The Cardinal Countdown: 1 Day Until Kickoff

#1 Lovie Jenkins

Class: Freshman

Ht/Wt: 6-1/195

Position: Defensive Back

Hometown: Orlando, FL

Twitter: @Lovie1k

Thoughts: If you want a short list of freshman who can make a big impact in 2020, Lovie Jenkins is on that list. The heavily pursued corner out of Orlando had over 40 scholarship offers because of his athleticism and ability to play solo coverage at the high school level. The Cards fought off Kentucky, Notre Dame, Miami, Pitt, NC State, Tennessee, Missouri...ya know what, just call it every Power 5 school not playing in the Pac 12.

I spoke on this some yesterday when covering Chandler Jones but players like Jenkins will be a nice addition to a secondary that needed some young bodies to come in and provide some depth. When focusing on the safeties specifically the Cards are losing a four year contributor in Khane Pass who was a little underappreciated during his time here I think, as he could cover some good space and knew his role. While Russ Yeast is your strong safety to start the year (assuming all reports of his health are accurate) Jenkins will see a good amount of reps this year and will hopefully play well enough to becoming the “safety in waiting” as Yeast finishes up his time at UofL this season.

In the clip below, if you can make it through the first 3-4 minutes of him just juking folks out of their shoes on special teams or returning interceptions, you can actually see him play some coverage on defense where he not only makes some good plays on the ball in the air, but delivers some nice hits and form tackles in open space.

Sweet Tweet:

In today's microwave world where yesterdays news might as well have happened 10 years ago I don’t want to forget one player I did not get the opportunity to cover this off season during the countdown, and that is Dexter Rentz. The UofL 2020 commit unfortunately was a victim of senseless violence back in April and did not get an opportunity to fulfill his dream of suiting up for the Cards. Lovie Jenkins was a high school teammate of Rentz at Ocoee High down in Orlando and without question will have his friend Dexter on his mind as he plays this season and beyond.

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#1 Tutu Atwell

Class: Junior

Ht/Wt: 5-9/165

Position: Wide Receiver

Hometown: Miami, FL

Twitter: @c5_atwell

Thoughts: If we’re going to spend 100+ days together counting down until Louisville kicks off it’s football season I can’t think of a much better way to wrap up the player profiles than ending with arguably the most athletic player on the team, Chatarius ‘Tutu’ Atwell.

I’ll save the stat review for later in the post and just hit you with some high level stuff. Tutu set a single season record last year in receiving yardage at Louisville, besting Harry Douglas and the cornucopia of receivers who have walked through this program over the last 30 years. His elusiveness is impressive but his speed is game changing. Take a look at this mixture of highlights from 2018 and 2019 and notice just how many times he flips the field in a single play often resulting in a touchdown. With Atwell as an option you are never pinned down and in a matter of seconds can go from ‘fully clenched’ to celebrating six.

Similar to Hawkins, and maybe even Cunningham, I think we need to soak up this offense and enjoy the product they are putting on the field as we not see Atwell in Cardinal red after 2020. Tutu is one of the most explosive players in the nation and was recently named a pre-season All-American. Even though it feels like he’s only been here a short time Tutu will likely put his name in the record books a few more times this year and some of those numbers may be tough to catch. Lets wrap this thing up with some bullet points of awesomeness as we celebrate only one more day of not having UofL football back in our lives.

- His 98.2 receiving yards per game was #1 in the ACC and 14th nationally.

- His 12 receiving TDs this season placed him at #2 in the ACC and 11th nationally.

- His 18.23 yards/rec this season placed him at #4 in the ACC and 31st nationally.

- His 1,276 receiving yards in 2019 places him at #1 all-time at UofL for single season production.

- His 70 receptions in 2019 puts him at 8th all-time for single season catches at UofL.

- His 3 TD game against WKU puts him tied at #3 all-time for TD receptions in a game at UofL.

- His 12 TDs in 2019 puts him in a tie for 1st for single season TD receptions at UofL.

- His 18.23 yard per reception average in 2019 puts him at 2nd all time (min 50 rec) at UofL.

- His 17.58 yard per reception average for his career puts him at #8 all-time (min 50 rec) at UofL.

- His 7 games of 100 receiving yards or more in 2019 places him in a tie for 1st all-time at UofL in a single season.

- His four consecutive games with 100 receiving yards or more places him in a tie for 3rd all-time at UofL.

- His five consecutive games with a TD reception places him in a tie for 2nd all-time at UofL.

Sweet Tweet: Shout out to ‘Card_N_AL’ for the tweet reminding us of this greatness...

I’m not a jersey wearing guy…but I would rock the crap out of a Miami Northwestern #5 uni

***Don’t forget to come back to tomorrow to put a bow on one of the more unusual countdowns I’ve ever done. Appreciate you all coming along for the ride.***