What you need to know from Louisville's open workout at Cardinal Stadium

Jake Lourim | Courier Journal

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There wasn't much for fans to see Saturday night at Cardinal Stadium, as the Louisville football team went through a light, hour-long workout featuring mostly position drills and one-on-one matchups.

After they stretched, the Cardinals divided up by position and then came back together for inside running and 7-on-7 drills. The players signed autographs on the field afterward.

Here are a few quick observations

► Let's get this out of the way: Tutu Atwell can flat-out fly. Anticipation has continued to grow surrounding the freshman athlete, who won a Florida state championship as a quarterback in high school but is playing wide receiver for Louisville.

It's going to be interesting to see how Atwell fares in his rookie season. He's one of the fastest guys on the team. On his first route during one-on-one drills Saturday, he beat fellow freshman Jairus Brents badly on a slant, and Brents is also one of the fastest players on the team.

More: University of Louisville defense welcomes Brian VanGorder's new direction

Then, Atwell went against senior Dee Smith and broke well from the line of scrimmage, but he didn't get enough separation. At 5-foot-9, Atwell is also Louisville's shortest receiver. Smith jumped and broke up the pass.

Two other times, on out routes, Atwell beat his man to the sideline and hauled in the pass just before he stepped out. He might be as quick with his cuts as he is fast downfield. Don't be surprised to see him in the slot for the first snap against Alabama.

► The pass skeleton drills were the most insightful. Oklahoma transfer P.J. Mbanasor is Louisville's best cornerback. At one point, he intercepted two straight passes, first against wide receiver Dez Fitzpatrick on a deep route. Puma Pass underthrew the ball, and when Mbanasor turned to look for it, he pulled it in. Pass shook his head. Bobby Petrino smiled.

On the next throw, the ball came to Mbanasor again, and after he caught it, he flipped it to the sideline and wagged his finger.

► Petrino said earlier Saturday that the passing game has struggled with timing this summer and has not yet reached the level at which it ended the spring. That was evident Saturday night, as the offense completed few downfield passes.

Mbanasor, Smith and fifth-year senior Cornelius Sturghill each played good one-on-one coverage. Sturghill, defending speedster Marcus Riley on a deep route down the sideline, kept up with Riley and batted the ball away. After two years of injury issues, Sturghill's quickness is still there.

Related: Louisville football adds Denzel Daxon to 2019 recruiting class

► There's no telling how Pass will do in any sort of game action, but he has always had the tools. He's 6-foot-4, steady in the pocket and can get sharp throws to all parts of the field. That's not a bad place to start.

► An unsung hero of the 7-on-7 drills was redshirt freshman Anthony Johnson, who had two nice pass breakups and showed some enthusiasm after each one. Johnson has good size (6-foot-1) for a cornerback, and he'll have opportunities. Asked at ACC football media days for an unheralded player who could step up this season, defensive end Jonathan Greenard named Johnson.

► On defense, it appears new coordinator Brian VanGorder is looking to make this unit bigger at every position. Fringe defensive linemen/linebackers (Thurman Geathers) are playing linebacker, and fringe linebackers/safeties (London Iakopo) are playing safety.

► The receivers did a fun drill where they caught passes from the JUGS machine and took a step toward the machine after each one until they missed a pass. Redshirt junior Devante Peete got the closest to the machine without a drop.

► The players catching punts in return drills were Fitzpatrick, Atwell, Riley, Brents, Corey Reed, Marlon Character, Rodjay Burns and Josh Johnson.

► I did not see safety TreSean Smith (who suffered a serious knee injury in the TaxSlayer Bowl), wide receiver Jatavious Harris or tight end Jordan Davis in uniform.

Jake Lourim: 502-582-4168; jlourim@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @jakelourim. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jakel.