Thursday morning Cardinal news and notes

—NFL Spin Zone gives a preseason evaluation of Lamar Jackson.

—Pretty high praise here.

Via Jody Demling, Simons has been invited to participate in the USA Basketball Mini Camp in Colorado Springs this October.

—If you combine the 11 preseason rankings that have come out so far, Louisville averages out to the No. 17 team in the country.

—The ACC Digital Network has a fresh Jaire Alexander video.

—A light 71 from Russ Smith yesterday in China.

—A pair of Bellarmine wrestling coaches thwarted a robbery with a suplex, which is pretty much the most bad ass way to thwart a robbery.

—On SportsCenter Tuesday night, Scott Van Pelt and Brian Griese wondered aloud why no one is talking about Lamar Jackson.

—Tulane announced Wednesday that it’s adding the “Angry Wave” to its court design and that it’s going to look like this:

That looks like the thing from Squidbillies.

Wearing a Smurfs hat.

Probably my new favorite court in college basketball.

—Cole Hikutini turning heads at 49ers camp is the least surprising thing I’ve heard all summer. The fact that both he and DeAngelo Brown went undrafted remains stunning to me.

—Godspeed, Peyton.

—Katie Bishop has submitted a Heisman Tailgate Playlist on Spotify for your consumption.

I’m skipping over Smash Mouth, Katie. Can’t tailgate to it. Won’t tailgate to it.

—Five-star Jontay Porter (Michael’s brother) has officially reclassified and will play hoops for Missouri next season.

—Former Card Chad Green was named the New York Yankees “Hurler of the Month” for July.

—Rivals’ Dave Lackford says that Louisville is the best fit for 5-star running back James Cook, who decommitted from Florida State earlier this summer. Dalvin’s little brother is reportedly down to the Cards, Georgia and USC.

Another factor that weighs in UofL's favor is their style of play bodes well for Cook's chances of being featured in the offense. Petrino has an offensive theory called FTS (Feed the studs) which emphasizes getting the playmakers the ball in space which counters a defensive scheme that attempts to eliminate Louisville's best player. Over the years it has proven to work if you look at the numbers Louisville's best players put up on a game by game basis. Considering Jawon Pass will be under center in 2018 or by some stroke of luck Lamar Jackson, defenses will have to play 2-high looks to account for the Cards' play makers at receiver giving Cook a man-for-man look in run blocking schemes or allowing him to operate underneath against linebackers in the passing attack.

The bottom line is that Cook would have the best opportunity to start right away as freshman at Louisville in an offense that would feature his versatility and splash play making ability. The goal of any five-star player is to go to school for three years, get as much film as possible, and head to the NFL.

In conclusion, if we are talking business, all three colleges set Cook up well to get to the professional level, but when all factors are considered, it's easy to make the case that Louisville will get Cook on the field the earliest and would emphasize him more than any other school based on the weapons each team has at its disposal.

—So, yeah, some pigs got loose on the interstate yesterday. That’s not a euphemism. It was weird.

—Young Why Did He Just Run Out Of Bounds

Apologies to all who already saw this joke on Twitter dot com. I could have gone with “Young Mo Wagner” this time, but it’s just not as good.

—Les Miles will be on your TV talking college football this fall.

—I seem to remember Adam Engel making a few plays like this at Jim Patterson.

Dan McDonnell said on our radio show a little over a year ago that we were about to see an influx of Cardinals in the Major Leagues. He was not wrong.

—Memphis State’s basketball attendance hit a 35-year low last season. Given the amount of defections and dissatisfaction surrounding the program at the moment, I wouldn’t expect a bounce-back season in 2017-18.

—Cool deal on a cool product.

—U of L men’s soccer senior defender Tim Kubel has been named to the Mac Hermann Trophy Watch List. The Cards will play their final preseason match at home Saturday night at 7:30 against Lipscomb. That will follow the women’s team’s match against DePaul at 5 p.m.

—Pretty cool to see a pair of guys who both went to Butler and U of L squaring off in a Major League pitching-hitting matchup.

—Bill Connelly previews Kentucky and says that wilder things have happened than the Wildcats winning the SEC East. If that happens, they’re going to have to finish with a league record above .500. Which, you know, is something that hasn’t happened since 1977. FDR was president. It’s right don’t look it up.

—New U of L football commit Javian Hawkins talks more about how excited he is to be a Cardinal.

Regardless of his size, he plays bigger than most people around him. He had an impressive season last year at Cocoa, his first after transferring from Titusville Astronaut. Hawkins rushed for 788 yards and nine touchdowns on 81 carries, an average of almost 10 yards per carry. He also caught 22 passes for 509 yards and five more touchdowns (23-yards-per-catch average) in helping Cocoa to the Class 4A state championship.

Hawkins picked Louisville over several other offers, including Missouri, Temple and UCF.

He plans to take an unofficial visit the last weekend of this month and then take his official visit in December.

“It feels good, feels like a big load off my shoulders,” Hawkins said. “Louisville fans have been showing me a lot of love and welcoming me in.

“It’s a good feeling ... a great feeling.”

—More on Dorian Etheridge capturing the spotlight from GoCards.com.

—Attorneys are asking a judge to unseal evidence in the Katina Powell lawsuit. Whatever.

—Long overdue.

—The Comeback has Louisville at No. 12 in its preseason countdown.

—Anonymous college football coaches voted Jim Harbaugh and Nick Saban as the most overrated coaches in the sport. They seem pretty properly rated to me.

—I love this.

I don’t hate you for walking away, Calvin. I could never.

—BT Powerhouse previews Indiana’s non-conference hoops schedule, which includes a trip to Louisville.

—And finally, North Carolina has announced that it will be presenting its basketball players with their national championship rings during halftime of UNC’s football game against Louisville on Sept. 9.

Whatever. I think we should do a simultaneous Heisman presentation for Lamar at the other end of the stadium just to prove a point. I don’t know what that point would be and I don’t care.