Defense Steps Up in Second Half of Louisville's First Scrimmage

They gave up some big plays early, but the defense didn't hang their heads in Louisville's first scrimmage of fall camp and "rose up" to correct earlier mistakes and make plays in the second half.

With the Louisville Football program retaining their defensive coordinator in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2016, a lot have been left wondering how the defense will perform under year two of head coach Scott Satterfield and DC Bryan Brown.

While the Cardinals had the 102nd ranked defense in FBS a season ago, an uptick in depth and competition has led to several standout performances on that side of the ball during fall camp.

On Saturday, Louisville got their first glimpse of how the defense will fair, as the program conducted their first scrimmage of the 2020 preseason. While they had a slow start, Satterfield commended them for responding in the latter half.

"Later on in the scrimmage, the defense really rose up in the second half of the scrimmage and did some really good things," Satterfield said in a teleconference after the scrimmage had concluded. "A lot of good young players making plays out there today."

The first scrimmage of the season was mainly for the the younger guys and those further down the depth chart. Satterfield noted that he held out a couple of his veteran safeties and gave limited reps to inside linebackers CJ Avery & Dorian Etheridge.

While many of the younger guys and the defense as a whole didn't have the sharpest start, Satterfield was pleased with their efforts to correct themselves down the stretch.

"They made some mistakes early on, but what was great to see - later on in the scrimmage - correcting those mistakes and making plays," he said. "They were able to create a couple turnovers there later in the scrimmage. They held the offense from getting in the endzone on several occasions and held them to a field goal. That's winning football. That's good to see."

After the offense scored some early touchdowns, Satterfield notes that the defense opted not to hang their heads, and that they continued to fight as the scrimmage went on.

He specifically singled out the cornerbacks as those who made the most noticeable rebound on the defense. While they gave up some early deep balls, they were much sharper and played much tighter down the stretch.

"Once they settled down, there wasn't many big plays out there. I thought they did a much better job in the second half of the scrimmage," Satterfield said. "We gotta do a better job, we all know, of not giving up the big plays. That's one of the things that we did not do a very good job of last year."

Even in limited reps during Louisville's first scrimmage, wide receiver Tutu Atwell saw a noticeable difference in the secondary's performance.

"They're been pretty good this year, I have to do more to get open," Atwell said. "When they have to face someone on the other team with as much speed as me, then they'll be prepared for it."

Louisville will return to the practice fields on Tuesday at 4:00pm after taking Sunday and Monday off. The Cards are set to kickoff the season against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Saturday, Sept. 12 at Cardinal Stadium.

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