By Rick Bozich
WDRB Sports
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The University of Louisville football team shared its depth chart for the Cardinals’ season opener against Alabama Saturday night in Orlando, Florida.
A look at the starting lineup from the Cardinals' season finale against Mississippi State last season shows that only nine guys who started in the TaxSlayer Bowl are scheduled to start against Nick Saban’s team.
The breakdown is six on offense and three on defense.
The players on offense are guards Kenny Thomas and Lukayus McNeil, center Cole Bentley (tackle in the bowl game), receivers Jaylen Smith and Seth Dawkins and tight end Kemari Averett.
On defense, here are the three: end Jon Greenard, linebacker Dorian Etheridge and strong safety Dee Smith.
Here are coach Bobby Petrino’s answers to the five most interesting questions he was asked about his team and Alabama on Monday afternoon.
Question: What is the status of Jaylen Smith, who returned to practice late last week from an emergency appendectomy?
PETRINO: “I was excited to see the shape that he’s in and how he was able to handle the load in practice, the reps and be able to do pretty much everything and anything.
“He did go through the scrimmage or the mock game the other night. He did a nice job, caught some nice passes. So that was good to see. I think he’s in good condition and ready to go. I was happy about that.
“That’s a credit to our trainers and the other things that we have to allow kids to condition. The underground treadmill. The other treadmill that lowers your weight. The ability to go ahead and condition when you’re not fully healthy.”
Question: Alabama is certain to use two quarterbacks — Jalen Hurts, the starter for most of the last two seasons and Tua Tagovailoa, who rallied the Tide to a victory over Georgia in the national championship game win January?
What is the challenge of preparing for two guys?
PETRINO: “Yeah, and one of them (Tua) has only played a half and cranked the ball deep. Really did a great job of throwing the football.
“We’ve been having to prepare for both of them. They both can run. They’re both big, 220-pound guys that can run with big hips. They’re hard to tackle. So the thing we have to do is get in position to make the tackle when they do run
“And do a great job of form tackling and getting extra guys to the ball. They’re very sound of everything that they do, protection, run game. Their RPO (run-pass option) game that they do.
“We’ve got to be able to recognize splits and formations and tips. Try to have an idea what’s coming before the ball is snapped.”
Question: How pleased with defensive development under new coordinator Brian VanGorder?
PETRINO: “I liked our camp. Like I said last week, our attitude and our toughness and our commitment to effort has really showed up in camp. I felt like the other night that our assignments and speed, we were playing faster because we knew what we were doing. There wasn’t a lot of hesitation out there.
“So I was happy with the way we ran the football, the way we tackled and the attitude that we’re playing with is what you need.”
Question: You played Nick Saban and Alabama four times when you were the coach at Arkansas. What are the characteristics of a Nick Saban team and what makes the Crimson Tide so successful?
PETRINO: “They’re always really good at stopping the run and working to stop the run. Technique and fundamentals and being sound or being pressured. Pressuring you with run pressures to try to stop the run.
“Then they’ve got guys that can really rush the passer. They do a good job. They’ve always done a good job of adjusting during the game, too.
“That’s one of the things that we noticed from them before that they’re going to come out in the second half and have a couple of new things that we didn’t see in the first half, particularly on third down.
Question: Have you made a final decision on assistant coach Chris Klenakis, who was suspended from coaching activities last week?
PETRINO: “Nothing has changed there. No, he’s not coaching Saturday.”
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