Monday Morning Cardinal News And Notes

Shoni Schimmel's MVP performance at the WNBA All-Star game on Saturday has more than a few people excited about the future of the league and her potential as one of its premier faces. Might be time for her to start on her own team now.

ESPN 680 is in Greensboro and will be covering the second day of the ACC Kickoff from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. As part of the coverage, they'll be having every damn coach in the league on air for 15 minutes.

Here's the schedule (Paul Johnson f'ing loves Louisville radio):

The ACC is hoping that the NCAA will allow it to utilize in-helmet communication in 2015.

ACC commissioner John Swofford says he's confident the NCAA will pass a proposal that will allow the five power conferences to make some of their own rules.

I am digging this.

Louisville's Red Chrome Facemask Helmets are FIRE pic.twitter.com/jVUFk1Tu4a

— Mark Blankenbaker (@UofLSheriff50) July 20, 2014

Bobby Petrino will be installing his offense for a third time once fall camp gets revved up next month.

"There's parts of the offense that have changed a lot," Petrino said. "You've added new schemes, new plays to the playbook. Like I tell our coaches and myself just about every day, what we need to do is install the offense, like we did in spring ball twice, we'll do it again coming up here. After 10 days in the fall, we're going to take the offense and mold it around who that starting quarterback's going to be.

"Certain parts of the offense, you emphasize more in different years, based on the personnel you have. We just have to do a very good job of understanding our personnel and molding the offense around that and getting our players in position to make plays."

Petrino said Louisville installed the entire offense in the spring. At times, he thought it was too much. While the Cardinals are looking for the quarterback, the rest of the offense is experienced, and that gave Petrino the confidence that they could do it.

"We put in a lot. We really did," he said. "It was something I was nervous about, something I talked to (offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach Garrick) McGee about all the time. ‘Are we trying to do too much?' I think what allowed us to do it was the experience of the returners on offense. The fact that you have an experience receiving corps, you have three senior offensive linemen, you have an experienced and smart tight end, a good group of running backs. They learn fast, and they're good students of the game, and they like football. It makes it easier to carry more."

For the 12th straight year, I was not invited to perform at the Forecastle Festival.

In news that was to-be-expected following the Raymond Spalding commitment, five-star center Stephen Zimmerman says he no longer plans on visiting U of L and has dropped the Cards from consideration.

While landing Zimmerman would have been huge, taking Spalding at this point was a no-brainer, especially since Duke just pulled the trigger on extending a scholarship offer to the Trinity star. If you wait on Zimmerman and lose not only him but a kid in your backyard who grew up a Louisville fan, well, that's a disaster.

This class is already off to a tremendous start, and there's a pretty good chance that it's going to get significantly better before all's said and done.

Russ Smith: still the best.

Russ Smith walked into team hotel shirtless postgame, because he gave jersey to a kid. Kid was a bit camera-shy here: pic.twitter.com/beqo0mgDvh

— Jim Eichenhofer (@Jim_Eichenhofer) July 19, 2014

NBC Sports talks about the Ray Spalding commitment.

CBS takes a closer look at Lorenzo Mauldin, a guy who I'm pretty sure is going to wind up being a national story this season for a number of reasons.

You can't miss Mauldin here in Greensboro. He towers over many of the player representatives with his dreadlocked hair now dyed red at the tips.

"If you see red hair flying around on the football field, you know it's me," Mauldin jokes.

Louisville's first trip to ACC Media Day will quickly turn into a focus on head coach Bobby Petrino when the coaches speak to reporters on Monday, but before that happens you should probably get to know Lorenzo Mauldin.

Mauldin spent much of his childhood in foster homes -- a topic he discussed extensively with Jim Rome on The Jim Rome Show last September -- and recovered from a scary scooter accident has him swearing off mopeds (it sounds like he's still up for skateboarding though). He stays active in the community, reading to kids at local schools and recently visiting a lung cancer patient in the ICU on their birthday. While making the rounds on Sunday, Mauldin revealed that his celebrity crush is Louisville's own Jennifer Lawrence.

After last season he was graded as a 3-4 round talent, but after spending the offseason working on his pass defense and dropping into coverage he could become that hybrid defensive player that has become so coveted at the next level. Mauldin's 9.5 sacks ranked in the Top 20 nationally last season, but there is even more room to improve on that number when you consider he was playing opposite Marcus Smith (14.5 sacks in 2013).

A very nice long read on Shoni Schimmel from The Shadow League.

If you missed it late last week, Russ Smith made P.J. Hairston look pretty silly. Also making P.J. Hairston look silly? P.J. Hiarston's life decisions.

Russ also attempted to make Gorgui look silly on Friday night...it didn't go as well.

No...No...No @Im_Russdiculous

— Gorgui Dieng (@GorguiDieng) July 19, 2014

Terry Rozier, Anton Gill, Akoy Agau and Mangok Mathiang took some time out of their weekend to protest gun violence in the city.

Cleveland.com ranks Russ as the fourth-best rookie at the Vegas Summer League.

4. Russ Smith, New Orleans Pelicans - Smith showed his scoring prowess at Louisville. In Vegas, he has focused on the other areas, leading in assists per game with 7.7, and grabbing 6.0 boards as a point guard. Of course, there is a reason he has the nickname "Russdiculous," and it has to do with his sometimes baffling decisions. Smith is averaging an astounding five turnovers. You have to take the good with the bad -- just ask his former coach Rick Pitino.

There's a reason Lorenzo Mauldin has been tabbed as a leader and captain for 2014.

The day Charlie Strong quit was hard for every player in the U of L locker room. Mauldin had reason to be devastated. In and out of foster care since the age of two, Mauldin had seen parental figures come and go his whole life. And here was another.

"When I first got here I didn't trust anybody, especially from a male standpoint," Mauldin said. "But the guys who were here helped me out, along with Chris Morgan, who has helped me a lot. But just trusting men in general. . . . From my past, I've ben bouncing around from home to home so it wasn't new to me. I got attached to foster parents I had, but in the end I would have to move away because of their circumstances. So I had been through that."

On the night Strong quit, Mauldin spoke up.

"I just talked to a couple of guys who were hurt the most," Mauldin said. "Mostly seniors, I just got them together and said we've just got one more year together and we've got each other and we just need to play through this. Coach Strong did the best thing for his family. We'd all have done the same. But it was time for us to be each other's family. Life prepared me for that exact moment."

On Petrino's first day, he called Mauldin in and asked him for a favor. He asked if Mauldin would model a black uniform of the type he was going to have the Cardinals wear in their first game in the ACC. Mauldin obliged, and the team's eruption when he entered wearing the black was YouTube hit.

"I was the first player he talked to before he went in and he told me I'm one of the guys he wants to lead the team," Mauldin said. ". . . So that meant a lot to me. Then when he told me to wear the black, I felt good because I could show the guys that I'm cool with it, so you guys can be cool with it, too."

This is good news.

@CardChronicle can confirm new @adidas store in Simpsonville will have #Cards store within store. #L1C4 Pics as soon as I can.

— JSAllen (@Allentown615) July 21, 2014

Sounds like a plan for my annual Cardwear binge.

Top U of L target Isaiah Briscoe had a huge Sunday, scoring 20 points to go with 12 rebounds and seven assists as his squad captured the Peach Jam title on ESPNU. Briscoe recently said that he will likely visit U of L, and that he believes Terry Rozier will turn pro after this season.

If you weren't aware, the Louisville Bats have been celebrating every win this season with a locker room selfie, and it's been pretty hilarious. They're also wearing these uniforms for "Star Wars Night" on July 27:

Lorenzo Mauldin's move to linebacker isn't just good for his team, but it's good for his chances of playing his way into the first round of next spring's NFL Draft.

The ACC is still riding the buzz of FSU's title and Jameis Winston's Heisman Trophy victory.

And finally, the full transcript from DeVante Parker and Lorenzo Mauldin's time behind the mic on Sunday.