Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—The CJ’s Alexis Cubit projects Louisville’s starters for next week’s season-opener against Georgia Tech.

—2023 Louisville football schedule posters are now available at area Kroger locations.

—The U of L men’s soccer team kicked off its 2023 season with an impressive 1-0 victory over No. 16 Tulsa. Full match highlights are here.

—The boys were excited.

—The women’s soccer team continued the slow start to its 2023 season with a 2-1 road loss to Dayton. The Cards are now 0-2-1 on the year.

—The ACC appears to be closing in on expansion with Cal, Stanford and SMU. Probably. Maybe. It’s possible.

—Jason Kirk has a viewing guide for college football’s week zero.

—Week two Kentucky high school football picks are made here.

—Freshman QB Pierce Clarkson continues to improve this summer for Jeff Brohm.

“I just had to stay locked in mentally, since I physically couldn’t be out there with the team every day working with them,” he said. “It was more of a mental battle. I had to sit in my playbook at home. I had to watch practice extra hard to see what they were doing, watch film, the cutups, just to get that extra knowledge that I was missing out on, and the actual reps I was missing out on every day that they were getting.”

Fast forward to fall camp, Clarkson was able to finally take to the practice fields for the first time. Of course, over the first couple open practices, he did have the typical “freshman moments” that are expected from any newcomer taking some of their first reps.

But after a while, the California native started to settle in, and what made him such a highly-regarded prospect coming out of high school was on full display. During some of the later open practices, Clarkson was demonstrating a poise and decisiveness that is not normally seen out of true freshman, while his accuracy and ability to deliver the ball on the run was noteworthy and consistent.

“I feel like camp has been going good for me,” he said towards the end of fall camp. “Taking it day-by-day, and every day just keep improving. For myself, these are my first real reps at the college level. Just going through practices every day since I did miss the spring.

“But I’ve been feeling good and better out there every day I’ve been out there. Just knowing the knowledge I need to have, knowing the playbook, knowing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing, knowing where the ball is supposed to be. I’ve been feeling a lot more comfortable out there since the time I first stepped on the field.”

—Matt Miller of ESPN has a new first round NFL mock draft for 2024. It does not feature any Cardinals.

—The latest Cardinal Sports Zone podcast is here.

—The 2023 USA Basketball Men’s National Basketball Team gets World Cup competition underway against New Zealand on Saturday at 8:40 a.m. ET. The game can be seen in the United States on ESPN2/ESPN+.

—The ACC Network was in the house earlier this week.

—Bookies are now giving odds and whether or not Reggie Bush will win his defamation suit against the NCAA.

—The latest episode of the From the Pink Seats podcast is here.

—Connor Orr of Sports Illustrated predicts the result of every single NFL game of the 2023 season.

—Gorgeous.

—Jawhar Jordan is stepping up as a role model and leader for the U of L running back room.

—The U of L volleyball team begins its march towards a national championship tonight against Troy in the first game of the Cardinal Classic. Louisville will face No. 21 Washington State on Saturday night, and Wright State on Sunday afternoon.

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

—Friday Irrelevance:

—Cardinal Authority highlights five freshmen who should make an impact during the first year of the Jeff Brohm era at Louisville.

—Pitbull is performing at Waterfront Park this weekend. Tickets are still available.

—Cardinal Authority is keeping tabs on where U of L football commitments are playing this evening.

—Dana is still a beast.

—What are the five toughest games on this year’s Cardinal football schedule?

—The Louisville Bats edged the Toledo Mudhens thanks to an 8th inning rally last night.

—And finally, the Mike Rutherford Show is wrapping up the week back at the Kentucky State Fair from 3-6 this afternoon on 1450 The Big X. You can stream the show here.