Friday evening Cardinal news and notes

—Tickets are available for the July 19 U of L basketball charity softball game at Jim Patterson Stadium.

—The 2021 U of L volleyball schedule is out.

—If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the Rick Bozich column that has set the local internet ablaze for the past 24 hours.

Ellison said that I could add coaches from Syracuse, Villanova, Kansas, Michigan, UCLA, Notre Dame and others to the list of schools that have called him. Even though he has only been out of the hospital for four days after a scary bout with the novel coronavirus, Ellison was gearing up for AAU Tournament season Thursday morning.

Why have so many coaches called?

“Because I’ve got two of the top five top (2023) players in the country,” Ellison said. “I’ve got another kid in the top 20 and two others that should be in the top 50 by the end of the summer.”

Here is one school that Ellison told me had not called him:

Louisville, his alma mater.

“They haven’t called me about any of my guys,” Ellison said.

The list of his guys begins with point guard D.J. Wagner, the consensus top prospect in the Class of 2023 as well as the grandson of U of L Hall of Famer Milt Wagner, Ellison’s teammate on the 1986 champs. On Thursday Milt Wagner said that Kentucky, Duke, UNC, Gonzaga, Memphis, Villanova, Auburn have called to speak to D.J.

Louisville?

“Not to D.J.,” Wagner said.

For what it’s worth, Mack has made it known on Friday that he did, in fact, have a zoom conversation with D.J. Wagner at one point.

—Chris Mack spent his Friday in Indianapolis checking out commit D’Ante Davis, recruit Lawrent Rice, and others.

—C.J. Avery has become the first U of L athlete to sign a deal with Joey Wagner’s new Rocketeer Sports Marketing.

—Rest in peace to famed Louisville photographer and storyteller Bud Dorsey, who has passed away at the age of 79.

—Louisville baseball signee and freshly-crowned national High School Player of the Year Daylen Lile joins the 3rd & Central pod.

—Robbie Bell is excited for one home game in particular this fall.

—Former U of L women’s golf standout Laura Restrepo is making her mark on the Symetra Tour.

—Over at The Crunch Zone, Mark Blankenbaker takes a closer look at Louisville’s rushing defense.

—It might not be the highest of bars to clear, but I think it’s safe to say that Zalia Avant-garde is easily the coolest National Spelling Bee champion we’ve ever had.

Start making the necessary calls now, Walz.

—Louisville baseball signee Will Koger has moved into his U of L dorm, but he’s also anxiously waiting to see what happens in the upcoming MLB draft.

—Don rules.

—Kahil Fennell is the guest on the latest episode of the Cardinal Sports Zone podcast.

—WLKY looks at the concerts coming to Louisville in the months ahead.

—South Point in Las Vegas has the Cards as an 8-point underdog against Ole Miss.

—I love that former Louisville WR Aaron Bailey pops up in this story about Drake renting out Dodger Stadium for an over-the-top date.

—Chip Patterson of CBS ranks the 14 ACC football coaches and has Scott Satterfield at No. 11.

11. Scott Satterfield (45 overall): With so much buzz around the Cardinals heading into last year, there was to bound to be a significant reaction when the team finished 4-7 and in 12th place in the ACC standings. My guess is that we overreacted to a solo second place finish in the ACC Atlantic Division in Year 1 and then overreacted the other way when Louisville didn’t meet or exceed the expectations set by 2019’s success. Satterfield’s 14-spot drop overall was the second biggest fall in the 1-65 rankings, and my guess is he’ll be back into the 30s at least after a year that splits the difference between the highs and lows of his early Louisville tenure. Last year: 6 in ACC

—Louisville WR target Squirrel White committed to Tennessee.

—And finally, the CJ continues its countdown of the 30 most important Louisville football players for the 2021 season.