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The Cardinal Countdown: 35 Days Until Kickoff

By CardinalStrong
Fansided.com

#35 Lamarques Thomas

Class: Freshman

Ht/Wt: 6-0/165

Position: Defensive Back

Hometown: Clinton, MS

Twitter: @LamarquesThomas

Thoughts: Thomas has the potential to fit right into the secondary “NFL pipeline” the Cardinals have created the last 3-4 years. (Quick, smart, and hits like a baby Calvin Pryor) Louisville, and Grantham specifically, have identified the type of player they want playing back there, knowing which type of athlete will more than likely succeed in their system. Thomas fits the mold. Louisville (T. Buckley) was on Thomas early and often even as multiple SEC offers came in (Ole Miss, Miss St, Mizzou, etc) Thomas liked what the Cards had to offer and the attention they were giving him. As Buckley departed to go to Mississippi State I think Grantham knew it would be tough to hold onto Thomas…so he cranked the recruitment up even more, and Lamarques noticed. He knew Louisville was the spot for him.

One thing this coaching staff absolutely loves is position flexibility. Lamarques played both DB and safety in high school and I think the coaches will give him a shot to play both. The more flexability you have with shifting roles the more likely you are to stay on the field so that’s a big advantage for a 3-4 star athlete like Thomas to potentially see action early even with some upperclassman holding down those spots.

Here in a few weeks we’ll get bogged down with wins and losses and timeouts and play calling, etc but it’s important to remember each of these young men has a unique story about how they got to this chapter in their life. If you have a few minutes go check out this piece from The Clarion-Ledger highlighting Lamarques difficult path to this point. Pretty amazing to see the adversity he fought through to get here. Glad to have you on board LT.

Sweet Tweet:

Awesome stuff.

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#35 Marcus Mays

Class: Sophomore

Ht/Wt: 5-10/185

Position: Defensive Back

Hometown: Louisville, KY (Product of Male High School)

Twitter: @mrfirstquarter

Thoughts: Not much info floating around about Marcus but he appears to be another local prospect who walked on to the squad and will more than likely get the majority of his reps with the practice team in 2016.

Lots of young talent in the defensive back group the last few seasons for Petrino and company. Excited to see Tru and Shaq of course, but keep an eye on Alexander, Cannon, and Sturghill. Things look promising in 2017 and beyond for the secondary.

Sweet Tweet:

No crap.

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#35 Anthony George

Class: RS Senior

Ht/Wt: 6-1/190

Position: Kicker

Hometown: Louisville, KY (Product of Trinity High School)

Twitter: @The_AGIII

Thoughts: George is veteran in the special teams group as a redshirt senior and while many haven’t considered him as a legitimate threat to battle for the starting kicker position in the fall, it’s all up in the air at this point according to the coaches. While I agree with the mentality that you’d like to find one of the younger guys to groom, take on the role and watch them develop over 3 to 4 seasons you can bet your sweet grits that if George is the most consistent kicker in the fall he’ll be the one out there on September 1st. 

Sweet Tweet:

Not sure about the “workout” part but big shout out to my “partner” a.k.a Mrs. CardinalStrong as we celebrate 10 years of marriage today. I bailed on the gift but a personal shout out on a post that literally hundreds of people will see has to be worth something right?!? Right???

[If there isn’t a post tomorrow come looking for my cold dead body]

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