Louisville head coach Charlie Strong addressed the media this afternoon in anticipation of Thursday night's season-opener against Murray State.
Here are the main points of interest:
--Mario Benavides, B.J. Butler and Corvin Lamb will all miss Thursday's game because of injuries.
--Alex Kupper, Ryan Kessling, Hector Hernandez, Jake Smith and John Miller will be your starting offensive line. Kupper will start at center.
--Hector Hernandez has gone from a 1.0 student to a 3.5 student. He's matured as much as any player and he's really going to help this team.
--Adrian Bushell is on the team, but will not play on Thursday. He's only practiced twice and needs to get both his conditioning and understanding of the defense under wraps.
--The team is nowhere near where they need to be overall. The key to the season will be the development of the young talent and the leadership of the few seniors on the roster.
--Murray State will be an excellent opening challenge. They have a tremendous quarterback and a tremendous head coach. The Racers love to throw the ball all over the place. The game might last forever.
--This is a Cardinal football team that will compete. Even with the limited number of seniors on the team, there are some great leaders, and that has already started to show.
--Murray will definitely challenge our young cornerbacks. Guys like Conner, Andrew Johnson and Titus Teague are going to be tested right away.
--All three quarterbacks had a really good camp. Will Stein is a fighter and a winner. He has that "thing" about him. He plays with a lot of confidence. He'll be the starter against Murray State.
--All three quarterbacks will play against Murray State.
--Freshman safety Calvin Pryor has had an outstanding camp and will see the field.
--Dominique Brown has improved dramatically and Strong is comfortable with him throwing the ball.
--Has been telling Clint Hurtt to focus on his job and this team until the NCAA comes and talks to him because until then there's nothing he can do.
--There are no eligibility issues on the team. "We're going to run a clean program here, and that's not something we're going to have to deal with."
--Strong and U of L have had no contact from the NCAA.
--Clint Hurtt's status has not changed and will not change.