Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Happy two weeks away from the first high school football Friday night of the season.

—ESPN’s Bill Connelly ranks (insider) the 50 greatest true freshmen in college football history.

—Rodney Purvis detailing his experience watching an “insane” Rick Pitino practice at Louisville is comedy.

—ESPN’s Heather Dinich tackles the topic of who should run college football moving forward.

—Another tough video for the “Lamar can’t throw” crowd.

—Josh Minkins says all the members of the Cardinal secondary are on the same page.

—Temple transfer M.J. Griffin is planning on making a large impact in his first season as a Cardinal.

Griffin said he feels like he can be an impact player for the Cardinals. He’s listed as the No. 2 strong safety in the preseason media guide, behind Josh Minkins.

“I feel like I can make an impact with my relentlessness and my fierceness,” Griffin said after the second day of fall camp on Thursday. “Just the way I play, I try to hype all of my players up when I see them down I try to get them up and that’s the type of player I am.

“I’m hoping to add my relentlessness and hoping that everybody has the same relentlessness that I have.”

Griffin committed to the Cardinals in early December after making trips to U of L and Kansas. He enrolled with the Cardinals in January and was able to participate in all of spring ball. U of L coach Scott Satterfield said he was impressed with Griffin during the spring.

“He’s done everything we have asked,” Satterfield said at ACC Kickoff. “He’ll be a guy that really helps us out in the secondary; he has some experience that we need.”

—Four-star WR Santana Fleming out of Florida says he’ll be scheduling an official visit to Louisville at some point in the very near future.

—Don’t be surprised if you’re seeing way more of EKJ next spring at Jim Patterson.

—Ed Stewart a high-ranking official within the Big 12, is leaving the conference to take a job with USC.

—The Louisville Bats are showing “A League of Their Own” under the lights tonight at Louisville Slugger Field. You can get tickets here.

—Ballard’s Brooke Gray, who led the Bruin softball team to an undefeated season and a state title in 2022, has committed to Louisville.

—Dalton Rushing homered in his first professional at-bat Thursday night.

—Despite everything going on in their community, Hazard High School football players are still going through preseason camp.

—Yasir Abdullah is the ACC’s fifth-best returning linebacker according to this video.

—Kei’Trel Clark is the third-best returning defensive back.

—The U of L women’s soccer team gets its 2022 season underway a week from today with an exhibition match. Here’s the full schedule in calendar form:

—Chris Mack’s former Louisville mansion sold for $3.5 million last month.

—Racing Louisville hosts the Washington Spirit tonight at 8. Here’s a preview.

—LouCity, meanwhile, will host Charleston Battery on Saturday night at 8.

—The CJ’s Alexis Cubit covers how Louisville will handle its loaded stable of running backs.

—Friday Irrelevance:

—Bellarmine transfer Dylan Penn could wind up being the America East POY next season at Vermont. Here’s why.

—College Football News has Louisville taking on Auburn in the Gasparilla Bowl in its preseason bowl projections.

—Some TuTu Atwell love from Rams camp on Thursday.

—Major League Baseball, a gazillion-dollar enterprise steeped in science and analytics, ultimately relies on a retiree with a ponytail, a flat-edged shovel - and mud. It’s a baseball tradition now in jeopardy.

—I know the feeling, Rick.

—The LEO has five things to do in Louisville this weekend.

—Louisville City has signed an 8-year-old cancer survivor as a free agent.

—Thirty beagles that were rescued in Virginia have arrived at the Ky Humane Society.

—And finally, the Rutherford Show wraps up the week this afternoon from 3-5:30 on 1450 The Big X. We’ll spend the second hour playing rewinder with the 2006 WVU Blackout Game. You can stream the show here.