Louisville Headlines
Even though the basketball season has ended for the Louisville Cardinals the news hasn’t. There has been coaching changes, players coming and going, schedules announced and a contract signed. All of this without mentioning the teams that are still in action. Here are some of the stories making the headlines.
Football: Teddy Bridgewater went gloveless to Pro Day and his performance sufford for it. Once believed to be the top overall pick in the upcoming draft has fallen to about the 20th pick. One scenario even has the Texans selecting Jadaveon Clowney first and Teddy first in the second round. If that scenario plays out what a steal it would be for Houston. Calvin Pryor will join Teddy in New York for the draft putting Louisville in elite company. They will be one of only five programs of who will have multiple players represented at the draft.
Will Gardner is the front runner to replace Bridgewater at QB next season. At the Cards spring game he threw for 546 yards and 4 TDs.
Basketball: With ESPN ranking three of the ACC recruiting classes in the top four its good that they are one of them. Their last 7 footer was Felton Spencer in the late 80’s, this class has two of them. Kevin Ware shocking decision to transfer was followed by Montrezl Harrell equaly shocking decision to come back for his junior season.
Indianas Kenny Johnson will be on the sideline as an assistant to Rick Pitino next season. Kenny was instrumental in IU landing 2014 stars James Blackman and Robert Johnson as well as thier 5th ranked 2013 recruiting class. Kenny also considered returning to Maryland, his alma mater. He will fill the spot vacated by Kevin Keatts who accepted the HC position at UNC-Wilmington. The Cards will face Indiana December 9th in New York. Also joining the staff is former Cardinals David Padget, he will be working with the bigs.
The ACC announced its basketball schedule for next season. Both North Carolina and Duke will come to play at the Yum Center in Louisville.
Adidas: The Cards signed a 5 year $39 million branding contract extension with Adidas. This makes their deal the 3rd largest known agreement of its kind in college sports. This $7.8 million per year agreement ranks just behind Michigans $8.2 million per year with Adidas. Notre Dame has the largest deal, they yield $9 million per year with Under Armour. These funds will help U of L finish its new soccer stadium and its new academic support center underneath of Papa Johns Cardinals Stadium as will as others.
Under this new agreement, the Cards football team will have five different Adidas uniform options and with the helmets will have dozens of combinations. Bobby Patrino started the Cards black jersey trend during his first tenure and says that the increased uniform options will help with recruiting. Former coach Charlie Strong refused to let the team wear the black uniforms and even blasted an assistant coach for Tweeting out a picture of them.
Baseball: The Cards are 30-11 (8-4) on the season and ranked 13th by Baseball America. After recently losing 2 of 3 at UCF and 3 of 4 overall they are now on a winning streak. They are currently second in the American, trailing UCF. The Cards and Houston are the only ranked teams in the American.
The Confidential 