Louisville remains positive after ACC's statement

Quarterback Micale Cunningham says energy is up at practices with possibility of playing this fall

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) gave confidence to Louisville football players about the 2020 season with its most recent statement.

While the Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed the season to next spring, the ACC, Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Big 12 plan to continue to move forward with a season this fall despite the coronavirus pandemic.

The league said it will continue to make decisions based on medical advice from its Medical Advisory Group, local and state health guidelines.

“We are pleased with the protocols being administrated on our 15 campuses,” the statement says. “We will continue to follow our process that has been in place for months and has served us well.”

Quarterback Micale Cunningham said the energy is up in practices because his teammates want to play this fall.

“It has been great seeing the conference come out with there still a lot of things up in the air,” Cunningham said. “As a team, it’s really positive around here when we found out the good news.”

With protocols and guidelines in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Louisville started voluntary athletic activities in June. The Cardinals are currently participating in their second week of fall camp.

Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield said the team has had four positive tests for COVID-19 since June 8.

“We know we have to be safe and we have been doing protocols,” Cunningham said. “It has been working for us, so why not go ahead and play?”

As other league’s cancel and postpone this fall, Louisville has tried to focus on preparation.

“We tell our guys that we can only control what we can control,” quarterbacks coach Frank Ponce said. “What we can control right now is practicing and getting ourselves better.”

Cunningham, who was named to the watch list for the 2020 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, is confident in the ACC. He said the team is looking forward to the season this fall.

“There is always uncertainty, but life is uncertain,” Cunningham said. “When the ACC came out with that and said we are going to move forward, the medical guys are moving forward, so we put it in their hands.”

Coaches and players have agreed its safer to be on campus participating in athletic activities than to return home.

Cunningham prefers to stay on campus and play this season.

“It will be very tough for a lot of guys,” Cunningham said. “Where a lot of us are from, it’s not good for us to go back home right now.”