A day before Louisville opened fall camp, receiver Reggie Bonnafon was flipping through his Twitter account killing some time, when he came across a video of his quarterback, Lamar Jackson, mugging for the camera at the end of the student center's basketball court. Jackson palms a basketball then heaves it the length of the court, a high arc sailing over the hardwood and landing right on target, swishing through the net.

Bonnafon shook his head. This is actually one of Jackson's more practiced tricks, but it's still stunning to see the ease with which he unleashes his talent.

"It's like, man, he's ridiculous," Bonnafon said. "But nothing really surprises us at this point."

🏀🏀🏀ball is life Whole court pic.twitter.com/2wbRehlR6o — Lamar Jackson (@Lj_era8) July 7, 2015

Jackson has only been on campus for just more than a year, but his mythology has already grown so vast that no story of his athletic prowess seems unbelievable.

In May 2015, before he'd even gotten to Louisville, he posted a high school highlight reel on Twitter with the caption, "Louisville takeover, I promise" accompanied the hashtag #Humble. Four months later, he'd won the Cardinals' starting QB job over three more experienced competitors. By year's end, he was one of the hottest names in college football, torching Texas A&M in the Music City Bowl, a game he now refers to as his "Kodak moment."

There's the story of Jackson bumping into Chicago Bulls guard Rajon Rondo on campus just a few days into summer session last year. Jackson was returning to his dorm with some teammates when he caught Rondo's attention. The NBA star challenged the Louisville then-freshman to a foot race. Jackson had just come from a weightlifting session, and he wasn't sure he was up to it.

"You scared?" Rondo prodded.

That's all it took. Jackson grinned, took his spot at the starting line, then left Rondo in the dust.

Lamar Jackson has spent the offseason trying to improve as a passer and not relying so much on his legs. Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Or there's the legend of how Jackson won his starting job at Boynton Beach High School. He'd transferred in from a small school nearby after his freshman year, and his grades were too low to play immediately. Still, he walked into coach Rick Swain's office and announced, "I'm going to be your starting quarterback."

Swain had heard raves from other players about Jackson's talent, but he wasn't convinced the kid was for real.

"I thought, either this kid's got a lot of moxie," Swain said, "or he's full of crap."

The next semester, Jackson had earned straight A's to revive his eligibility, and during a 7-on-7 game that spring, Jackson was so impressive that Swain revamped his offense from a Wing-T to a pistol to allow his new QB to showcase his skill set.

"I've coached a lot of players that have gone on to play in the NFL," Swain said, "but this kid has some intangible thing that not many people have."

So when Louisville coach Bobby Petrino sat at ACC media days last month and suggested the Cardinals were a real threat to win the national championship in 2016, it didn't seem like such a lofty goal. He's got Jackson on his side, and from there, anything's possible.

There's another video that made rounds on social media shortly after Jackson's first start for the Cardinals. In it, Jackson launches a football from the goal line on the far side of his high school football field. The ball soars high, gets lost briefly in the stadium lights, then emerges on the other side, dropping into the hands of a waiting receiver on the opposite goal line.

Nevermind all the clicks that video earned. Somehow questions remain about Jackson's arm and his ability to win football games from inside the pocket.

Petrino understands the concerns. He had them, too.

"We knew how good an athlete he was," Petrino said of Jackson's recruitment. "The question was always whether he could throw and be a quarterback."

It took just two practices for Petrino to be convinced he'd found his QB. After a week of camp last year, Petrino decided Jackson would play as a freshman, and by halftime of Louisville's opener against Auburn, Jackson had won the starting job.

Still, one small problem remained.

"I know I can make any pass," Jackson said, "but I didn't know anything [about the playbook]."

Instead, Jackson improvised.

Behind a porous offensive line, Jackson zigged and zagged his way out of trouble, accelerating past linebackers and defensive backs with ease. By year's end, he'd racked up 1,143 rushing yards (excluding sacks), the fourth-most of any quarterback in the country. In the season finale against Texas A&M, he ran 22 times for 226 yards and two touchdowns.

That was the easy part, Petrino said. This spring was about harnessing that big arm and putting the brakes on Jackson's legs.

In 2015, Louisville's spring scrimmages were open season on the quarterbacks, who weren't given non-contact jerseys in order for the staff to get a better feel for each's ability to scramble. This year, Petrino went the opposite direction. He refused to let Jackson leave the pocket.

"He'd run, I'd blow the whistle, and he'd get mad at me," Petrino said. "He'd say, 'But coach, I could've scored.' But he needed to throw."

As spring progressed, there were fewer debates. Jackson's eyes stayed up, his feet stayed quiet, and the offense exploded.

It was Lamar Jackson 2.0, an upgraded edition of an already impressive piece of machinery. In the Cardinals' spring game, Jackson completed 24 of 29 passes for 519 yards with eight touchdowns and no picks. He played just one series into the second half of the game.

"A lot of people don't think I can throw at all," Jackson said, "so I've got to show everyone."

Jackson sat perched at a table surrounded by media at the ACC's annual kickoff event last month when one reporter flipped over the notepad Louisville had handed out earlier in the day. On the front was an action shot of Jackson, a sophomore with just eight career starts under his belt, now the face of the program.

"That's pretty cool," Jackson said. "I've got to get one of those for my mom."

The crowd laughed and Jackson beamed. The coronation seemed inevitable. By day's end, the platitudes about Jackson's poise and confidence and maturity had devoured social media platforms. But the funny thing is, that might be the one place Jackson doesn't feel comfortable.

"I was uptight and nervous," he said of doing interviews last season. "I didn't want to make a mistake."

Jackson's charm and calm confidence made him a hit at ACC media days. Jeremy Brevard/USA TODAY Sports

Jackson insists he doesn't even watch TV, so he has no idea what type of hype or criticism has been aimed his way, so the questions and the cameras mark the only time all the attention on him actually comes into focus.

Yet here he was, cracking jokes and telling stories and interchanging boastful predictions with disarming charm.

"My feeling was he's going to be a big part of our program, and he needed to go learn how to enjoy it," Petrino said of bringing Jackson to ACC Kickoff. "He's a guy who likes life. He always has a smile on his face. Everyone got to see his personality and understand how special a young man he is."

A reporter asked him if he was ever concerned he wouldn't fit in Petrino's offense.

"Nah," Jackson said. "I'm coachable."

Another asked what he learned in last year's loss 41-21 to Florida State.

"That we need to score more points," Jackson said.

When pressed on his recruitment -- a late affair that didn't hit high gear until his senior campaign -- Jackson shrugged off the coaches who might have doubted him back then.

"High school is a small stage," he said. "I'm on the big stage now."

One question after another, he responded with brevity and optimism. And this was Jackson in his least comfortable surroundings.

Of course, that's not to say Jackson can't be flustered. When he screws up during practice, he's apoplectic. It's an issue Coach Swain struggled with during Jackson's prep career, and Nick Petrino, Louisville's QB coach, has worked to address it this offseason, too. Swain once pointedly asked Jackson why he was so hard on himself. Jackson was unsurprisingly succinct in response: "I'm not supposed to make mistakes," he said.

Perhaps that is Jackson's only true kryptonite this season. The expectations are so high, not just from outside the program, but from inside Jackson's own mind. He's heading a team that is picked third in its own division, but Louisville fans believe Jackson can even the playing field with heavyweights Florida State and Clemson. His teammates spent the offseason building that hype machine, telling anyone who would listen about the huge strides Jackson made as a passer and how prolific this offense could be. And Jackson, too, hasn't shied from the bluster.

"This year," he said, when asked about his understanding of the playbook, "it's going to be easy."

The bar is set high, but that's where Jackson likes it.

Swain remembers pulling his prized protégé aside after practice one day at Boynton Beach. Swain had once considered law school, he told Jackson, but he loved football too much to give it up. He went into coaching instead, embarking on a hall-of-fame career. His one regret, he said, is that he didn't have the raw talent that Jackson possessed.

"If I'd had that," Swain said, "you'd never be able to chase the records I'd have set."

Jackson grinned at his coach and shook his head.

"I don't know, coach," he retorted. "I like doing things like that."