Louisville Cardinals Football

Rueben Owens is headed to Louisville.

The 5-star running back announced his commitment to the school Monday, choosing Louisville over Texas and Texas A&M.

Owens originally committed to Texas but reopened his commitment in June. The El Campo, Texas, product still kept the Longhorns in the mix but took several visits as he attempted to determine his next stop.

"We're just going to open it up and make sure we're making the right choice for him and making sure he's making the right choice," Owens' father told Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports.

Owens is ranked as the No. 16 overall player in the 2023 class and No. 1 running back, per 247Sports' composite rankings. Equipped with strong breakaway speed and flashing solid hands, Owens has the profile of a running back who could step in and make an instant impact at the next level. He's compiled 5,308 yards and 76 touchdowns on the ground over three seasons for El Campo.

247Sports profiled Owens as a T.J. Yeldon-type runner. Yeldon had a highly successful career at Alabama before playing six NFL seasons.

Owens is the 10th player to sign with Louisville in the 2023 class, which is ranked No. 11 among all schools.

Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham made history on Thursday night in the Cardinals' 62-22 win over Duke.

Cunningham accounted for seven touchdowns, five through the air and two on the ground, and threw for 303 yards while adding 224 rushing yards. He became the second player in FBS history to pass for at least 300 yards and rush for at least 200 yards in the same game, joining Washington's Marques Tuiasosopo, who did so in 1999.

Cunningham didn't even play the final 12 minutes of the game as Louisville improved to 6-5 and 4-4 in the ACC. It was the first time since November 2019 that the Cardinals have won consecutive conference games, as they defeated Syracuse 41-3 on Saturday.

Cunningham ran the ball 11 times and completed 18-of-25 passes. His rushing scores were for 44 and 72 yards in the second quarter. All five of his passing touchdowns went to different receivers. 

"I felt I could have done better," Cunningham said after the game. "I left a couple yards out there."

Cunningham actually entered the game at less than 100 percent. He said he was "feeling pretty bad throughout the week" as he dealt with an illness.

The Blue Devils tried to generate pressure on Cunningham, but he used his speed to beat their blitzes and he also made good decisions from the pocket. Duke has allowed at least 45 points in each of its last five games, all losses.

"When Malik broke the line of scrimmage, there wasn’t anybody there," Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield said. "He had a calm about him, a great poise tonight. He let the offense come to him. But when it was time to shine, he did."

The Cardinals will be back in action for their final regular-season game on Nov. 27 at home against Kentucky.

Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson will be honored with a statue at the University of Louisville outside Cardinal Stadium.

Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra announced the news Monday on the Deener Show (h/t Shawn Barbour of Cardinals Sports Zone).

The statue will be placed at the main entrance alongside fellow Louisville great Johnny Unitas, who also went on to a great professional career in Baltimore.

Jackson was the first Cardinals player to win the Heisman Trophy in 2016 during a season in which he totaled 30 passing touchdowns and 21 rushing touchdowns.

Over his final two seasons in college, Jackson totaled 7,203 passing yards, 57 passing touchdowns, 3,172 rushing yards and 39 rushing touchdowns. He won the Heisman in 2016 ahead of other top quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield and Deshaun Watson before finishing third in voting in 2017.

He also earned the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's top quarterback, Maxwell Award as the nation's top player and twice won the ACC Player of the Year award. 

The individual accolades will help him be immortalized at the school alongside Unitas, who went onto be named a Pro Football Hall of Famer.

Jackson will hope for similar success in his professional career and is already on his way with an MVP award in his second NFL season with the Ravens. If he keeps it up, he will be alongside Unitas and Ray Lewis with another statue outside M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. 

Just four months after transferring from Nebraska, quarterback Luke McCaffrey has left Louisville's football program.

According to Ben Kercheval of CBS Sports, Louisville head football coach Scott Satterfield announced McCaffrey's departure during an appearance on ESPN Radio 93.9 The Ville on Wednesday.

Satterfield noted that McCaffrey decided to transfer after it became clear that he wasn't going to beat out Malik Cunningham for the Cardinals' starting quarterback job.

McCaffrey is the younger brother of Carolina Panthers superstar running back Christian McCaffrey and the son of former Denver Broncos wide receiver Ed McCaffrey.

As a redshirt freshman last season, McCaffrey appeared in seven games for the Cornhuskers and started two of them, although he was primarily the backup to Adrian Martinez.

McCaffrey completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 466 yards with one touchdown and six interceptions. While he struggled as a passer, he did plenty of damage with his legs, rushing for 364 yards and three touchdowns on 65 attempts.

At Louisville, McCaffrey was looking to take the starting job from Cunningham, who had an up-and-down season for a 4-7 Cardinals team in 2020.

Cunningham became the full-time starter in 2019, completing 62.4 percent of his passes for 2,061 yards, 22 touchdowns and just five interceptions, and he rushed for 482 yards and six touchdowns.

He didn't take the step forward that the Louisville coaching staff likely hoped for and expected in 2020, though, completing 64.1 percent of his attempts for 2,617 yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 picks, along with 609 yards and seven scores on the ground.

The door was open for McCaffrey usurp Cunningham with a strong performance during the spring, but Satterfield's comments suggest that McCaffrey didn't do enough to earn the job.

It isn't yet known where McCaffrey will transfer, but he will still have four years of eligibility remaining and a chance to reach his lofty potential once he makes the move to a new school.

Former Nebraska quarterback Luke McCaffrey, the brother of Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey, will continue his collegiate career at Louisville, he announced Monday.

The youngest of the three McCaffrey brothers, Luke McCaffrey entered the transfer portal in January after appearing in seven of the Cornhuskers' eight games (making two starts) in 2020.

A redshirt freshman, he threw for 466 yards and a touchdown with six interceptions and rushed for 364 yards and three scores on 65 carries. 

He ended the regular season ranked 16th among all FBS quarterbacks in rushing yards per game with 52. 

The 6'2", 200-pound McCaffrey was ranked as a 4-star recruit in the class of 2019, and his departure could be a major blow to the future of the program. The Colorado native is one of six Nebraska players who are not seniors but transferred out.

He's also not the only member of his family who is on the move this offseason.

The middle McCaffrey brother, Dylan, transferred from Michigan to Northern Colorado, where he will play under their father Ed McCaffrey, who was named head coach in December 2019.

Dylan McCaffrey opted out of the 2020 season and play sparingly before that. The 6'5", 220-pound quarterback redshirted his freshman year and suffered a concussion in 2019. At Michigan, he collected 242 yards on 18-of-35 passing with 166 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground. 

The youngest McCaffrey will join a Louisville program that already has a pair of quarterbacks in redshirt junior Malik Cunningham and sophomore Evan Conley. In 2020, Cunningham threw for 2,617 yards and 20 touchdowns with 12 interceptions while ranking second on the team with 609 rushing yards and seven rushing scores.

Louisville football coach Scott Satterfield wrote a letter apologizing to fans for his interest in the South Carolina job:

Satterfield has spent the past two years with the Cardinals, going 8-5 in 2019 before struggling to a 3-7 mark with one game remaining in 2020.

His name came up regarding the South Carolina opening in November after Will Muschamp was fired, but he reaffirmed his commitment to Louisville on Twitter. It was later revealed he interviewed for the open position, but Satterfield then said it was just a "conversation."

"My intentions were never to leave or go anywhere else, but I thought I owed an obligation just to listen because of where it’s at. That’s it," he said last week, per Cameron Teague Robinson of the Louisville Courier-Journal.

The coach is now apologizing to the season ticket holders and vows to be more honest.

"In the days, weeks and months ahead I will do what is necessary to earn back the trust and support of each and every one of you," Satterfield wrote.

University of Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield said he won't be leaving the school for South Carolina after speaking with the Gamecocks. 

The Cardinals coach told the Louisville Courier-Journal he "owed an obligation just to listen [to South Carolina] because of where it's at."

Satterfield is in his second full season at U of L and has gone 11-12 with the ACC program. The 2019 season was especially revelatory for the coach, who finished with a 8-5 record (5-3 ACC) and a victory over Mississippi State in the Music City Bowl en route to earning ACC Coach of the Year. 

South Carolina fired head coach Will Muschamp on November 14 after five seasons. 

Satterfield told the Courier-Journal he informed Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra of his discussion with South Carolina but said the call as more of a "conversation" than an interview:

"When [South Carolina] reached out, I told Vince they reached out, and I told him I wasn't interested in talking to those guys. Well, they circled back in a week, and so I said I would listen to what they had to say—and the reason being is that it's a few hours away from my parents, who are both getting older and I've seen them one time this whole year [due to COVID-19].

"... I went to listen to a conversation and that's what it is. I kept Vince abreast with that, too. I'm not trying to hide anything from anybody. I'm not that person."

Satterfield, 47, is a native of Hillsborough, North Carolina, about three hours north of the S.C. campus. He previously played quarterback at Appalachian State before going on to coach at his alma mater, eventually taking over the program in 2013. 

According to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, the Gamecocks are nearing a hire and have focused on Oklahoma assistant head coach Shane Beamer, Louisiana coach Billy Napier and Coastal Carolina coach Jamey Chadwell as their top candidates. 

Saturday's Atlantic Coast Conference game between Louisville and Virginia has been pushed back by a week because of positive tests and quarantining within the Cardinals program, according to a statement from the ACC.

The two teams are now scheduled to play Nov. 14.

Louisville announced that 10 players and five staff members tested positive, with five athletes and two staffers quarantining as a result of contact tracing. Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra told reporters that everyone affected is experiencing "mild or less symptoms."

Per ACC guidelines, players identified through contact tracing must spend 14 days in quarantine before they can return to the team, while players who return a positive test must quarantine for 10 days from when their symptoms start and must be recovered—without a fever, no fever-reducing medicines and improved respiratory symptoms—for one day before they return.

Cameron Teague Robinson of the Louisville Courier Journal reported that the Cardinals played last week's game against Virginia Tech with nine players sidelined because of "coronavirus-related issues," including eight defensive players. The Cardinals had five active defensive linemen in the 42-35 loss.

Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield said the team had discussed postponing the Virginia Tech game but decided to play after evaluating the number of players available:

"It comes down to 'Do you have enough players at a certain position?' And I've heard this from several schools throughout the country whenever games have been canceled. If you don't have enough players at a certain position, you can't play. Particularly, O-line and D-line are really those spots. You just can't go manufacture big guys to put in there. Either you have them, or you don't. So we looked at the numbers defensive line-wise to say 'Can we play?' and we had enough. We had five. And we said we'll go out and play. You just cross your fingers that nobody gets dinged out there during the game, and we're able to finish the game with all those guys, because then it becomes player safety. So we did not reach that number where we didn't think it was not safe for those guys to go play."

The ACC structured its 11-game season to span at least 13 weeks, with each team holding two dates open.

Ocoee High football player Dexter Rentz Jr. died after being shot Saturday night in Orlando, according to J.C. Carnahan and Chris Hays of the Orlando Sentinel.

The 18-year-old had signed a letter of intent to play for Louisville in 2020.

Louisville football coach Scott Satterfield provided a statement on Rentz:

"We are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Dexter Rentz. He was a great young man who had a contagious personality, and was able to light up a room with his smile. He was a great kid to be around and he will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Rentz family during this extremely difficult time."

According to Orlando police, three others were shot as well.

The 5'8 ½" prospect was considered a 3-star recruit and the No. 75 athlete in the class by 247Sports' composite rankings.

He played both receiver and cornerback during his high school career, totaling 1,700 all-purpose yards as well as grabbing five interceptions in a single game, per Andrea Adelson of ESPN.

Rentz committed to Louisville in June 2019 and was soon followed by teammate Lovie Jenkins, who said he would join the Cardinals in September.

Jenkins provided a tribute to Rentz on Twitter on Sunday:

Fellow Louisville commit Josh Minkins Jr. noted on Twitter he was going to be Rentz's roommate.

As Donovan Mitchell continues to recover from a confirmed case of COVID-19, he's spending his time like the rest of the sports world: hanging out on social media and debating hotly contested questions.

On Friday, that meant naming his top Louisville Cardinals athletes of all time. The Utah Jazz guard spent two years at UofL, becoming a household name before elevating his game in the NBA, yet he didn't name himself. 

The 23-year-old instead went with quarterback Lamar Jackson, women's basketball star Angel McCoughtry, swimmer Kelsi Worrell and men's hoopers Darrell Griffith and a tie between Peyton Siva and Russ Smith. 

Jackson is the obvious selection here. He became the program's first Heisman Trophy winner in 2016 amid a three-year college career in which he registered 9,043 total yards, 69 touchdowns and 27 interceptions with another 50 scores and 4,132 yards rushing. 

Kelsi Worrell's career is equally unimpeachable. The swimmer won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 4x100-meter medley relay shortly after leaving school.

McCoughtry's credentials are stellar in their own right. The Las Vegas Aces star is a five-time WNBA All-Star and two-time WNBA first-team selection after leading the league in scoring in 2012 and 2013—not to mention her two Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016. Before the forward was setting records professionally, she became the Cards' all-time scoring leader with 2,779 points.

Where Mitchell skirts the rules of the game a bit is with the men's basketball players he chose. 

Griffith won Most Outstanding Player after Louisville won the 1980 Final Four before becoming a Utah Jazz legend, so there's no surprise in a current Jazz star picking him in his top five.

With Siva and Smith, things get a bit tricky. The two were instrumental in helping the Cardinals win the NCAA title in 2013, and Mitchell couldn't bear to choose between the two.