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The Cardinal Countdown: 23 Days Until Kickoff

By CardinalStrong
Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

#23 Brandon Radcliff

Class: RS Senior

Ht/Wt: 5-9/210

Position: Running back

Hometown: Miami, FL

Twitter: @BrandonRadcliff

Thoughts: Lets jump in the way back machine real quick and take a trip down memory lane. We get so caught up in the next game, the next season, etc that at times we can forget how we navigated to this point in time, and it’s pretty incredible the journey we’ve been on the last four years. Brandon Radcliff signed to play football for Louisville back in February of 2012. Charlie Strong had just finished back to back 7-6 seasons, in the Big East Conference, and we had just seen the emergence of a true freshman quarterback, one Theodore Bridgewater. The leading rusher that year was Vic Anderson, followed closely by Sophomore Dom Brown. Radcliff, another great running back out of Miami who decided to play for the Cards, made a splash right before signing day with a fresh cut…

Right here on CC Mike challenged former commit Sid Anvoots to do the same, Joe Manley was discussed in the comments, Card Chronicle was in love with Titus Teague, we had discussions about the Cards recruiting DeAngelo Russell, and GOCARDSATTITUDE still made frequent appearances…it was a different time.

Now, we travel back to present day Louisville football. A new Coaching staff, a new Conference, stadium updates, (no Sid Anvoots), a Sugar Bowl win, and 15 NFL drafts picks...all since Radcliff signed on the dotted line. The young man believed in the mission with Coach Strong and bought in again when Petrino took over. He’s been the leading back for the last two seasons and I wouldn’t expect that to change in 2016. A three year “starter” who is ready to potentially cement his name in the Cardinal history books…

  • One more 100 yard game pushes him into the Top 10 all-time for career number of “100 yard games”(6).
  • Seven TDs (replicate 2015 total) pushes him into the Top 5 all-time in career rushing TDs (27)
  • …and a unique one I stumbled upon when flipping through the record books…as long as our season ticket sales hold true, Radcliff will graduate from Louisville as the “most watched” player in the history of the school. The last three seasons have been three of the four highest attended seasons in Louisville football history, therefore Radcliff, along with the other redshirt seniors, will have been seen play by more Cardinal fans than any other player who’s worn the jersey. Pretty crazy.

You, the humble and hungry Card Chronicle readers (has to be Top 5 in most pleasant generalizations of this websites viewers) voted Radcliff as the ‘Top Dog’ back on Day 34 and while I picked differently (Scott), it’s difficult to argue against your selection. Similar to JHC a couple days ago I’ll save you a few hundred words and 5 minutes of your time by not rehashing all of Radcliff’s accomplishments while he’s been here. We all know what he is capable of doing if given the opportunities, especially behind an improved O-line and a quarterback who can threaten the defense with his arm. Time will tell if all those pieces finally come together.

Radcliff has never been categorized as a “prototypical” running back during his career due to his size, speed, etc, but Louisville has never been considered a “prototypical” football power either. I’d like to think both are in the process of proving those theories wrong, each with a little help from the other. 

Sweet Tweet:

This was actually from last Friday…aww…you missed it. But cheer up buttercup, because there is another open practice (wait for it)…TODAY! That’s right, anyone and everyone can stroll on down to PJCS practice fields and check out the Cards today and again next Tuesday, the 16th. Don’t miss out on a great opportunity to feed that football fix you need to get through these last 23 days. Bring your friend, bring your family…hell, bring Coach Stoops, dude could use any advantage he can get.

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