence is my opinion, not something Pitino wrote).

-Ripped on Tim Henderson for being out of shape due to smoking cigars. Later noted he was just joking about the cigars.

-Uses “to” when he should have used “too” in Chane Behanan’s update. Says Chane was making careless passes at practice, but can Rick really talk when he is using careless grammar? Chane should ask him. I’m sure he would be cool with that.

-Indicates Zach Price still has a lot of improving to do and Montrezl Harrell looks “a little lost.” Compliments his athleticism and mentions he (Montrezl) just needs individual instruction and repetition.

There is nothing major of note, but it is a nice little read for fans. Thanks to the coach for keeping the fans in the loop.

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino appeared on The Early Birds with Drew Deener this morning for a quick segment and provided some insight to the Terry Rozier situation, injury updates, the future of the Big East, and a possible late addition to the 2012 class. Here’s a quick summary and you can listen to the interview right here.

* The notes below are all paraphrased

- When asked about the Terry Rozier situation: “Well, it certainly wasn’t a huge surprise, but the situation will end up beneficial for both Terry and Louisville. He’s going to go down to Hargrave and live in a disciplined environment which will help with his grades and AW Hamilton (a Kentucky guy) is a great coach and teacher of the game. He’ll learn a lot and become a much better person and player.”

- On whether Rozier will still be a part of the team after next year: “Absolutely. 100%. Terry’s a great player and he’s so valuable because he can play both guard positions and he’s got a great future. We plan on watching him grow at Hargrave and then he’ll join us the following year, without question.”

- On how beneficial the Hargrave connection has been: “It’s been great for us. We know it’s an environment that provides discipline off the court and A.W. is a guy we have a lot of respect for. We know that if we send kids there they’re going to be well coached and they’ll get significantly better.”

- On who will be the back-up PG now: “We’re going to use Luke Hancock some, depending on the other team and the sets we’re running and we might use Kevin Ware a little bit too. I’d probably like to stay away from Russ because when he runs the point, turnovers tend to spike. That’s really a major point of emphasis for us this year – cutting down the turnovers.”

- On Hancock’s health: “He’s dribbling and doing some things now but Fred Hina (head trainer) is very conservative with his rehab work. He won’t push anyone too hard. Luke will continue to work out and keep himself in great condition, but we’re not going to push him too hard too soon. He won’t absorb any physical contact until late September and he’ll be 100% by October and the start of practice.”

- On what he’ll do with the now-open scholarship: “We have some options there. We’re not 100% sure, but we’re looking at a possible transfer option and then we have one other scenario that we’re looking into. There’s a couple of different things we can do and we just have to monitor those situations right now and then make a decision once we know a little more.”

- On Chane Behanan coming out of his shell and the character of the team as a whole: “Well, they’re all great kids. That’s the thing I keep telling everyone. This will be the third team in a row – which is unheard of – that’s filled with unselfish, great kids from top to bottom. That just doesn’t happen. It’s happened maybe a handful of times in my entire career until these last few teams. So it’s incredibly refreshing and it feels good to know that we have a team full of great guys.”

- On whether he was serious about the Jay Bilas for BE commissioner talk: “Well, if I had a vote, he’s the type of person that could be perfect for the job. He’s forward-thinking, well-respected, has a presence about him so that you know people are going to listen when he speaks, he has a law degree so he can understand the legal side of things and he certainly knows all about TV and the various contracts, etc. He also knows more about football than people think. He’d be a great commissioner not only for the Big East, but for any conference in the nation. He has a great gig right now on ESPN, so it would probably take a lot of money to make it happen, but it’s definitely something I believe.”

- On the Penn State situation and how he was able to pull UK out of the late 80′s scandal: “It really takes a unique group of guys that want to be part of the team and community. Those guys at UK maybe played in the greatest game of all time and now have their names hanging in the rafters because they were so special. They were revered by the fans because they stayed and showed loyalty. They wanted to be Kentucky players, and never thought about transferring or doing anything else. It’s different in this day and age and Penn State has it worse than we did, but there will be guys that stay and they won’t be forgotten by those fans.”

- Follow up question regarding how he got Jamal Mashburn to come to UK amidst the probation: “You probably couldn’t do that now. Things are different. Jamal grew up in New York and I was the coach for the Knicks. He had friends that were around the Knicks and I think he just really wanted to play for me. Not trying to boast, but he really did. He wanted to play for me and I think he thought I could make him a better player. He never intended to be one and done and he learned a lot by coming to UK and playing for me during those hard times.”

We’ve got your recruiting fix for both football and basketball, as we talked to JC Shurburtt, National Director of Football Recruiting for 247sports.com about the latest in UofL’s 10-man class.  Mike Hughes, Publisher of insidetheville.com, will be on to give us a live update from the Peach Jam.  We’ll find out which UofL targets are there and get the latest on the recruitment of Demetrius Jackson and Anthony Barber as well as find out who else the Cards coaches are keeping an eye on.  Former Cardinal great Taquan Dean joined us to give us an update on what he has been doing, where he has been playing, and to reminisce about his UofL days.

-With Taquan:

*Where he has been been playing professionally

*Where he was going to school before Coach Pitino came to UofL

*His favorite memories about playing at UofL; the famous WVU comeback

*His thoughts on Coach Pitino’s practice regimen

*Who’s better: the 2005 Final Four squad, or the 2012 team?

-With JC:

*Who has the best potential in the class

*Is Ryan White thinking about de-committing?

*The other targets the Cards are going after

-With Mike:

*An update from the Peach Jam

*Who is UofL zeroing in on

*Who could make a commitment before the end of the summer

-Other Topics:

-What will make a successful basketball season for you next year; The Final Four? A Championship? 30+ win season?

-What needs to be done to maximize the “Party Deck”, but not take away from the fans in the stands.

-Thoughts on how the Big East divisional set-up should look.

  On twitter: @LvilleSprtsLive

*LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

*If you have trouble accessing the podcast, listen below:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:34:25 — 32.4MB)

In news many U of L fans could see coming, incoming freshman point guard Terry Rozier is not academically eligible to play for U of L this season and will have to attend prep school, as reported by Jody Demling. According to Demling, Rozier will be attending Hargrave Military Academy on the advice of Rick Pitino, where he will join future Card Anton Gill. Despite not being eligible, Demling says Rozier is still committed to play for U of L in 2013. That begs the question, will he even be welcome? The staff is actively (to put it lightly) highly touted recruits Anthony “Cat” Barber, Tyler Ennis, Demetrius Jackson, and most recently, JUCO PG and former Tennessee commit Chris Jones. Gary Parrish of CBS Sports seems to think that Jones is going to be the successor to Peyton Siva at the point.

Heard Louisville is pushing for JUCO All-American (and Memphis Melrose product) Chris Jones to be Peyton Siva’s successor at point guard.

— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) July 24, 2012

First off, what does this mean for this season? As I discussed in a previous story, while a very good player who would only help us, Rozier was not going to be the piece that would make or break our chances at a national championship. However, it’s definitely a blow to the point guard depth. Elisha Justice is also gone, which leaves no true backup for Siva. Ware could possibly start at the 2-guard position, a position he’s much better suited for. The backup minutes will be assigned to Russ Smith, another player who is more of a combo guard than a true point. As I said in my previous Rozier post, a junior Russ Smith could be as effective, if not more so, than a freshman Terry Rozier at the backup PG position. Russ will be getting plenty of minutes off the bench, though, at the 2-guard position as well, so he will not have much rest.

Going back to the opening paragraph, what happens with Rozier now? What if another PG recruit commits? Will we still have a spot for him? The recruiting situation seemed to be that we were recruiting a PG prospect regardless of whether Rozier made it or not. When Siva graduates, we would have had one point guard on the roster if Rozier made it. We need two. It appears that by Pitino pushing him to go to Hargrave alongside Gill, the coach still wants him in a Cards uniform. However, anything can happen between now and a year from now. While it would be great to see Rozier play here, he could not make the grades and the coaching staff has every right to move on, as they clearly have their sights set on several prospects.

If by some crazy chance the Mayans and Nostradamus were wrong, and the world as we know it extends beyond December 21, 2012, we are going to need a point guard for the 2013-14 season. Pitino is a coach that loves to play veterans at the point guard position. One of my biggest pet peeves with the coach was his decision to play senior Edgar Sosa over freshman Siva at the point, and at the same time giving Siva an incredibly short leash while he was on the court. One mistake and he would get pulled immediately. I often said the way Pitino handled Siva was a big reason why Marquis Teague spurned us for UK (that, along with “other” reasons I will not go into). Yet, with Rozier not making it, Pitino will not have a returnee to turn the keys over to unless (and this would not shock me), he gives them to Russ Smith. If Barber, Ennis, or Jackson were to commit, I think they have the ability to start right away, but I also know Pitino likes his veterans. For this reason, I’m going to piggyback off of Parrish, go out on a limb, and say the starting PG for the 2013-14 season will be Chris Jones.

Jones (who you can see in a highlight video in a story below) is a recruit some fans may remember as there was message board chatter of him possibly coming along to Louisville with Kevin Ware (another former Tennessee commit) once Bruce Pearl was fired. He’s a dynamic player who looks capable of putting 30+ points on the board at any given time. He reminds me a lot of former South Carolina point guard Devan Downey, but with a better outside jump shot. They are both undersized, lightning quick guards who will make defenses pay for underestimating them. He doesn’t particularly look like he loves to pass the ball, though, which is a bit of a concern. However, he is the closest thing to a veteran returning PG Pitino can get, and he’s a good one who will excite the fans. We will still need another PG for that class, though. Will it be Rozier? Or will the staff turn its full attention to Barber, Ennis, Jackson, or even a new name? We will just have to wait and see. In the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy another exciting episode of “As the Recruiting World Turns.”