Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Louisville commit Bobby Pettiford is No. 92 in the 247 Sports updated rankings for the class of 2021.

—Here’s a great read on Donovan Mitchell’s remarkable run in the bubble, one capped by a disappointing end.

—TuTu Atwell is the fifth most exciting player in college football heading into 2020.

5. Tutu Atwell, WR, Louisville: Who cares that he’s only 5-foot-9? The former dual-threat QB emerged as perhaps the most dynamic pass-catcher in the ACC last season as he led the conference in receiving yards (1,276) and ranked second touchdowns (12). He’s in the conversation for the fastest player in college football, reportedly running a 4.27-second 40-yard-dash and averaging 10.73 yards after catch.

—Louisville appears to be inching closer to naming both a starting kicker and punter.

—Former Wake Forest QB Jamie Newman, who transferred to Georgia for his final collegiate season, is opting out of the 2020 season.

—Cardinal Authority lays out eight things that will determine the 2020 Louisville football season.

REDUCE PLAYS FOR LOSS

It’s a must for the Louisville offense. As productive as the Cardinals were offensively in 2019, there were many times that the production suffered because of a sack or tackle for loss.

It’s actually quite impressive how much the Louisville offense produced while also coming in dead last in the NCAA for TFLs per game. The Cardinals allowed opponents to make a play behind the line of scrimmage an average of 9.85 times per game.

Significantly reducing that number is a priority.

“That’s a big focus for us, the tackles for losses and all the sacks we took last year as well,” UofL offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford said. “It’s something we’ve got to fix. We’ve been addressing it all summer and at our practices. Some of it is first-time staff being around these guys and them learning what we’re asking them to do. Sometimes it’s guys trying to do too much and sometimes it’s just getting guys to understand, ‘Look I don’t need to do too much.’ Just settle down and do what we’re asking you to do. The more they’re around each other the more they get a better feel, a better understanding for what you want. Obviously we’re talking a lot about it because it’s one thing that needs to be addressed.”

—Yahoo polled 30 college coaches on what 2020 college football will look like. There was both some worry and some optimism.

—A look at how each Kentucky Derby horse got its name.

—Stu Holt has a tight end room that is stocked with talent.

—Whoops.

—ESPN ranks TuTu Atwell No. 48 on its list of the 50 best players in college football for 2020.

—247 Sports has Louisville as one of the “most dangerous teams in college football that no one is talking about.”

—Suck it, Diego Guevarra.

—Nov. 25 will be the start of the 2020-21 college basketball season so long as the D-I Council votes that date through later this month.

—There is already a report that Donovan Mitchell will sign a max extension to stay with the Utah Jazz.

—Marshon Ford continues to make the most of the opportunity Scott Satterfield and the U of L staff have given him.

—All of CBS’ college football writers have Louisville finishing between 3-5 in the ACC, even though Jerry Palm believes the Cards are the most overrated team in the conference.

Louisville: The Cardinals got off to a promising start under new coach Scott Satterfield last season, but we shouldn’t get carried away with the preseason hype just yet. Some think this is a sleeper team for the ACC title game, but that is more the product of their schedule than their talent. Louisville misses Clemson and North Carolina in the regular season, but it does have a trip to Notre Dame. It will have to be much better on defense if they have ACC title game aspirations. The Cards gave up 34 or more points eight times last season, although they won three of those games. — Jerry Palm

—Louisville basketball still has two scholarships available to use on the 2021 class.

—Even before those questionable COVID-19 waivers, college athletes were subject to all kinds of overbearing, strange, intrusive, discriminatory and legally dubious team rules. Here are some that The Intercollegiate discovered from just last season.

—Great work here from Presley.

—Women’s soccer coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes is the guest on the latest episode of the Welcome to the Ville podcast.

—And finally, even with all the madness going on, Louisville has great expectations for its 2020 season.