Thursday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Louisville by 4.5.

—Louisville players have voted Malik Cunningham, Caleb Chandler, Yasir Abdullah and MoMo Sanogo as their four team captains for the 2022 season.

—The third-ranked U of L volleyball went on the road last night and swept No. 22 Western Kentucky in Bowling Green. The Cards are now 4-0 on the young season and have not dropped a set. They’ll play their first home match of the season Friday night at 7 when they face San Diego in the first match of the Cardinal Classic.

—Here are the highlights:

—After doing pretty much nothing during its multi-year existence, the IARP is now officially dead. The NCAA is also set to approve a number of changes to its current punishment structure, including the elimination of postseason bans. Unfortunately for Louisville, postseason bans will still be on the table for the IARP’s handling of its case, as well as the four other schools still going through that lengthy process.

—Four-star small forward Curtis Williams (2023) will be announcing his college choice on Monday, Sept. 19. Williams will visit Louisville on Sept. 9, and is down to the Cards, Xavier and Providence.

—Let’s get it done this time.

Seems like an attractive timeline for, say, a non-traditional powerhouse that is about to welcome in its best recruiting class in program history.

—The Athletic serves up an NFL first round mock draft for 2023. No Cardinals are featured.

—The Louisville men’s soccer team rolled to a 3-0 win over Bellarmine Tuesday night. The Cards are off to a perfect 2-0-0 start for the first time since 2018.

—Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician recaps what Syracuse players had to say about Louisville during their media availability.

Garrett Williams

-There’s extra motivation opening up against the Cards after the last few years of lopsided losses.

-Called Malik Cunningham “probably the best dual threat quarterback not just in the conference but probably in the entire country.” Focused on preventing “chunk plays” and allowing the shorter runs and underneath passes.

-Noted that Cunningham has developed nicely as a passer over three years, especially on post routes. Seems like the top area of concern in man coverage.

-“We’ve been working toward (a winning season) for a really long time.” Counting on fans to deliver home field advantage in the opener.

-Syracuse had to scrounge for good film of Louisville’s transfer receivers.

-Echoing what Stefon said, Williams believes that there’s a lot more cohesion and clear communication in the entire defense.

-Reiterated wanting a clean slate in his return to the Orange. Feels better both physically and mentally, with improved preparation and focus on staying healthy.

—The new Cardinals adidas Ultraboost 1.0 shoes are now available.

—Louisville is the fourth deadliest city in America when it comes to Labor Day driving, according to this study. Stay safe this weekend.

—The schedule for the 2022-23 Louisville swim and dive season is out.

—Banners up.

—Malik Cuningham is 100/1 to win the Heisman Trophy according to BetOnline.

—WLKY news director Fred Cowgill has dropped his lawsuit against Trinity High School.

—Will Stein makes this Athletic list of the top college football assistants to keep an eye on this season.

35. Will Stein, UTSA, co-OC, QB coach

Another really young guy at only 32, the former Louisville quarterback was a very successful OC at Lake Travis High in Texas. Stein has played a key role in UTSA’s rise under Jeff Traylor and was promoted from WR coach to co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks last January. With a really talented QB in Frank Harris back, look for Stein and the Roadrunners to get even hotter in 2022.

—Syracuse had a prolific rushing attack last season, and then brought in a new offensive coordinator to help bolster its passing attack. Without any 2022 film to scout, Louisville is having to prepare for both.

—Scotty Davenport and the Bellarmine Knights are once again playing a brutal non-conference schedule that starts with Louisville.

—The CJ previews Friday night’s tilt between Male and St. X.

—This is really well done.

—UMass tops ESPN’s first “Bottom 10” rankings for the 2022 college football season.

—An underrated and aggressive Syracuse defense will be waiting for Louisville Saturday night.

—Fifteen years ago today, Appalachian State — led heroically by young QB coach Scott Satterfield — stunned the Michigan Wolverines.

—Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander talk straight Louisville on the latest episode of their Eye on College Basketball Podcast. Neither are expecting great things from the Cardinals in Kenny Payne’s first season.

—The CJ has the latest on Louisville’s recruitment of Central sophomore RB Cortez Stone.

—Here’s what Bryan Hudson and MoMo Sanogo had to say about Syracuse.

—Louisville will hope to avoid joining this list when it heads to Orlando in week two.

—A felony charge against Montrezl Harrell on trafficking marijuana has been reduced to possession of marijuana and a misdemeanor, a judge ruled on Wednesday. If he’s in good legal standing for next 12 months, the misdemeanor will be removed from record.

—Jeff Greer’s latest hoops newsletter focuses on Kenny Payne’s recent comments pertaining to other schools negatively recruiting against Louisville.

“I wasn’t prepared for universities to say, ‘Louisville’s going on probation — why would you ever go there?’ to deter these kids from listening,” Payne said. “And especially from people I’ve helped in the past. It’s a lesson for me. As I’ve taken this job, and I hate to say this, my relationships with certain people who have been in my life for 30, 40 years have changed. And that hurts me.”

So, you can read into “people I’ve helped in the past” or “certain people who have been in my life for 30, 40 years.” And you might also wonder how Payne could possibly be unprepared for other schools to negative recruit against his new program when everyone just assumes that happens. But really, to me, the biggest point in all of this is: Here is a head coach of a program flat-out saying other schools use the NCAA investigation against them. That is noteworthy, even if it seems rather obvious.

Now, how do we quantify the impact? That’s still tough to do — unless a prospect comes out and says some variation of “I was going to pick Louisville but didn’t because of the NCAA investigation.” But the early returns in Payne’s recruiting efforts, primarily in the spring transfer market, are, well, a mixed bag. The Cards landed Brandon Huntley-Hatfield via Tennessee and locked up a spring commitment from former LSU pledge Devin Ree. But they whiffed on a number of big-name transfers to help in the backcourt. Did opposing coaches and rival shoe companies get in the ears of transfers about the looming IARP decision? How much of a factor was that? A lot? Not at all? Somewhere in between?

That’s the next step in this saga, and it’s one we on the outside may never get to take. But boy, would we all love to know if a recruit or their parent has flat-out told Louisville’s coaches that they won’t matriculate because of the NCAA inquiry — and if that decision started on their own or via a conversation with someone with skin in the game. That, and really only that, would provide the final, quantifiable piece to help us fully measure the impact of the NCAA investigation stemming from the FBI’s 2017 inquiry. In the meantime, we just have a coach’s confirmation that negative recruiting about NCAA stuff happens — I would certainly do it if I was a coach recruiting vs. U of L. That, of course, along with the amount of money this entire five-year slog has cost the school and its athletics department.

—The ninth-ranked Louisville field hockey team will face Penn and No. 13 Princeton in Chapel Hill this weekend as part of the ACC/Ivy League Conference Crossover event. Here’s a preview.

—The CJ’s Alexis Cubit makes five bold predictions for the 2022 Louisville football season.

—I am very excited for West Virginia/Pitt tonight.

—Louisville baseball has received a commitment from class of 2025 P/OF Zane Stahl from Michigan.

—Eight former Louisville players — Lamar Jackson (Ravens), Teddy Bridgewater (Dolphins), DeVante Parker (Patriots), Jaire Alexander (Packers), TuTu Atwell (Rams), Geron Christian (Chiefs), Jonathan Greenard (Texans) and Sheldon Rankins (Jets) — have made NFL 53-man rosters.

—Seems good.

—Stewart Mandel puts Virginia on FCS upset alert in his week one mailbag for The Athletic. The Cavaliers are hosting Richmond.

—The Field of 68 has an interesting look at the different standards for retiring jersey numbers at various college basketball programs.

—Louisville men’s basketball’s student managers ask the Cardinal players some hard-hitting questions.

—Love an offensive lineman today.

—This piece from The Athletic on college football recruiting truths and myths has some really interesting notes.

—Rick Bozich has three takeaways from Scott Satterfield’s pre-Syracuse press conference.

—Starting with tonight’s Backyard Brawl, the ACC will look to reverse its recent trend of absolutely sucking in week one.

—The U of L women’s soccer team is on the road tonight to take on No. 23 Memphis State at 7 p.m. Here’s a preview.

—In the same ESPN coaching carousel (insider) story, Scott Satterfield is listed as being on the hot seat and then one paragraph later as a potential candidate for the North Carolina job if it opens. What a sport.

The ACC projects as a likelier spot for carousel action. Georgia Tech is the only true hot-seat situation, but other coaches are facing pressure to deliver. Syracuse’s Dino Babers is just 11-24 since a 10-win season and a No. 15 AP finish in 2018. Florida State’s Mike Norvell is 8-13 entering his third season. Several industry insiders noted the hefty guarantees both coaches are owed from the schools. Norvell in particular has built strong relationships in and around the program. But bowl eligibility might be required of both.

Louisville’s Scott Satterfield has had a strong offseason, especially on the recruiting trail. But he’s just 10-14 since 2019, and lost goodwill with some Louisville fans during South Carolina’s coaching search in 2020. He has a good relationship with new athletic director Josh Heird, who oversaw football under previous AD Vince Tyra. But a sub-.500 season would put pressure on Heird to make a change. Purdue coach Jeff Brohm, a Louisville alum and a member of the city’s most famous football family, didn’t close the door on returning to his alma mater while speaking at a high school there in May.

North Carolina also is a program to watch, as coach Mack Brown turned 71 on Saturday. If Brown retires and Louisville has a strong season, Satterfield would be a candidate to return to his home state, where he had great success at Appalachian State.

—The Big 12 has opened “early discussions” with ESPN and Fox for its new TV deal.

—Class of 2024 big man Gabe Grant from Brewster Academy is on an unofficial visit to U of L today.

—If you missed it yesterday, a new episode of the CC Podcast is available.

—Jamarion Harkless to Louisville appears to be back on the table.

—Top 10 hoops recruit AJ Johnson has confirmed that he’ll be at Louisville Live next month.

—Kenny Payne says that despite only being on the job for a few months, he’s already seeing growth in his players.

—Josh Heird fields a few questions on NIL and collectives in this video.

—The latest episode of the From the Pink Seats podcast previews Saturday night’s game against Syracuse.

—Stats.

—Garry McPeek has been named as the acting head football coach at Eastern Kentucky, where current head coach Walt Wells suffered a cardiac episode last weekend. The Colonels open up their season tomorrow night at Eastern Michigan.

—Pro Football Focus ranks the best draft prospects at each position in college football, and features Jermayne Lole as the No. 3 interior defensive lineman.

—Bryan Brown is extremely confident that his fourth Louisville defense is the one that will take a giant step forward.

—TNIAAM has five things to watch for during Syracuse vs. Louisville.

Christian - The elephant in the room

Well, no one said it until this point.

We can talk about Sean Tucker’s excellence and the talent Syracuse has at linebacker and cornerback. At the end of the day, this Orange team is going as far as Garrett Shrader can take them. We still don’t know if Shrader’s arm improved in 11-vs-11 action. A new offensive system may help put the Syracuse quarterback in better positions, but it still comes down to him to execute the vision. The bar and tone has to be set now because Orange fans are not going to have a high level of tolerance. With a potentially better option waiting in the wings in Carlos Del-Rio Wilson and Justin Lamson (later down the line if he’s available this season), Shrader needs to show that he can connect on passes with consistency.

—Our own Cardinal Strong also answered some questions about the game for the TNIAAM crew.

—Everyone keeps pointing to the last two matchups, but ever since Louisville has joined the ACC, no one has dominated Syracuse like the Cardinals.

—College Football News previews the Cards.

—And finally, the Mike Rutherford Show is back from 3-5 this afternoon to keep game week rolling and get ready for tonight’s action. You can listen live on 1450 AM, 96.1 FM, or streaming here.