Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—According to the Courier Journal’s Shannon Russell, Miami transfer Matt Cross has arrived on campus and is cleared to participate in all team activities. That means U of L men’s basketball is now at full strength ... pending a possible summer addition.

—Jeff Walz has landed his “center of the future” with the commitment of Imani Lester.

—U of L sent the following email to its season ticket holders on Wednesday about the upcoming installment of NIL policies:

We hope your summer is off to a great start! We wanted to connect with you about the developing changes to name/image/likeness (NIL) policies as it affects student-athletes including our Cardinal student-athletes.

As you may have seen in the news, Governor Beshear issued an executive order last week to permit college athletes attending colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to earn compensation for use of their NIL beginning this Thursday July 1, 2021.

Several other states have adopted similar laws and executive orders permitting the same. Further, NCAA policies are being updated to create a level of uniformity in permitting this new NIL opportunity for student-athletes.

As part of our educational outreach to our supporters on these rule changes and how this may impact your future engagement with U of L student-athletes on NIL opportunities, we’ve created this educational resource outlining several guidelines and reminders related to NIL activities.

As you can appreciate, the policies around NIL continue to evolve. U of L has created a dedicated webpage (www.gocards.com/nil) that will be the landing page for NIL news, rules education, and other updates and resources for student-athletes, coaches and staff, and our fans and supporters.

Lastly, if you have specific questions on NIL matters impacting University of Louisville student-athletes, you may always email NIL@gocards.com for additional assistance.

—Pro Football Focus released its preseason 2021 All-ACC football teams on Wednesday, and Marshon Ford, Kei’Trel Clark and Kenderick Duncan were all named to the Second Team.

—Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician has published its 2021 Louisville football preview.

—Bill Bender of The Sporting News ranks all 130 FBS coaches, and has Scott Satterfield at No. 37. Bender’s real crime is that he refers to Kentucky — a program that has finished precisely one of the last 36 seasons with a national ranking — as a “top 25 program.”

—This is cool:

—Louisville women’s basketball’s Merissah Russell has been named to Canada’s women’s basketball team that will compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

—Tae Davis is still very pumped about his future as a Cardinal.

—Former Louisville left-hander Reid Detmers has made the American League roster for the 2021 Futures Game.

—Lamar Jackson, Mekhi Becton and Jaire Alexander are all on the NFL’s All-Under-25 Team.

—For the second straight year, U of L baseball signee Daylen Lile has been named Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Kentucky.

—Blue Chip Scouting believes Louisville safety Kenderick Duncan will hear his name called in next year’s NFL Draft. Here’s their full scouting report on the Georgia Southern transfer.

Zone Coverage: Baiting quarterbacks into throwing the ball is way is one of his best attributes. With how quickly Duncan Jr. can process information and understand route combinations, he can read the eyes of the quarterback and close to make plays on the football. Several times on film Duncan flies from the other side of the field or undercuts vertical routes down the middle of the field or on the hash and deflects the ball away in zone coverage. Duncan also showed the ability to roll from the box back into cover 3 or cover 4 and still get on top of vertical routes. or routes that threaten his zones. His ability to fly down hill in short zones and make tackles also shows up on tape.

Football IQ: This is arguably his best trait, as it seems he sees the game and plays happen long before they do. Combining his football instincts with his football intelligence is a big reason why he shows massive upside as a free safety. He could be seen pre-snap getting his teammates in the right positions, pointing out crossing routes during the play and transitioning quickly out of breaks to get to the football. When a big play is needed to get off the field on third down or a turnover is created, Duncan is usually in the middle of it.

Tackling: The one area of concern with Duncan’s game is not about his tackling form, but more so his inconsistencies making tackles in the open field.. Typically a sure handed tackler, Duncan got into situations where he took poor angles and was beat to the outside, or tried going for a shoe string tackle and it failed. This is an area he can improve, and will need to continue becoming a better all around safety.

—Male High wide receiver Vinny Anthony committed to Wisconsin over Cincinnati and Duke this afternoon.

—ESPN’s updates its rankings of the top 25 basketball recruits in America regardless of class.

—Eric Crawford pens an obituary for NCAA amateurism.

—”LeFors Loko” served in a “Will Stein.” Make it happen, Cardinal Stadium.

—After being accused of inappropriate behavior and bullying, Syracuse has launched an investigation into women’s basketball coach Quentin Hillsman.

—You can listen to the latest episode of the Card Chronicle Podcast here (or, you know, lots of other places).

—ESPN draft insiders Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz say (subscription) David Johnson was one of the players who helped himself the most at last week’s combine.

David Johnson

Johnson played in just one game due to a foot injury but still helped himself significantly in his 17 minutes of action by making quite a few winning plays. He measured a hair under 6-5 in shoes, with a 6-10½ wingspan and 203-pound frame. Johnson guarded everyone from point guards to power forwards in his time on the floor, showcasing the type of defensive and positional versatility every NBA team is looking for. The game comes very easily for him: He plays at different speeds off hesitation moves and gets teammates involved off a live dribble with either hand operating out of pick-and-roll or making the extra pass along the perimeter. He is only 20, and the fact that he made 39% of his 3-pointers this season also helps his cause.

—Louisville baseball signee Braden Calise has been honored as the TCPalm Player of the Year.

—The Only Colors reacts to Michigan State once again drawing Louisville in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge.

—Congrats to Mike on a great run at U of L.

—Turf Show Times serves up four reasons why TuTu Atwell could be an immediate star for the Los Angeles Rams.

—Louisville Report takes a closer look at new WR commit Zavion Thomas.

—And finally, voting for the first two LCPT quarterfinal matchups has opened. You can check them out here and here.