Louisville Football Welcomes Return of Fall Camp

They might have had to wear masks and be socially distant at times, but the Louisville Cardinals were more than happy to bring on their first practice of the 2020 preseason.

Following a turbulent offseason caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Louisville Football finally had a bit of normalcy return to their program: the start of fall camp.

Early Tuesday morning, the Cardinals gathered on the fields outside of the Trager Center and were able to conduct their first practice of the 2020 preseason.

Of course during these unprecedented times, a modicum of normalcy isn't complete without aspects of the "new normal".

Both coaches and players alike still had to adhere to the precautions set in place by Athletic Director Vince Tyra and his phased plan to return student-athletes to campus, including wearing masks and actively engaging in social distancing.

In fact, Louisville's first practice of season consisted of mainly positional drills and they only held a total of 16 plays of full 11-on-11 football. Despite that, the Cards were still happy to get the ball rolling .

"It was a good first day. Our guys were eager to get back on the field and I was excited to see them all back together," head coach Scott Satterfield said in a teleconference following the conclusion of the first day of fall camp. “Our first week of practices is fundamentals anyways.”

Even with the irregularities over the last several months, Louisville was still somewhat prepared for the start of fall camp. Over the previous two weeks, the program had been allowed to engage in walkthroughs and meetings to get them acclimated.

"Those two weeks prior to today's practice was tremendous and very beneficial," Satterfield said. "Today to me was a lot smoother because of that.”

It was so smooth that redshirt junior quarterback Micale Cunningham thinks it didn't feel any different even with the protocols in place.

"It was not very different. It was just good to get back out there with the guys," Cunningham said. "We had great weather today, so we had fun flying around. It was just good to get back out there as a whole."

Louisville will continue fall camp with their next practice on Wednesday at 9:30am EST. 

The Cards will see their first action on the week of Sept. 7-12 as part of the new ACC schedule, but their first opponent is not yet known. Satterfield believes that the full week-by-week schedule will be known by "the middle of next week".

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