LOUISVILLE, Ky (WDRB) -- On the day the University of Louisville basketball program announced it hit the pause button on voluntary workouts after two program members tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Russ Yeast said the football program pushed forward through the work required to beat North Carolina State (Sept. 2) and others on the Cardinals’ schedule.
“Right now, I'm pretty confident we'll have a season, and that's the only thing I can prepare for at this point,” said Yeast, a senior defensive back. “We can't continue to prepare thinking we're not going to have a season, and everything we're hearing is that everything is still on schedule. So we have to keep pushing ahead.”
Even on a day when basketball announced two positive cases? Is that a discouraging or frightening development?
“You've got to look at it with a grain of salt, because it's all over the country,” Yeast said. “It's not something we're going to be able to get away from. We have to go about our business like usual.
“We're taking all the precautions we need to, doing it as safe as possible while trying to prepare for the season. We're going to prepare for the season until they say there is no season. So there isn't really anything you need to be scared of.”
That’s the way it is: One program stopping cannot affect another program’s resolve.
That’s the way has to be. You cannot prepare to play winning football if you allow doubt to creep into your mind about whether the schedule will begin, continue and finish, all 12 games.
If the season goes, and Yeast returns as the dynamic player he became at safety last season, his story will be a story of tackling adversity. A year after he nearly left the program because of dissatisfaction with the previous coaching staff, Yeast became a signature contributor with the Cardinals’ defense, thriving under head coach Scott Satterfield and defensive coordinator Bryan Brown.
Yeast finished fifth on the team with 61 tackles. He broke up four passes. He forced two fumbles. Then he missed the Kentucky game after suffering a lower leg injury against Syracuse that required surgery.
While most of his teammates returned home in March because of the pandemic, Yeast remained in Louisville, dedicated to his rehab.
He said he was not 100% cleared — yet. Yeast said he was healthy, strong and would be ready to go in game one. Yeast said that he realized this could be a strange and challenging season, especially for a senior.
Didn’t matter. He is here to play.
Fear? No. Anxiety? Sure. Football is a game of routine. Who wouldn’t be unsettled by the difficult four months we have endured.
“It's something I personally think about every day, coming back rehabbing, working hard every day trying to get back,” Yeast said. “To do all this work and come back and not have a season would be pretty tough.
“Or to even come back and have an altered season would be tough on all of us too. At the end of the day, it is what it is, but I hope we have a full season.”
The Cardinals lost about half of their 15 spring practices. They have missed time in summer conditioning. They returned in groups to begin their socially distanced preparation the 2020 season.
How has the preparation this June and early July compared to what the team did a year ago before the 8-5 season?
“Right now, it’s really pretty similar to where we were last year at this time as far as the things that we’re doing,” Yeast said. “We had to makeup a lot of time. We can’t really do as much reps or so. But we’re doing a lot of the same stuff and it’s been real difficult.
“I’d say we’re really close to being in pretty good shape as a team and being close to where we were at this time last year.
“So I think everybody did a really good job of coming back in shape and the strength guys are doing a really good job of getting us prepared.”
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