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Red-White Game Report:
Spring comes to an end with the annual Red-White Game
Saturday afternoon at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium the University of Louisville held its annual Red-White Scrimmage indicating the end of the spring practice session.
The Cardinals offense used the scrimmage, with more than 2,500 in attendance, to give its best all-around performance of the spring. Head coach John L. Smith used four quarterbacks on the day to accumulate 445-passing yards, but it was sophomore Dave Ragone who was the most impressive. Ragone, who has battled with senior Mike Watkins all spring in hopes of gaining the starting quarterback position, racked up 234-yards through the air on 12 of 21 passing, including four touchdown throws. He also carried the ball twice, picking up ten yards.
Three of Ragone’s touchdown tosses were to Biletnikoff candidate Arnold Jackson. Jackson, who should become the NCAA’s all-time leading receiver this fall, pulled in 8 receptions for 140-yards. The Ragone to Jackson scoring strikes were of 6, 47 and 9-yards. Senior receiver Zek Parker, who was just honored as Conference USA’s Track Athlete of the Week, pulled in the other touchdown pass.
Watkins finished the afternoon throwing for 116-yards, completing 8 of 13 attempts.
Tony Stallings led all rushers with 91-yards on 18 carries and has solidified himself as the top back heading into the fall practice session. He is expected to receive stiff competition beginning in August from junior college transfer Chris Lester.
Question marks remain around the offensive line as they allowed the defensive line, Michael Josiah and Derrick Kennedy in particular, to penetrate into the backfield forcing the quarterbacks to pass on the run.
After seeing the Cards on the field this spring numerous times, it appears that this is a team that can have a productive season. The defense should be very much improved, but still quite young. An improved secondary should help the defensive front get better penetration and force more turnovers. Look for the Cards to be much improved over last season’s total defense ranking of 88th.
As spring rolled along, so did the offense. It appeared that with each practice they found themselves just a little bit more. As the team resumes this fall, the offense should begin clicking on all cylinders and if the offensive line can become more consistent then this team could be just as, if not more, productive than last season’s unit.
Statistics
Rushing - Tony Stallings 18-91, Jeff Hedges 3-31, T.J. Patterson 13-21,
Mike Watkins 3-11, Dave Ragone 2-10, Alonzo Morton 1-7, Kyle Samons 3-5,
Adewale Agboke 1-4, Dewayne Taylor 1-0, Zek Parker 1-(-4), Gerry Ahrens
3-(-25).
Passing - Ragone 21-12-0-234-4, Watkins 13-8-0-116-0, Ahrens 7-3-1-61-0,
Hedges 2-1-0-37-0.
Receiving - H.T. Williams 1-37, Arnold Jackson 8-140, Patterson 1-10,
Richard Owens 1-9, Allen Carroll 2-26, Damien Dorsey 4-67, Zek Parker
4-114, Samons 1-7, Robert Redd 1-28, Victor Glenn 1-10
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