Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Louisville’s basketball class of 2018 recruiting class currently ranks No. 2 in the country, trailing only USC.

—Here’s a really good story from Mid-Major Madness about a man with Epilepsy who says college basketball saved his life, and is now trying to collect a jersey from all 351 Division-I teams.

—Brendan McKay is already rated as the No. 40 Minor League prospect in the country by Baseball America.

—NFL.com serves up a scouting report on Lamar Jackson.

Where he needs to improve: Jackson has a ways to go to develop into a consistently accurate passer. He has a bad habit of locking out his front leg, screwing himself into the ground and falling off throws. This dramatically affects his ball placement and touch. He flashes the ability to work to Nos. 2-3 in his progression, but usually if No. 1 isn't there, he looks to run. In his defense, the pass protection at Louisville was terrible at times (see Houston game).

The other major concern about Jackson is his thin frame. He is very wiry and he'll need to add some bulk to withstand a 16-game schedule at the next level. The same things were said about Deshaun Watson early in his college career. He packed on plenty of bulk before leaving Clemson and hopefully Jackson will do the same.

Biggest takeaway: I don't use the Mike Vick comparison lightly. Vick is the most explosive quarterback to ever play the position. Jackson has that type of dynamic speed. However, Vick was a more polished passer and Jackson has some mechanical improvements that need to be made before he'll be capable of matching Vick's professional success. If Jackson can clean some of these issues up, watch out!

—Miles Bridges began his 2017-18 national Player of the Year campaign with a ridiculous dunk at a Michigan summer league.

—Louisville ranks 21st in the country in athletic department spending. Florida State is the only ACC program that spends more.

—“Bring back ‘Friday Irrelevance’”

—The Louisville men’s soccer Kick-Off Banquet is set for Aug. 11.

—The ACC Digital Network looks at the receivers in the league who are poised to breakout in 2017. Jaylen Smith is featured.

—U of L hoops recruiting target Ian Steere (2018) committed to Creighton on Thursday.

—Jerald Honeycutt Lager or Matt 40-oz Malt Liquor?

—Good story here on Cincinnati Red draftee Hunter Greene, who wants to be more than the LeBron James of baseball ... which would be a lot.

—The latest installment of the Romeo Langford USA Today blog is up.

—This is parenting.

—The AP’s Ralph Russo and ESPN’s David Hale discuss whether or not ACC football can topped what it did last season in this podcast.

—Collaborative replay review is here to stay in college football.

—Tom Crean posts a thank you message to the supporters of Indiana basketball.

—Dennis Dodd of CBS evaluates the job security of all 130 college football coaches.

—The field for the 2017 King of the Bluegrass tournament has been announced.

—Yahoo ranks all 65 power conference athletic programs and has Louisville at No. 28, which seems low.

—Traveon Samuel has been grinding this summer.

—Andy Staples comes up with the definitive college sports teams-booze pairings. Louisville isn’t featured, but it’s still an entertaining read.

—Exactly 20 years ago today, the greatest heel turn in the history of professional wrestling went down.

—On a somewhat related note, just wrapped up “Glow” on Netflix and thoroughly enjoyed it. My only complaint is that I’ve gotten so used to binge watching shows that are at least an hour per episode that I was always surprised when one of the 30-minute episodes was over.

—Russ Smith remains the absolute best.

—Louisville swimming and diving coach Arthur Albiero has been named to the Team USA National Women's coaching staff for the World Championships in Budapest.

—The first week of Wimbledon has sucked.

—My man Jahyde Brown continues to put the rest of the country on notice.

2029 Heisman Trophy winner.

—All Things ACC shines its spotlight on Jaylen Smith.

—Feel good story here on a UK fan who is battling cancer and was treated to a very special day.

—Golden Spikes Heisman Card:

—The ACC Digital Network gives its list of the top five wide receivers in the conference for 2017. No Cardinals crack the ranking.

—Mingo has been on fire this summer.

—Sports Illustrated is out with its list of the top 40 “freaks” in college football, and Lamar Jackson is No. 11.

--The Sporting News ranks all 130 college football coaches, and has Bobby Petrino at No. 13.

—The Michael Vick comparisons are unlikely to ever stop for Lamar Jackson.

There hasn't ever been another Vick, either, until maybe now. That's because Michael Vick himself has signed off on the idea of Louisville's Lamar Jackson living up to the billing as the "next Michael Vick."

"If I've ever seen another guy that looks like me, it's been Lamar Jackson," Vick said recently when talking to the Louisville Courier-Journal about Jackson as an NFL prospect.

The impetus for the entire article was the polarizing way NFL Draft analysts look at Jackson. He's obviously a supreme talent: he cruised to the Heisman Trophy last year despite struggling down the stretch. At times, he made Louisville's offense look unstoppable.

But smart guys like Dane Brugler of NFLDraftScout.com and Matt Miller of Bleacher/Report disagreed with their perception of him: Jackson is ranked No. 6 on the Draft Scout big board overall, while he was only Miller's No. 6 quarterback.

When doing my way too early 2018 NFL Mock Draft, I had five quarterbacks taken in the first round, and Jackson wasn't one of them. My primary concern is that he's going to come back in 2017 with a ton of expectations, not meet those expectations and be picked apart by NFL scouts and front offices who have concerns about his ability as a "pocket passer."

People are going to get livid about criticisms of Jackson, but he did complete 45 percent of his passes in the final three games of the season last year.

It's also hard to really compare Vick and Jackson from a statistical standpoint. Vick attempted 343 passes during two years at Virginia Tech -- Jackson attempted 409 last year alone at Louisville. Jackson's rushing statistics from last year are silly: 260 attempts for 1,571 yards. That's almost 300 more rushing yards than Vick had in both seasons.

—Baylor has settled one of the many lawsuits involving allegations of sexual assault within its football program.

—Lamar Jackson has reportedly gained 10 pounds of muscle so far this offseason.

—Loved this.

—U of L women’s golf standouts Sara-Maude Juneau and Laura Restrepo are competing in the Centennial Classic.

—Congrats to Katie Petrino — who knows everything she knows about golf because of me — and the Petrino fam.

—ESPN looks at the biggest summer recruiting news for each top 25 team.

17. Louisville

The Cardinals are making the most of former Boynton Beach, Florida, star Lamar Jackson's sensational Heisman Trophy-winning season in the Jackson's home state. Six of the nine commitments for Bobby Petrino and staff are from the Sunshine State, including five from Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in South Florida.

The commit list includes ESPN 300 defensive back Trenell Troutman and speedy four-star linebacker Yasir Abdullah, but it is three-star quarterback and spring riser Jordan Travis that is the name to remember. Travis was a hit with Power Five colleges that stopped by The Benjamin School in Palm Beach Gardens this spring, and he could very well be the next South Florida signal-caller to star for the Cardinals.

—Louisville City FC has a big one Saturday night at Louisville Slugger Field.

—Colorado is cool. So are Cards fans.

—The C-J profiles Dwayne Sutton.

—Starting your weekend off with a Lamar Jackson highlight video is never a bad idea.

—With Louisville and North Carolina under a spotlight, the NCAA’s power is being called into question.

—And finally, ESPN looks at the best quarterback situations in college football. I’m willing to bet that you can guess one of them.