Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—After a strong fall performance, U of L is currently ranked No. 4 in the Capital One Cup women’s standings.

—Four-star TE Jamari Johnson has been committed to Louisville for months but did not sign with the Cards on National Signing Day. He’s been heavily pursued by Oregon in recent months, and is now set to announce his official decision during the All-American Bowl on Saturday.

The buzz indicates that U of L appears to be in good shape thanks largely to Johnson’s affinity for how Jeff Brohm uses his tight ends.

“Those are my guys,” he said of UofL’s new staff. “I went down there for a visit, they called me a few times and they made a house visit. We’ve been talking a lot.”

During those discussions, the important role of the tight end position in a Jeff Brohm offense was highlighted.

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” Johnson said of Brohm’s offense. “When I went down there for a visit, he showed me a tape and everything they did at Purdue. The numbers and stats. It was beautiful.”

—Miami DL TJ Capers, the No. 5 overall player in the class of 2024 according to Rivals, is announcing his college decision on Saturday. At least on recruiting expert believes U of L is in good shape to nab what would be the highest-rated football recruit to ever commit to the Cardinals.

Overview: Although it’s about a year until National Signing Day for the 2024 class, Capers seems ready to make his decision with Louisville, Georgia, Colorado, Miami and USC as his five finalists.

The Miami (Fla.) Columbus five-star linebacker will absolutely still be pursued after his commitment this weekend but it looks like the Cardinals are the favorite at this point. The new staff has come on for Capers and he loves the defensive system and how involved the linebackers are in it.

Prediction: Louisville

—Dylan Stephenson, a top 100 prospect from the class of 2024 who just so happens to be a teammate of Capers, has trimmed his list of schools to 10 — Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn State and Tennessee.

—As if all of that news wasn’t good enough, we also have Georgia State transfer WR Jamari Thrash visiting Louisville today. The dynamic playmaker is No. 14 in The Athletic’s list of the best overall players currently available in the transfer portal.

14. WR Jamari Thrash, Georgia State

Thrash developed into one of the top wideouts in the Sun Belt over his four years at Georgia State and took his game to another level in 2022, leading the conference with 1,122 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 61 receptions. The first-team All-Sun Belt selection is a 6-foot, 180-pound playmaker whose 14 catches of 30-plus yards ranked third-most in FBS. He put up a career-high 213 yards on 10 catches against Charlotte early in the year and closed out with three consecutive 100-yard games. Thrash has lined up visits to Auburn and Louisville since entering the portal.

—Don’t mess with our punters, Prime. This is what happens.

—Louisville has offered Virginia OL transfer John Paul Flores. Flores was an All-Ivy League selection at Dartmouth before transferring to UVA.

—Highlights from last night’s women’s basketball victory over Georgia Tech are here.

—Texas has fired men’s basketball head coach Chris Beard following his December arrest on domestic violence charges.

—It’s never great when your attorney has a typo in the name of your profession in the very first line of your official statement.

—Texas is also making it very clear that they are fully armed if Beard is even contemplating a wrongful termination lawsuit.

—Seth Davis says John Calipari will get a call from Texas about its coaching vacancy. Eric Bossi has Rick Pitino on the Longhorns’ short list.

If he’s able to finish out a successful season with all the talent on that roster, I think the smart money is on interim Rodney Terry. If he isn’t, all bets are off.

—Wake Forest transfer QB Sam Hartman has officially announced his transfer to Notre Dame, which means he’ll be making an appearance inside Cardinal Stadium for a second straight season. Here’s hoping his 2023 visit goes just as swimmingly as his 2022 one did.

—The Keg will never leave Louisville. This shirt is letting everyone know.

—Lamar Jackson is officially out for this weekend’s game against the Bengals.

—UCLA outside hitter Charitie Luper is transferring to Louisville to be a part of the 2023 volleyball Cardinals.

—Pierce Clarkson has been impressive during practice this week for the All-American Bowl.

—Congrats to Sheldon Rankins on still being a very good guy.

—This story about the immediate response that saved Damar Hamlin’s life is terrific.

—Pierce Clarkson says he can’t wait to start learning from Jeff Brohm.

—Kade Elam, a Louisville baseball signee, has also been named the QB of the Year in the 13th Region.

—Rolling Stone’s list of the 200 greatest singers of all-time is getting shit on by everyone, and deservedly so.

—Iowa topped Indiana by two last night, but the story of the game was Fran McCaffery doing Fran McCaffery stuff.

The technical foul that was signaled for in that video was eventually revoked, and Mike Woodson minced zero words after the game about his thoughts on the matter.

Might be the best soundbite of the season thus far.

—The latest episode of the Pink Seats Podcast breaks down new Cardinal QB Jack Plummer.

—It sounds like Virginia QB Brennan Armstrong could be on the move to NC State, as the ACC maintains its reputation for being the most incestuous conference in history.

—Louisville signee Kaleb Glenn (formerly of Male High) has had a good week at the LaPorte Civic Auditorium. He didn’t have the best offensive performance on Thursday, but still helped La Lumiere grind out a victory.

—Matt McGavic likes Wake Forest over Louisville by nine on Saturday.

—Mykasa Robinson came up huge for the Cards Thursday night.

—Apparently a man passed out in the bushes outside the Milwaukee Brewers’ stadium after a game and, upon awakening, entered the team’s clubhouse and stole electronics, a credit card, team memorabilia and other items.

—Cardinal Authority’s podcast discusses the addition of new transfer WR Kevin Coleman.

—Friday Irrelevance:

—Jeff Walz and Kenny Payne both have one primary concern as they get into the new year: Turnovers.

—U of L CB signee Aaron Williams is set to have ACL surgery.

—And finally, Matt McGavic will be back in studio with me this afternoon as we put a cap on The Mike Rutherford Show for this week. You can listen from 3-6 on 1450 AM, 96.1 FM or stream the show here.