By Charlie Lefflersports Editor
“Football and Spring ball. The two seasons of the sporting world.” Louisville head coach John L. Smith declared enthusiastically as he’s ready for a new year to begin.
As Smith steps into his fifth year at the helm of the Cardinal football program he is looking forward to the possibility of a three-peat C-USA championship as well as national prominence.
In his own words, Smith described what spring ball will entail.
“Tomorrow we get cranking and it’s going to be a different kind of year,” said Smith. “We have to go ahead and rebuild our offensive front. So, that’s going to be crucial this spring along with bringing in a new offensive line coach, new offensive coordinator, there’s going to a lot of loose ends we’re going to have to be sure we get tied up. Plus finding out if we have some receivers who are going to step it up.”
“It’s rebuild the offense a little bit, refine the kicking game and the defense and solidify those things.”
New Coaches:
The new coaches are all getting on the same page. We’ve been meeting for the last few weeks just trying to get everything that we’re going to change. If we’re going to bring in anything new that we may want to do, say from an Arizona State or from a Purdue, different ideas that these coaches bring to the table, we’ve got to get that mix in. It’s a matter of just getting people into place and getting all on the same page.
Offense:
Offensively there are a lot of question marks and a lot of things that we’re going to have to get done and solidified this spring.
We’ve kind of got all of the linemen looking at it as if ‘this thing is wide open.’ We’ve got a new coach. No perceived ideas about what’s going to take place, who we are and we all have an opportunity to step in and start.
We’ve got some preconceived ideas, he (Danny Hope) comes in without that. Then he’s able to watch us work out and do things and form him own opinions. I think right now the one returning guy you’ve got who’s going to stabilize things is Danny Koons. We’ve got to end up with the five best players on the field and hopefully as I’ve always said in the past, if we’re able to come up with three other guys then we’ve got enough guys to win.
(Travis Leffew) He’s there. It’s not really a try out (moving from defense to offense) he’s going to be athletic. He’s brings a toughness to that side of the ball as well. He and (Jason) Spitz being the redshirts last year, I think they’re going to bring a new attitude to a degree over there and a new aestheticism. Right now we would not plan on bringing him back.
Jason Hilliard has had a good off season. It’s time for him to step up, big frame, big body, can run. Jason Weathers, another guy that’s had a tremendous off-season. I mean, he’s done more in the off-season this year than he ever has in the past and has looked better than he ever has in the past. Those being two, it’s going to be a free-for-all out there.
If they can step up and block that No. 1 D-(defensive) line, then they’re going to be okay. Cause I expect us to be real good on that side of the ball.
We’ve got to count on those wideouts. Not only a J.R., but a Tiger (Jones) or an Antoine Harris. Those guys have to make a big step this year. They’ve kind of gotten through with being backups, allowing to drop a few balls, things like that. Well, they can’t do that any longer. They’ve got to take that to a new level. They need a lot of catching the ball and a lot of playing time.
I think we’re really athletic. I think we’ve really got some depth there. Hopefully one or two guys really come to the surface and kind of stand out. That’s what you’re kind of hoping happens. Somebody just elevates themselves. Some guys over there are capable of doing that. If that doesn’t happen then we’re in trouble.
As we go along in spring ball, you may see a guy like Dave (Ragone) not getting very many (plays). We’re going to have to end up finding out who that backup is going to be. So, that’s going to be a battle this spring. Not only trying to get them as many snaps as possible but deciding who the backup’s going to be and getting him as many snaps as possible. So that’s kind of crucial over there as well.
It’s kind of up for grabs. You kind of start them off like you’ve got them on the depth chart, but it’s going to be exciting to let them go out and fight it out.
We’re going to try to give him (Ragone) a few snaps to keep him in the mix and light it up an little bit, but we can’t give him a ton. We’re going to try to add some things that I think will be exciting for David. I think it will help us out. I think you’ll see us moving him a little bit more than we have in the past.
(At running back) There’s some good competition going there. I really expect (Lionel) Gates to give them a run. In fact he’s got enough talent that if he’s not starting he will have a cowboy boot added to his anatomy. I really think Henry Miller is going to add something. Henry has made strides every year. Nobody’s going to run harder or work harder than Henry.
Defense:
On the defensive side, you’ve got a lot of guys coming back. Those guys have got to get better all the way around. We have to put the pressure on the defense this year and say, ‘you’re the guys who are going to have to step up and win us the league championship this year. And offensively we just put enough points on the board to get it done.
Like I’ve always said in the past. We can go out and score 50, and we can win some football games. But for us to really be a championship football team we have to play good defense. And I think the last two years we’ve played good defense. This year we should be able to lay better defense. We’re relying on doing that. So I expect us to be of championship caliber. And if we need to score seven to win. Then we score seven to win. Those guys should be a lot better.
I’m thinking the competition (for positions) will get better every year. Hopefully (Tyrone) Saterfield can add to that competition. (Keeshan) Lowe on the inside, now he’s had a year after junior college and he’s had a great off-season. Those are two guys you have to add to the mix. It may be such that we have such good inside players that Bobby Leffew lines up at defensive end. There’s some exciting things could happen over there.
Special Teams:
We’ll be working more kicking game this spring than we have in the past. Both kicker, punter being back we’ve got to be able to rely a little bit more on our kicking game to win us some games than we have in the past.
“We’ve got to come out of spring ball with a definite idea of who we’re going to play,” said Smith.
Spring football practice begins Tuesday. Practices are open to the public and will be at the U of L Football Complex on Tuesdays, Wednesday’s and Fridays, normally at 3:30 p.m. Saturday scrimmage games will normally be played at 9:00 a.m.
