Louisville Football: Jackson, Fields make Cards a threat in ACC
Louisville football has flown under-the-radar this offseason, but that isn’t for a lack of production at the game’s two most important positions.
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In Louisville football’s final game of the season, fans got a taste of a promising 2016. The Cards finished the season beating Texas A&M 27-21 in the Music City Bowl. Quarterback Lamar Jackson terrorized the Aggies defense for 453 total yards and four total touchdowns.
On defense, the Cards were led by pass rushing specialist DeVonte Fields. He stuffed the Aggies’ offense recording eight tackles and three sacks. These two stars return for the 2016 season making them a dark horse in the ACC.
Louisville football started off the 2015 season 0-3. All three close losses were to solid opponents in Auburn, Houston and Clemson. But, there wasn’t much optimism for Bobby Petrino’s young squad. Petrino needed to make a change or risk being on the hot seat. To help the Cardinals’ stagnant offense, he handed the reigns over to Jackson.
Jackson had seen significant action in the first three weeks. But he hadn’t taken complete control of the offense. Jackson took his opportunity and never looked back. As a starter, he led the Cards to a 7-2 record in the final 9 games. He threw for 1,557 yards, 11 touchdowns, and five interceptions during that span. His biggest contributions came on the ground. He torched defenses for 785 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in the Cards last nine games.
His only major problem is consistency in the passing game. He can’t seem to complete a solid percentage of passes. On the year, he completed just 54.7 percent of his passes. His accuracy will improve as his chemistry with his receivers builds. But it is his major weakness nonetheless. But his elite athleticism makes him one of the college football’s most exciting players.
Leading the defense is one of college football’s strangest stories. Fields looked like a promising prospect after his freshman year at TCU. Fields won Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors after 53 tackles, 18.5 tackles for losses and 10 sacks in 2012. In two years, he would be a nomad moving from school-to-school. According to CBS Sports, he was “separated” from the TCU football program on accusations of domestic violence.
His time at TCU would come to an end and he would ultimately land at Trinity Valley Community College. From there, his return to grace would come just one year later committing to Louisville football. According to ESPN, the charges were dismissed and he was headed back for a second chance.
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At first, he struggled to produce recording just 24 tackles and zero sacks through the team’s first six games.
Then, Fields went on a tear recording a sack in six of the next seven games. During the span, he recorded three multi-sack games. In just seven games, he recorded a career high in sacks with 10.5 including an exclamatory three-sack performance against A&M. He returned pretty quickly considering the rust factor had set in. He missed two seasons of FBS football and he managed to recover nicely.
Louisville football has found its quarterback for the next few years. They have their dominant veteran pass rusher. But, they are far from polished going just 8-5 in 2015. It’s the end of the season that gave Louisville football hope.
If these two can continue to improve, expect them to bring Louisville back to the forefront of college football. Petrino initially took them to greatness. He looks to be headed down the same path with this powerful duo.