Louisville Cardinals Football

The father of Louisville wide receiver Corey Reed died Wednesday after being diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the Courier Journal's Cameron Teague Robinson.

Corey Reed Sr. was 43.

"My deepest condolences go out to Corey and his entire family," Cardinals head coach Scott Satterfield said. "This horrible virus has affected so many people, and it's even more difficult when it touches someone in the U of L football family. We have been in contact with Corey and his family, and are here to support him during this extremely difficult time."

Reed, a native of Fulton, Georgia, signed with Louisville ahead of the 2017 season. He caught eight passes for 145 yards as a true freshman and appeared in one game as a sophomore in 2018.

Reed transferred to Iowa Western Community College and had 19 receptions for 253 yards and two touchdowns in four games for the Reivers. 

He returned to the Cardinals for 2020, with Satterfield telling reporters in February he was "working his tail off" in practice.

The ACC announced March 12 it was suspended all sporting activities due to the pandemic, which put spring practice for Louisville on hold indefinitely.

Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns announced Tuesday doctors placed his mother, Jacqueline Cruz, in a medically induced coma. The team confirmed to ESPN's Malika Andrews that Cruz had been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Towns' agent, Jessica Holtz, confirmed to ESPN that Karl-Anthony Towns Sr. had also tested positive for the coronavirus and is "recovering well."

More than 492,000 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide, with at least 69,246 in the United States, per CNN.

The Louisville Cardinals are hiring Appalachian State football coach Scott Satterfield to fill their head coaching vacancy, the team announced on Tuesday. 

Louisville Courier Journal's Jake Lourim and Danielle Lerner first reported the news on Monday.

Louisville started the process of looking for its new coach after firing coach Bobby Petrino on Nov. 11 after a 2-8 start. The program finished 2-10, its worst mark since 1997.

Purdue Boilermakers head coach Jeff Brohm appeared to be Louisville's top choice. Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde and Pete Thamel reported the Cardinals made Brohm a seven-year, $35 million offer last month. However, Brohm decided not to return to his alma mater, instead remaining at Purdue.

Now, Satterfield is the one tasked with bringing Louisville back to relevancy.

Satterfield was the head coach at Appalachian State from 2013-18. He went 47-16 in his five years at the FBS level in Boone, North Carolina (4-8 in 2013, the Mountaineers' last FCS campaign). Each of the past three seasons featured bowl victories.

This season, Satterfield's Mountaineers nearly pulled off one of the upsets of the year by taking the then-10th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions to overtime in Happy Valley before falling 45-38. That near-miss was one of the lone blemishes, as Appalachian State went 10-2 and cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time in program history.

Appalachian State defeated the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns 30-19 on Saturday for the Sun Belt championship. The Mountaineers will take on the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 15.

Prior to 2018, Petrino helped Louisville win eight-plus games in each of the past four seasons. But in the first year post-Lamar Jackson (who played 2015-17), the Cardinals struggled mightily. Their only wins came against non-major Indiana State and Western Kentucky as they went 0-8 in ACC play.

Bobby Petrino's second stint as Louisville head coach is over.

Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports reported that the university relieved Petrino of his duties Sunday, a day after the Cardinals' 54-23 blowout loss to Syracuse. The loss dropped Louisville to an embarrassing 2-8 on the season, including a 0-7 mark in ACC play.

Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports added assistant coaches Nick Petrino, L.D. Scott and Ryan Beard were also fired. Thamel noted they are Petrino's son and sons-in-law. Director of football operations Andy Wagner was let go as well, per Thamel.

Petrino returned to Louisville in 2014 amid controversy. The coach was beloved during his first run with the Cardinals, leading them to a 41-9 record that culminated in a 2006 Orange Bowl victory before he took the Atlanta Falcons' head coaching job.

Petrino's career since has been rocky to say the least. He quit 13 games into his Falcons tenure, which was marred by Michael Vick's arrest for running a dogfighting ring, to take the job at Arkansas, a post he held for four seasons until he was fired in 2012 after lying to the university about a motorcycle accident and an affair with a university employee.

Louisville re-hired Petrino after his one-year stint with Western Kentucky, but the two sides did not have the same level of success. The Cardinals posted winning seasons in each of their first four years under Petrino but never finished better than 21st in the season-ending Associated Press poll.

Louisville will owe Petrino around $14 million in buyout money. Members of the university's board have said it could not afford the buyout, and Louisville has severed ties with John Schnatter, the Papa John's founder who was the school's most prominent booster.

"I did not have the confidence that it was going to happen next season without a change, and it needs to start happening now," Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra said, per Brett McMurphy of Stadium.

Louisville is widely expected to pursue Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm as its top target. Brohm was a Cardinals quarterback from 1989 to 1993 and previously served on Petrino's coaching staffs at Louisville and Western Kentucky.

The 47-year-old is in his second season at Purdue.

The Louisville Cardinals suspended sophomore tight end Kemari Averett after he was arrested Monday for allegedly putting a gun to his girlfriend's head.

"Kemari Averett has been suspended immediately from all football activities per further investigation," Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino said. "He will not have access to our facility or be involved in any team activities during this suspension."

Chris Person of CardinalsSports.com shared the school's press release:

The Courier-Journal's Jake Lourim and Justin Sayers reported Tuesday that Averett pleaded not guilty to first-degree wanton endangerment and a charge of domestic violence.

According to Lourim and Sayers, Averett had visited his girlfriend's house and forgot his backpack before leaving. He returned to the home to pick up the backpack but was unable to find his laptop.

The woman said she didn't know the laptop was missing, at which point, "Police said Averett then came at the woman, put a gun to her left temple and said, '(expletive), I will kill you.'"

Averett's girlfriend is pregnant, and authorities said Averett is the father, a claim he denied to police.

Averett has appeared in six games this season for Louisville.

Louisville tight ends coach Chris Klenakis was arrested for driving under the influence early Sunday morning and was charged with "reckless driving, wanton endangerment, DUI and possession of alcohol," according to Jason Reilly of WDRB. 

The 50-year-old has been placed on administrative leave.

"There are high standards in our program for our coaching staff and we must adhere to those standards on a daily basis," Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino said in a statement from the school.

The arrest took place in Shelbyville, Kentucky, when police officers viewed Klenakis' car swerving through a construction zone with workers present.

He had a reported blood alcohol level of 0.165 with beer cans in his car, leading to the multiple charges.

Klenakis has been with Louisville since 2014, serving as the offensive line coach until being moved to tight ends in 2017. The veteran coach has also spent time on the staffs at Iowa State, Arkansas and Nevada among other colleges during his nearly 20 years in the sport.

The Louisville Cardinals open their season against Alabama in Orlando, Florida, on Sept. 1 and are 25.5-point underdogs against the Crimson Tide, per OddsShark.com.

But wide receiver Dez Fitzpatrick is confident, telling reporters he believes the team's wideouts have more talent than Alabama's defensive backs (h/t Zach Barnett of College Football Talk):

"Every receiver in our receiver corps can honestly beat every one of their DBs one-on-one in coverage. It ties into the other stuff, if the blocks are right, if the quarterback's drop is right, we ran eight-yard routes instead of a 10-yard route, that's the kind of stuff I feel like we need to sharpen up.

"But I feel like straight talent-wise, I feel like we have the upper edge against their secondary, 1,000 percent."

A lot will depend upon how quarterback Jawon Pass—who has the unenviable task of trying to replace 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson—plays against the Crimson Tide. Or how a reshaped Alabama secondary trying to replace Anthony Averett, Levi Wallace, Tony Brown, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Ronnie Harrison fares.

As Barnett noted, Alabama also lost former defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt (the new head coach at Tennessee) and defensive backs coach Derrick Ansley (now holding the same position for the Oakland Raiders on Jon Gruden's staff).

It's not as though the Crimson Tide are bereft of talent in the secondary, however. Safety Deionte Thompson, who started in last year's playoffs, will lead a group that also includes Shyheim Carter, Saivion Smith, Trevon Diggs and Xavier McKinney.

According to Chance Linton of 247Sports, all five of that group were "ranked among the top 120 prospects in their respective high school recruiting classes, according to the 247Sports composite."

Louisville brings back experience at wideout. Jaylen Smith caught 60 passes for 980 yards and seven scores last year, while Fitzpatrick nabbed 45 passes for 699 yards with nine touchdowns, and Seth Dawkins hauled in 42 receptions for 642 yards and four scores.

No doubt, it's a solid group, and Fitzpatrick said the Cardinals simply need to play loose and confident against Alabama (h/t Linton):

"When we watch film and other players play Bama, it's not like Bama's beating them, it's like they're beating themselves, like dropped balls that people usually don't drop. If we don't play nervous, if we play like we're playing a regular team, like we're playing Kentucky—obviously we're not playing Kentucky—but if we just have that mindset that we're just playing football, at the end of the day it's football, we've been doing this since we were seven years old. So if we just think like that, they're just human just like us."

That may be the case, but Alabama regularly fields extremely talented players behind one of the best coaches in the business, Nick Saban. Even if Louisville's more experienced wideouts get the better of the Alabama secondary, it might not be enough to topple the mighty Crimson Tide.

Louisville Cardinals receiver Jaylen Smith underwent an emergency appendectomy Friday morning, according to The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach.

Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino issued a statement on the matter, via Auerbach: "We were fortunate to catch this early and anticipate a full recovery. Jaylen is doing well and we look forward to him returning to the practice field as soon as possible."

It's not clear as to when Smith will be able to return to action as he recovers.

As the Cardinals look to move on from Lamar Jackson as smoothly as possible, Smith is expected to play a big role in the offense. He was the team's leading receiver last year, hauling in 60 catches for 980 yards and seven touchdowns.

He has steadily improved and has added 200-plus yards to his total with each passing season. The 6'4", 223-pound wideout averaged 22.2 yards per reception as a sophomore in 2016, good for third in the nation.

The Cardinals do have depth in their receiving corps. Along with Smith, redshirt sophomore Dez Fitzpatrick (a team-leading nine touchdowns in 2017) and junior Seth Dawkins each return after posting 600-plus yards a season ago.

University of Louisville President Neeli Bendapudi announced Friday the school is removing the corporate branding from its Papa John's Cardinal Stadium after racist comments by Papa John's Pizza founder John Schnatter became public.

Eric Crawford of WDRB noted the home of the Louisville football team will simply be Cardinal Stadium effective immediately. 

ESPN's Darren Rovell provided a look at the fallout from Schnatter's remark:

"News reports attributing the use of inappropriate and hurtful language to me during a media-training session regarding race are true," Schnatter said in a statement Wednesday. "Regardless of the context, I apologize. Simply stated, racism has no place in our society."

The naming rights were previously scheduled to continue through Dec. 31, 2040.

It's unclear whether Friday's decision allows the school to seek other potential sponsorship opportunities before that date.

The Cardinals are set to play their first home game of the 2018 season on Sept. 8 against Indiana State.

Football players at the University of Louisville want a name change to Papa John's Cardinals Stadium following the recent news surrounding the pizza company's founder, John Schnatter.

Schnatter used the N-word during a conference call and resigned Wednesday as Chairman of the Board with Papa John's, per Nathaniel Meyersohn of CNN Money. 

Receivers Seth Dawkins and Jaylen Smith took to Twitter Thursday to discuss a change to their home stadium:

Louisville president Neeli Bendapudi later said the school is "reevaluating" the naming of the stadium, via Morgan Watkins  of the Courier-Journal.

According to Darren Rovell of ESPN, Schnatter also resigned from Louisville's board of trustees.

He had been a prominent booster with the school's athletic programs.

Per Rovell, the naming rights to the stadium are with Schnatter himself and not Papa John's, with the deal running through 2040.

The 56-year-old had already created news in the sports world following his comments about NFL player's protests during the national anthem.

"The NFL has hurt us," he said in November. "We are disappointed the NFL and its leadership did not resolve this."

Schnatter resigned as CEO of Papa John's in December.

Former Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson reiterated his belief Friday that his NFL future is under center.

When asked about talk of having to switch to wide receiver in order to make it in the NFL, Jackson dismissed the notion, according to ESPN.com's Andrea Adelson: "It is annoying because quarterback is all I played all my life. People look at my legs and they see I can make big plays, but they don't really see my arm, and I make big plays with my arm. I scored more touchdowns with my arm than my legs so..."

Jackson won the Heisman Trophy in 2016 as a quarterback and finished third to Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield and Stanford running back Bryce Love in 2017.

Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino was equally peeved about the position switch rumblings.

Per Adelson, Petrino is supremely confident Jackson can be an NFL quarterback, and he urged anyone who doesn't think so to dig deeper: "There's no question he's a quarterback in the NFL, and he's a special, special player. I don't know who started that or why they did it, but it's ridiculous. ... They just need to come in and do their work, watch the video, see him, that's it. That's just talk. Do your work."

In September, current ESPN analyst and former NFL general manager Bill Polian suggested on ESPN LA (h/t Jason Lisk of The Big Lead) that Jackson may not be able to succeed as a quarterback at the next level: "I don't think that Lamar, the Louisville kid's in that discussion. In fact there's a question that he may be, he might be a receiver. ... No, I'm not kidding you. And that has to do with girth and skill set as well."

During his Heisman-winning season, Jackson completed 56.2 percent of his passes for 3,543 yards, 30 touchdowns and nine interceptions, while rushing for 1,571 yards and 21 scores.

His numbers were similar in 2017, as he finished with a completion percentage of 59.1 percent for 3,660 yards, 27 touchdowns and 10 picks to go along with 1,601 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground.

The 2018 NFL draft class is stacked with potential first-round picks at quarterback, including Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, Mason Rudolph and Jackson.

In his most recent mock draft, Bleacher Report's Matt Miller projected Jackson to be taken by the Arizona Cardinals with the No. 47 overall pick in the second round.

Miller also ranked Jackson as the No. 6 quarterback in the class behind Rosen, Darnold, Allen, Mayfield and Rudolph.