Friday Afternoon Cardinal News And Notes

This has turned into a solid little Friday for U of L football, which received commitments from (according to some scouting services) the two highest-rated players in their 2015 class within hours of one another.

According to national recruiting analyst Ryan Bartow, Traveon Samuel is expected to play slot receiver at Louisville, which is what most people figured. Samuel is rated as the No. 188 player in the class of 2015 according to ESPN's Top 300, and his commitment, along with Khane Pass', have vaulted Louisville from No. 65 to No. 49 in 247 Sports' team recruiting rankings.

Certainly a giant step in the right direction.

Dominique Brown discusses (video) his senior season and why he enjoys playing football for Louisville.

Herbie's still trying to make up for his debacle of a performance on Sugar Bowl night.

"@BlkManNSperrys: the possibility of a L'ville upset over FSU on Oct 30th?" Noles better be ready. I called a Cards upset vs Noles at PJ

— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) July 31, 2014

You can meet Peyton Siva at the PGA Championship next week.

Fox Sports has Louisville at No. 6 in the ACC.

GAME TO CIRCLE ON SCHEDULE

Oct. 3 at Syracuse

In theory, Louisville could be 5-0 at that point. But after a date with Syracuse, L'ville goes to Clemson, hosts NC State and Florida State, then goes to BC and Notre Dame, before closing the year with Kentucky at home. 

That Syracuse game feels like a bit of a trap. 

Clemson will tell us a lot more about what Louisville is, but at Syracuse will not be easy.

Syracuse is a mid-tier ACC team at best, but certainly better than two of Louisville's first three ACC games -- atVirginia and Wake at home.

Bottom line: The Cardinals have to take care of winnable games against opponents like that.

PREDICTION: 8-4, 5-3 ACC

Assuming the Clemson and Florida State games are both losses would be reasonable. Adding in a loss at Notre Dame, that leaves Louisville absolutely no margin for error in its other ACC games. 

While the rest of its ACC slate is certainly manageable -- vs. Miami, at Virginia, vs. Wake Forest, at Syracuse, vs. NC State and at Boston College -- avoiding a slip-up is probably too much to ask. 

Syracuse, Boston College and Miami are all certainly teams that could beat Louisville; and while the Cardinals still have plenty of talent on that roster, they probably aren't good enough to avoid at least one of those types of losses. 

Still, in Year 1 of both the Petrino, Part II era and the first year in the ACC, the Cardinals will certainly take that.

For the first week only, everything in the Cards Fan Shop inside the new adidas store at the freshly opened Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass is buy one, get one 50 percent off. Not a bad deal.

Bleh.

Well, it's Friday, and the #UofL registrar says neither hoops freshman Jaylen Johnson nor FB juco transfer James Sample are enrolled yet.

— Jeff Greer (@jeffgreer_cj) August 1, 2014

ESPN has announced its broadcast teams for the upcoming college football season.

Does somebody wanna tell me what the hell this is?

It's like The Sandlot 2 in bird mask form.

Rose Murphy's famous pink Escalade is now white.

SB Nation's Bud Elliott talks ACC gambling, and likes Louisville to win more than eight games.

Louisville Over 8 (-115, Bovada): Bobby Petrino can put together an offense. Charlie Strong left him with a pretty nice-looking roster. The offensive coaching will make up for the loss of Teddy Bridgewater, and Louisville insiders feel better about the defense than I expected. Louisville has a similar chance as FSU to go over/push on its number.

Probably an even better bet in light of recent events.

The Daily Norseman wonders if Minnesota finally has its franchise quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater.

It's all so close to beginning...

Jeff Greer continues his positional breakdown series by looking at the Cardinal offensive line.

CBS' Jeff Borzello looks at how the top committed players from the class of 2015 fit in with their new teams.

13. Deng Adel, Louisville (No. 44): The 6-foot-7 wing forward will be ranked much higher than this by the time the dust has settled. He's been improving at a rapid rate since arriving on American soil less than a year ago, but Adel's ability to finish at the rim and knock down shots from the perimeter already stand out. With Wayne Blackshear entering his final season of eligibility, Adel is a ready-made replacement at small forward. His ceiling is extremely high.

U of L baseball has announced the hiring of former Charleston Southern assistant Adam Vrable as a new volunteer assistant coach. Vrabel also previously coached at The Citadel, where Dan McDonnell played his college ball.

I am 100 percent in favor of all football recruits posing for pictures with this mannequin.

S/o to my boys @pass_khane & @TraDay_DoThis for committing to Louisville !! #CardNation ⚪️ ⚫️ pic.twitter.com/ncSACCHdyO

— Jawon Pass (@Puma_Blessed2) August 1, 2014

We'll call him "Verbal"...or something, I don't know, that was lame.

By the way, the young man who tweeted that picture is Khane Pass' younger brother Jawon, a four-star quarterback from the class of 2016. Louisville offered the younger Pass a scholarship today. Probably not a bad move.

"Rutgers Day" on the Big Ten Network features an NIT semifinal.

Better than the AAC quarterfinal, I suppose. I will be ripping shots in my Art Carmody jersey to celebrate.

Louisville has the ninth-best group of linebackers in the ACC according to TNIAAM.

Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich says that the ACC's ADs will at least discuss the possibility of realigning the conference.

Would the ACC consider a conference realignment in order to make for more attractive and even matchups?

"We will discuss that as a group of athletic directors come October. One of the things that we had to get done - and was fairly urgent - was to resolve whether we were going to play nine conference games or eight conference games. That was done in May. Once that was done, we decided to let everybody go home for the summer and come back and then look at - should we keep divisions the way the currently are, should we move to a one to 14 type circumstance where you have permanent rivals and one rotator and then go through everything else. All of those things are on the table. We'll discuss those."

More on Traveon Samuel's commitment from his hometown paper.

#Obnotches

The folks over at The Crimson Quarry (Indiana) are hoping Donovan Mitchell gets through his visit to Louisville next weekend without committing to play for the Cards.

Ray Spalding says that being the "hometown kid" doesn't make him feel any additional pressure.

"There's no pressure for me. I'm just focused on getting better and making my family proud," Spalding said. "[My family] was pumped. They were really excited for me. They love that I'm able to stay home and spend more time with them.

"Being a local kid, I mean, that's huge. Hometown star, that means being able to see your family and your friends each and every day while still being able to stay on campus. It's just great, it's a blessing to be able to do that."

It's hard to say how Spalding's senior season will play out in front of Louisville fans during the high school season, but he's just focused on improving before he gets to the ACC.

"The only thing that motivates me is to get better as a basketball player each and every day," Spalding said. "[I'm trying] to get better in practice and individual workouts and just keep improving."

The QB battle in Minnesota is one of the biggest training camp storylines the sports world is following.

And finally, if you don't already have plans for tonight, you should seriously consider making it out to Brownie's for a good time and a good cause.

I'm gonna be there. Ms. CC just found out she passed her boards, so she's going to be intoxicated and saying funny things with a country accent...There's really no reason for you not to come.

Happy Friday.