The Cardinal Countdown: 7 Days Until Kickoff

#7 Reggie Bonnafon

Class: Senior

Ht/Wt: 6-3/212

Position: Running back

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

Twitter: @RegSoSpiffy1

Thoughts: If Lamar Jackson is the "most freakish athlete" on the team, Reggie may be a close #2, or maybe even 1a. The "do-all" Bonnafon has stepped into any and every challenge this coaching staff has thrown at him over the last three years and he has positioned himself as being one of my all-time favorite Cardinals to ever wear the jersey (an honor that shouldn't be taken lightly).

We could spend a solid paragraph or three doing nothing but talking about Bonnafon's story here at UofL, from being recruited by Coach Strong, honoring his commitment to Coach Petrino when told he could play QB, competing and earning starts at QB as a true freshman, and then accepting a position change, another position change...and then another position change, he never blinked, never blew up, never lashed out publicly, and has represented his hometown University and the city of Louisville with great pride during his career. What more could you ask from a young man during his college career? How about some stats? I'll give you some stats.

Over the course of the last three years Reggie has accounted for... 1,056 passing yards: 346 rushing yards: 264 receiving yards: 17 touchdowns. Of course, this doesn't include the upcoming seasons stats which will likely boost his rushing and receiving totals (and passing totals a little as well, if I know Bobby). I'd have to wake my stats and information department up to confirm this, but I doubt too many players have left here with over 400 passing/rushing/receiving yards, numbers which he should blow away by the time 2017 wraps up. Even with all that said, Coach Petrino came out in the Spring and made it abundantly clear that after watching film Reggie was extremely underutilized in the offense last season, a notion I agree with strongly. Some one with that athleticism and versatility has to get the ball frequently, and he did not. That comment, and the health of the running back core, has shifted Reggie into a position to once again be an offensive star lined up in the backfield. Does it make me excited we had to pull a wide receiver into the group to be our starting running back? Not particularly, but Reggie isn't your typical wide receiver. We all have seen his explosiveness, and know he has the hands to be a big threat out of the backfield. The question of course will be can he block sufficiently and can he hit the holes with the burst of Radcliff and break tackles with the strength of Jeremy Smith? Time will tell, but Reggie has shown us all quite a few "tricks" in his bag over the last three years, another one wouldn’t surprise me.

We as fans watched Reggie introduce us to Bobby Ball 2.0 using a mobile quarterback. We as fans watched him fight through the loss of his father and then lead the Cards into South Bend to face Notre Dame and walk out of there with a 'W'. We as fans watched as he consistently made position moves to better the team, and was successful enough to earn a starting role at each different stop. We as fans have watched a local athlete turn into a college star who will fight to help this team when a championship, and then fight to earn a spot on a professional roster. No matter how 2017 turns out for UofL, and Reggie individually, I've been proud to have him represent the school I cheer for each week.

Sweet Tweet:

It's a beautiful day indeed, Mr. Bonnafon. Why, you may ask? Because we are exactly one week from Cardinal football. We can see the finish line folks. Let bring it home strong....