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Tuesday afternoon Cardinal News and Notes

The CCBM had to be in D.C. to wish the leader of the free world a happy day of birth.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium Running back James Allen is the only member of Louisville's 2015 recruiting class who has not qualified to play in 2015. Allen was a three-star prospect who is expected to head to another school.

I_medium Athlon has a cool feature in which ACC coaches speak anonymously about the other teams in their conference. Here's what was said about Louisville:

Louisville

"They're probably the best defense we played last year, no question about that, and I think everyone in the league would tell you the same thing. From a personnel standpoint as well as an athleticism standpoint, they were outstanding. They lost a couple guys up front and the safety who had an unbelievable year (Gerod Holliman), and we knew (Lorenzo Mauldin) was a cat daddy, so it's good to see he's gone."

"Will they be as good as they were? That's tough to tell, but I don't see a huge drop-off because they recruit pretty well and they've got some transfers they can plug in."

"The safety from Georgia (Josh Harvey-Clemons) is going to help them big time."

"There's no question their secondary was probably the most physical we played, and top to bottom they gave us fits protection-wise. They really get after you."

"The receiver (DeVante Parker) was as good as anyone we saw on film and was even better in person. They'll miss him a great deal because he was the one guy who really jumped off the screen offensively. I think they'll be OK at the skill positions."

"My question is how good they'll be up front because they do lose three starters and it's a different style blocking scheme."

Seems fair.

I_medium That average win total for Louisville doesn't seem to fall in line with the rest of the numbers on this chart.

I_medium Jeff Greer helps preview Louisville for the folks down at the Houston Chronicle.

I_medium Taylor County star Quentin Goodin, who was once a Louisville recruit, has committed to Xavier. Goodin's Taylor County teammate, point guard David Sloan, is one of U of L's top recruits from the class of 2017.

I_medium Despite going undrafted, Michael Dyer is having an awfully impressive camp for the Oakland Raiders, so impressive that he might keep Trent Richardson from even making the team.

Michael Dyer is supplying some of that "newfound depth" after being signed as an undrafted rookie in May. Dyer has landed with an NFL team after a collegiate football odyssey that took him from Auburn to Arkansas State to Arkansas Baptist to Louisville, with controversy dogging him at nearly every stop.

Dyer broke Auburn's single-season rushing record for freshmen with 1,093 yards for the Tigers' 2010 BCS national championship team, and he was the MVP in the title-game victory over Oregon. The next year, Dyer ran for 1,242 yards for Auburn, but he was suspended for the season-ending Chick-fil-a Bowl and never played for the Tigers again. After leaving Auburn, Dyer's collegiate rushing total was 704 yards over two seasons for Louisville.

"He also has a chance of making this roster," Rapoport said of Dyer. "Could be a steal, and there's only so much room. It's possible at this point that Trent Richardson is the odd man out."

I_medium Speaking of undrafted Cardinals who have been impressive this summer, Eli Rogers has been one of the biggest names buzzing throughout Steelers camp for the last week or so, but he was forced to leave Monday's practice early with a right foot sprain. 

I_medium U of L law school represented at the annual ABA meeting.

They wanted it made known that there were no representatives from UK there.

I_medium Pitt has suspended two players, including star wide receiver Tyler Boyd, for its season-opener against Youngstown State.

I_medium Just imagine how confusing things could get if U of L landed this young man.

I_medium Former U of L baseball star Adam Duvall, who was traded from the Giants to the Reds late last week, went deep in his first at bat for the Louisville Bats over the weekend. In his first at bat for the Giants last season, Duvall actually hit a home run against the player he was eventually traded for, Mike Leake.

I_medium Chris Klenakis doesn't get a whole lot of love for his recruiting prowess, but he currently ranks No. 10 on 247 Sports' recruiter rankings for 2016.

I_medium Congratulations to Kyle Kuric and his wife on the birth of their healthy twins.

I_medium Gorgui Dieng could be stepping into a starting role in Minnesota.

I_medium The University of Louisville swimming team put two swimmers in the semi-finals and one in the finals of the FINA World Championships on the second day of competition in Kazan, Russia.

Cardinal Grigory Tarasevich, who was competing for his native Russia, finished 11th in the 100-backstroke with a 53.64  which is a new personal best.

Cardinal alum Joao DeLucca finished 16th in the 200-freestyle which is the first time since fellow alum Pedro Oliveira made semis at 2009 Rome World Champs.  It is the first time in program history that two Cardinals advanced.  De Lucca will swim the anchor in the finals of the 4x100 for Brazil.

Marcelo Acosta of El Salvador, went 1:50.77 in the 200-meter freestyle today.

"As a program, we have had quite a few special moments and special days," said Arthur Albiero, UofL head coach. "Today is maybe one of the most expressive in global terms. To achieve two semifinals at the Kazan World Championships is a new marker for our program: Joao DeLucca in the 200-free for 16th and Grigory Tarasevich in the 100-back for 11th.  As a bonus, DeLucca will be anchoring Brazil's 4x100 relay."

I_medium A gift from the Petrino Family Foundation has established the Cardinal Covenant Petrino Family Foundation Scholarship, which will be awarded this year to a student from the West End School Program. Ra'vonte Harbin, who attended the West End School from 2008-11, will be the initial recipient of a four-year full scholarship to Louisville on behalf of the foundation, which looks to develop a relationship with a student in an effort to help them achieve their academic goals.

I_medium This would be a hell of an event if we could get this field lined up again for 2015-16.

I_medium NC State has the softest non-conference schedule in college football, according to Bruce Feldman. Kentucky checks in at No. 10.

I_medium Jay King over at Mass Live has a great read on Terry Rozier's impressive summer and how he worked his way into a top 16 draft pick.

A worker's mentality was one of the first things Cody Toppert noticed about Rozier. As a high-level basketball trainer, Toppert has worked with all types of players and people. By the time he started working with Rozier, Toppert had already watched all of the guard's offensive possessions from college and most of the defensive possessions. But observing everything about a player's past performance can only explain so much. To formulate a plan for how to maximize Rozier's precious time between the college season and his string of workouts, Toppert needed to know all about his client.

"The biggest thing was to get a grasp not only of where he was at," the trainer said by phone, "but the perception of the NBA decision-makers, and figure out where we could work with him the most - whether that's a mentality, a skill, an IQ. We take a very holistic and individualized approach.

"When I first got in the gym with Terry, I didn't know exactly what to expect. I've seen everything from guys who grind to guys who are entitled and everything in between. The biggest thing that jumped off the page was that he's all business. He's all in. He's so receptive to learning, and not just that, but he wants to learn, he searches for opportunities to learn. He craves feedback."

During the pre-draft process, Toppert set up a group messaging system for his clients. In it, he would send quick edits of sets from the playoffs - one night, it might have included a certain pick-and-roll read he wanted his players to learn. Most players in the group took in the help, he thinks, but Rozier lifted it to the next level. Before long, the Celtics draft pick started recording clips on his cell phone to deliver to Toppert.

"Everyone else is waiting," Toppert said. "He's seeing it, watching it and sending it back."

I_medium 2016 star Markelle Fultz was already set to visit Louisville on Wednesday, and now Andrew Jones will be joining the fun at U of L a day later.

I_medium The U of L men's soccer team will begin the 2015 season ranked No. 18 in the NSCAA top 25.

I_medium The ACC Digital Network remembers Louisville's season-opening win over Miami (video) from last year.

I_medium And finally, Ramsey & Rutherford is back today from 3-6 on 93.9 The Ville talking about the biggest things you need to know before fall camp starts on Thursday, as well as a little basketball recruiting.

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