Thursday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—D1Baseball.com ranks Brendan McKay as the second best college baseball player of the last decade.

—An aggregate of the early 2021 NBA mock drafts has David Johnson as a top 15 pick. Samuell Williamson is included in two of the mocks included.

—Greg Rousseau, Miami’s best player and the No. 1 defensive end in America, has announced that he’s opting out of the 2020 college football season. His announcement came less than 30 minutes after Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz told the media none of his players were opting out.

—Rousseau’s decision also resulted in maybe the best “sports in 2020” image to date:

—Mekhi Becton is being called “The Big Wall of Green” in New York.

—Dwayne Ledford is searching for his next key contributor on the offensive line.

—Cardinal Authority ranks the opponents on Louisville’s new 2020 football schedule.

—Vince Tyra says a plan for home football attendance will be announced no later than Aug. 15.

—Big Red Louie’s Presley Meyer writes that Tyra was right to strike a stern tone on Wednesday.

—Cool story here on Eddy Alvarez, who was an Olympic medalist in speedskating, gave up the sport to focus on baseball full-time, and made his Major League debut this week.

—Hassan Hall is the second most feared returner in the ACC.

—Penn State has announced that it will play sports (including football) without fans at home games this fall.

—Florida State, on the other hand, is going to allow 20-25% capacity at its home games.

—Suddenly, Howard University is getting commitments from or is in on some of the best basketball recruits in America. Ricky O’Donnell breaks down how it’s happening.

—Four-star wing Mike James from Orlando is high on the Cards.

—This is amazing.

—Paul Rogers helps preview Louisville football in this podcast.

—Nick Burdi absolutely cannot catch a break. The former Cardinal flamethrower has once again had his season ended abruptly.

—U of L commit Aaron Gunn is preseason First Team All-State in Pennsylvania.

—The Big Sky canceling football for 2020 could be the domino that forces all of FCS to follow suit.

—Western Kentucky AD Todd Stewart is thankful U of L was able to keep the Hilltoppers on the schedule.

—College basketball referees are stuck in limbo as they wait to see what’s going to happen with the 2020-21 season.

—Newcomers are slowly adding depth to the Louisville defense.

—The Bowling Green Daily News reacts to the news of WKU opening its season against Louisville.

—Not bad company for Don.

—Despite its monster 2019 season, Micale Cunningham and the Louisville offense are not satisfied.

—Five redshirt freshmen to watch this season for the Cards.

—And finally, Robbie Weinstein of 247 Sports makes the case for Louisville being the second best team in the ACC.