Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—If you missed it yesterday, Jeff Brohm has brought in former 5-star quarterback recruit Harrison Bailey. Bailey, who is coming to Louisville as a walk-on, spent the first two seasons of his college career at Tennessee before playing for UNLV last season.

—Brohm also landed a commitment today from Georgia State defensive tackle transfer Jeffery Clark. Clark had been ranked as the seventh-best player in the portal by On3.

—With the latest additions, Louisville has now moved ahead of Colorado to have the No. 1 transfer class in the country.

—Kentucky is among seven SEC schools that want the league to expand to a 9-game conference schedule, a move that could end the U of L-UK football series.

—247 Sports reacts to Louisville landing Harrison Bailey and Joey Gatewood in the transfer portal this week.

—Fabio Basili is headed to UT-Arlington, which means all seven of the scholarship players who left the men’s basketball program this offseason have now found homes.

Basili - UT-Arlington
Jae’Lyn Withers — North Carolina
El Ellis — Arkansas
Kamari Lands — Arizona State
Roosevelt Wheeler — VCU
Sydney Curry — Grand Canyon
Devin Ree — Louisiana Tech

Best of luck to all of them with the rest of their college careers.

—No better way to kick off a holiday weekend than with this picture.

—The U of L men’s tennis doubles duo of sophomore Natan Rodrigues and graduate senior Fabien Salle saw their NCAA tournament run end in the quarterfinals.

—CBS updates its early college hoops power rankings here.

—ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg attempts to rank the best offenses in college football for the next three seasons. He has Louisville at No. 24.

24. Louisville Cardinals

2023 future QB power ranking: Not ranked

2022 future offense power ranking: Not ranked

Scouting the Cardinals: Louisville falls into the projection category, but the offense should become a regular in this list, perhaps even in the top 10 under new coach Jeff Brohm. The mix of Brohm’s deep Louisville roots and his chops as an offensive innovator set up the program very well through 2025. Louisville has capitalized on the portal, adding two quarterbacks (Cal’s Jack Plummer and Purdue’s Brady Allen) who know Brohm, and bolstering other areas such as wide receiver and offensive line. Plummer, who played under Brohm at Purdue before spending last season as Cal’s starter, is set to lead the unit this fall. Allen, an ESPN 300 recruit in 2022, should be a bigger factor in 2024 and 2025, along with incoming ESPN four-star recruit Pierce Clarkson and others. They will throw to a somewhat new-look receiving corps, which includes transfers Jamari Thrash (Georgia Southern), Jadon Thompson (Cincinnati), Jimmy Calloway (Tennessee) and Kevin Coleman (Jackson State). Thrash, a redshirt junior, led the Sun Belt in receiving yards (1,122) last season, while Coleman earned SWAC Freshman of the Year at Jackson State. Junior Ahmari Huggins-Bruce also should see a bigger role under Brohm, who adds ESPN 300 recruit William Fowles and has a very appealing offense to future prospects.

Louisville lost talented linemen but also added some through the portal in tackles Willie Tyler III (Rutgers), Eric Miller (Purdue) and Lance Robinson (Houston), as well as guard John Paul Flores (Virginia). The transfers could make up most of Louisville’s starting line in 2023, although senior center Bryan Hudson returns, along with versatile junior Michael Gonzalez. Junior Joshua Black is a good depth piece, and Madden Sanker, ESPN’s No. 134 recruit for 2023, should help for 2024 and 2025. Rushing leader Jawhar Jordan returns with two years of eligibility left, and Louisville added Wisconsin transfer Isaac Guerendo. Sophomore Maurice Turner had 65 carries as a freshman, and Louisville has a 2024 pledge from the ESPN 300 in Isaac Brown. The team is thin at tight end after some transfer exits, and freshman Jamari Johnson could play right away.

—Louisville started the week with a shooting over a hot pocket, and it ends it with a shooting over wrapping paper. Beyond ridiculous.

—Jeff Goodman has Louisville’s current head coach at No. 1 on his hot seat rankings and its former head coach at No. 1 on his best hires rankings.

—Former U of L hoops assistant Tim Fuller (FULLLLEEEERRRRRR) is back as the final assistant on Kim English’s first staff at Providence.

—WDRB’s Rick Bozich is among five people headed to the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame.

—Kentucky hoops transfer Daimion Collins is headed to LSU.

—This is a bonkers stat, but folks, the Bats are back.

—The KFC Yum Center will host a record number of concerts in 2023.

—Edgar Sosa scored 33 points to lead his latest professional club to an Iraqi league championship.

—Our friend Art Carmody is the guest on the latest episode of the From the Pink Seats podcast.

—I’ll take it.

—Jeff Greer and Brooks Holton chat it up on the latest episode of Floyd Street’s Finest.

—Louisville center Bryan Hudson is excelling in two sports at U of L.

—Louisville’s 2023 football schedule is rated among the easiest in power conference football here.

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

—Dennis Evans repped the Cards at his high school graduation.

—The ACC is moving towards a model that allows its schools to make more money based on their postseason performances.

—Chinanu Onuaku is the latest member of Louisville’s TBT team.

—A pair of Louisville commits have led reigning state champion St. X to the 7th Region finals. They’ll face Eastern tonight at 5:30 at Jim Patterson Stadium.

—Bobby Miller’s Dodger debut was solid.

Reports that Dan McDonnell and Josh Heird were in Atlanta to take in the start together made the evening even better.

—YaYa Diaby is already putting in that work.

—With less than 100 days to go until the start of college football, Chip Patterson of CBS looks at the biggest storylines heading into the season.

—I’ll miss Norika forever.

—The latest S&P Projections for the upcoming college football season have Louisville at No. 36.

—The Portland Festival has been rescheduled for October.

—Racing Louisville has won three in a row and would love a packed house Saturday night at Lynn Family Stadium. You can get tickets for just $15 here.

—U of L football’s offseason transfer count is now at 25 players.

—And finally, the Rutherford Show wraps up the week this afternoon from 3-6 on 1450 The Big X. You can stream it here.