The Cardinal Countdown: 4 Days Until Kickoff

#4 TreSean smith

Class: Freshman

Ht/Wt: 6-1/191

Position: Safety

Hometown: Hamilton, OH

Twitter: @Tre11Smith

Thoughts: TreSean, in my opinion, is one of two players we'll cover today wearing the #4 that will "hopefully" not need to offer huge contributions in 2017, but are positioning themselves to be starters and impact players next season.

TreSean was the #1 safety out of Ohio, a Top 40 safety in the country, and considered a 3-star recruit by most services last season. Playing both sides of the ball TreSean helped lead his team to three state championships and was an All-Ohio first team selection from numerous publications (I think Petrino would prefer every player he's ever recruited to have played QB at some point, even the linemen). TreSean was a big get for the Cards, who were putting an emphasis on the secondary last year in recruiting, as they beat out Penn State, Virginia Tech, and Notre Dame, among others, for his services. Once committed TreSean not only stood strong in his personal commitment but went heavy on the "recruiting trail" to bring in some other kids in his class, a point Petrino went out of his way to make during National Signing Day.

Since arriving on campus TreSean, along with classmates Russ Yeast and Anthony Johnson, have made quite the impression on the veterans and the coaching staff just a few weeks into their Louisville careers. Smith has shown his range and athleticism on multiple occasions grabbing a few picks during the Cards open practices and fighting his way into a backup spot at safety behind Cannon. Take a peek at some of the video below to see what the Cardinal secondary has in the works for 2018 and beyond. TreSean, Yeast, Burns, Mbanasor, Anthony Johnson, Lyn Strange...these boys are gonna be a problem.

Sweet Tweet:

I kept waiting for the "When did Lamar take his wig off and hand it over to you" question, but it never came. Do better, Louisville Football question-maker-guy.

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#4 Jawon Pass

Class: RS Freshman

Ht/Wt: 6-4/220

Position: Quarterback

Hometown: Columbus, GA

Twitter: @Puma_Blessed2

Thoughts: Everything went according to plan. The idea 365 days ago was that Jawon would come in as a true freshman, take a redshirt, learn the system under Lamar, prepare to take on backup duties in 2017, and position himself to compete for the starting spot in 2018. Step 1, check, Step 2, check, Step 3, in progress...

Pass now has an entire year in the system, and although he didn't blow everyone away in the Spring game, he did perform better once he got some run with the "first team" offense that had a few big targets for him to throw too, and a line that provided some protection. Pass, for those who may have forgotten, was a pretty heralded recruit. Four star prospect, Army All-American, Elite 11 QB participant, one of six QBs across the country picked for ‘QB Flight School’, multiple All-State recognition's, ranked as a top ten QB in the country, and had an offer list that more or less included every Power 5 program east of the Mississippi. During his recruitment Petrino was test driving Bobby ball 2.0 with Reggie at QB, trying to see how his newfangled offense would work with a mobile QB. Fast forward to today and....well, I think it works pretty well. Lamar, as I've already covered, is a freak athlete on his own, but the offensive scheme certainly doesn’t hurt, and "Puma" is going to be setup to succeed as the likely successor, with Malik Cunningham behind him (spoiler alert, his post is tomorrow).

In a perfect world, we very well may see Puma get a fair share of snaps just 4 days from now, assuming the Cards have things in hand by the time the 4th quarter comes around. I'd love to see Pass come out in Indy, make some solid throws, maybe make a nice read or two, and then stuff a few rushing yards in his pocket on the way out of the building to improve his confidence moving forward. The old adage gets thrown out a bit too frequently but still stands true today, we're only one play away from needing Puma to lead a very talented football team towards some very lofty goals. I like what the staff has done in building the roster and the quarterback position in particular. A "4 star backup" at Louisville wasn't realistic 10 years ago, today, they have two.

Sweet Tweet:

Puma doesn't tweet much, so I grabbed this from my Charlotte recap last year after Ethan Horton threw an interception...Petrino was not pleased. Welcome to the big leagues Puma.