ESPN College Football

One extra question from the mailbag today, on a topic that's of great interest to Louisville fans:

Bobby from Hartford, Ky., writes: Brian, I was just wondering what ever happened to Demar Dorsey and Jordan Campbell? Are they still in the CARDS, or have they moved on?

Brian Bennett: Campbell and Dorsey were two guys who caused great excitement for Louisville fans last summer. But it looks doubtful at this point whether either will ever suit up for Charlie Strong.

Campbell, a linebacker who took advantage of a special waiver from the NCAA to transfer immediately from USC, never made it on the field in 2010. And team sources say that Campbell is no longer enrolled in school and is back in California. His relationship with Teague Egan, a USC student who is registered with the NFL Players Association as a financial adviser, came under question this fall. Campbell was once listed as a partner in Egan's business on the firm's website until that was scrubbed from the site.

(And as an aside, was there a bigger non-story in the Big East this year than the USC transfers? Cincinnati's Vidal Hazelton only played a little more than a half before getting hurt, UConn's D.J. Shoemate was practically invisible after some early costly fumbles and Campbell had no impact at all).

Dorsey was one of the nation's top defensive back recruits last year, but after he was denied admission to Michigan he pledged his services to Louisville. Dorsey never did gain his eligibility for the Cardinals this fall either and is not enrolled for the spring semester. It appears that he may have to go the junior college route.

Both players could have helped Louisville, but the Cardinals are moving on without them.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- For Pittsburgh, thankfully, it's in with the new. For Syracuse, depressingly, it was on with the old.

Both teams came into Saturday's game in unexpected places. The Panthers, after being picked to win the Big East almost unanimously, were 2-3 and teetering on the brink of collapse. The Orange stood at a surprising 4-1 and had the Carrier Dome jumping at kickoff in anticipation of a breakthrough win.

Before halftime even arrived, roles had reverted back to normal. Pitt blasted Syracuse 45-14 in a game all too familiar to long-suffering Orange fans. Many of the 40,168 hopeful headed for the exits midway through the third quarter. By the final 10 minutes, the place looked like a ghost town from the Greg Robinson days.

It was the kind of lopsided result you might have expected before the season, but not after the way the Panthers bumbled through the nonconference portion of their schedule. They saved their most complete performance for the start of Big East play after coach Dave Wannstedt preached all week about beginning a new season.

"We knew it was a tale of two seasons all along," quarterback Tino Sunseri said. "We had a tough out-of-conference schedule, but we still have all of our goals ahead of us. The Big East championship is ahead of us. We wanted to come out fast today and let the Big East know that we can play."

Sunseri looked like one of the team's weak links earlier in the year, never more than when he struggled so badly against Miami that many fans called for backup Pat Bostick. But the sophomore has progressed since then, and on Saturday the game plan revolved around him.

Wannstedt said when he arrived in the team hotel on Friday night, he flipped on the TV and saw Syracuse coach Doug Marrone's show. Marrone, he said, "must have said the word 'physical' 10 times during the course of the show." Wannstedt also saw how the Orange brought pressure against South Florida last week, daring Bulls quarterback B.J. Daniels to burn them with big plays.

Daniels couldn't. But Sunseri could. He completed 17 of 24 passes for 266 yards and four touchdowns. Pitt's first play from scrimmage was a short pass that Devin Street took 79 yards for a touchdown. Sunseri also made third-down touchdown throws to Ray Graham and Mike Shanahan as he stood in against the blitz.

"That was probably his most complete game," Wannstedt said. "He has showed little spurts, signs of getting better. But today I thought from start to finish, he maintained a consistency he had to have."

Pitt's improvement has coincided with its shuffling of the offensive line, moving Lucas Nix inside, Jordan Gibbs to tackle and replacing Greg Gaskins. Dion Lewis (15 carries for 80 yards) and Ray Graham (11 for 54) both found running room against a good Syracuse run defense. But neither went off, and Jon Baldwin finished with only one catch, yet the Panthers scored 45 points.

"Everybody thinks it's just Ray, Dion and JB," Graham said. "But Tino spread it out, and that's what is great."

The defense also played its best game, holding star back Delone Carter to just 38 yards before Syracuse was forced to throw nonstop in catch-up mode. The Panthers created four turnovers, including cornerback Ricky Gary's 80-yard pick-six, while moving pieces around. Shane Gordon got his first start at strongside linebacker, Dom DeCicco went back to safety and Tristan Roberts returned to start at the weakside linebacker spot.

Wannstedt was hesitant to use the "new season" theme, lest his team forget its mistakes of the past. But it was hard not to think that this looked like a different Pitt, one that could compete with West Virginia for the Big East title if it maintains this level of execution.

"We should be unstoppable," defensive end Jabaal Sheard said. "We have great athletes and tremendous talent everywhere on the field. If we play like we did today, with everybody stepping up to make big plays, we'll be all right."

If Pitt looked renewed, Syracuse appeared to relapse.

The Orange benefited from a soft early schedule, and now they face consecutive road games at West Virginia and Cincinnati that could turn that 4-1 start to a 4-4 crossroads. They don't have another home game until November, and by then the excitement they built up may have significantly eroded.

"What I feel bad about is for the people who came out to watch the game," Marrone said. "Their expectations were high, and so were ours. My expectations were high for these players to get over the this hump."

Not quite yet. What's old is new again, and vice versa.

So much in football, Louisville coach Charlie Strong says, often comes down to how the linemen look coming off the bus.

"Small guys are just small guys," he said. "Big guys look good."

Strong is used to having a team pass the look test, having come off a long tenure as Florida's defensive coordinator. His new team doesn't measure up -- literally -- when it comes to the defensive line.

One of the key differences between Louisville's Orange Bowl team of 2006 and the three bowl-less editions that followed was elite talent up front on defense. Strong is mixing and matching and making do, but that means a guy like Greg Scruggs was moved to defensive tackle at just 262 pounds. The Cardinals are going to have to try to hold the fort with undersized players.

"You look at the offensive lines in this conference and you're like, 'Wow,'" defensive coordinator Vance Bedford said. "We're not big enough right now. We've got guys who are 260, 270 pounds, and when they go against a 330-pound offensive tackle, they're at a disadvantage."

Bedford said he wants his linemen to be in the 280- to 290-pound range and that the primary attribute the Louisville staff is seeking on the recruiting trail is size and bulk. But that's the future. They've still got to figure out how to win games now.

"We've got to load the box more and get as many guys as close to the line as possible to try and slow things down," Bedford said. "We've got to do a variety of things -- eight-man fronts, moving people around -- to give our guys a chance."

Size isn't always everything in football. The Cardinals hope they have other ways to get to the ball.

"Speed and knowing what you've got to do," senior linebacker Brandon Heath said. "Playing fast and executing every play, that will make up for a lot."

A few other notes from Louisville's media day:

• Even with the concerns on the defensive line, Bedford said his main worry is the secondary, where only cornerback Johnny Patrick is proven. Finding another suitable cornerback becomes more vital if the defense is loading the box to help against the run, leaving the defensive backs on an island. "As far as depth, there is none," Bedford said. Bedford said as of now, only Heath and Scruggs have locked up starting jobs on defense, though a natural disaster would probably have to occur to keep Patrick on the bench.
• Strong still has not named a quarterback out of the trio of Adam Froman, Justin Burke and Will Stein. He said his criteria will be to find a real team leader, someone "the guys truly respect."
• Former Michigan signee Demar Dorsey and USC transfer Jordan Campbell -- two guys who could really help the defense -- still aren't part of the team."We're moving forward as if those guys are not going to be here," Strong said.
• Redshirt freshman running back Jeremy Wright, who was so impressive in the spring that the staff felt comfortable moving Darius Ashley to cornerback, is out with a bruised knee and his timetable for return is unknown. He missed time in the spring with a sports hernia. Backup tight end Pete Nochta is also out with a knee injury.
• Strong didn't offer specific goals for the 2010 season and said he didn't know how long it would take to get Louisville back to its winning tradition. But he said he told the seniors that "we owe it to you to get you to a bowl game this year."

Louisville became the first Big East team to hit the practice field this morning. As each team gets going, I'll offer a preview of its fall camp, starting now with the Cardinals:

Schedule: Practice started Thursday at 6:10 a.m. The first day in full pads is Aug. 11

What’s new: Just about everything. Charlie Strong takes over as head coach with an all new staff. The offense changes to a spread attack and the defensive scheme is new, too.

Key battle: Quarterback. Veterans Adam Froman, Justin Burke and Will Stein are still competing for the starting spot, which wasn't decided after spring practice.

New on the scene: Defensive lineman Randy Salmon went through spring practice and has a good chance to start. Junior-college transfer Josh Bellamy and true freshman Michaelee Harris will get a long look this month at receiver. Dominique Brown could compete for the job at quarterback, and Louisville will likely find a way to get him on the field somehow.

Breaking out: Running back Jeremy Wright turned heads in the spring before suffering a sports hernia. If he's full strength, he gives this offense a much-needed extra playmaker.

Don’t forget about: Running back Victor Anderson was the Big East's 2008 newcomer of the year, rushing for more than 1,000 yards. He missed large chunks of last year because of various injuries, but he could be extremely productive in Mike Sanford's Florida-esque offense.

All eyes on: Will USC transfer Jordan Campbell and former Michigan signee Demar Dorsey show up? If so, they'll add talent to a defense desperate for more.

Quoting: "We're not a very big football team. We're going to have to go recruit some guys to get to where we need to get to." -- Charlie Strong.

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Big East media day isn't the newsiest event in the world, and even if news does break it's hard to follow it all since eight coaches are talking at once.

But there were a few interesting items discussed by the coaches on Tuesday, and here's a brief recap:

• Rutgers coach Greg Schiano announced that wide receiver Eddie Poole and tight end Tony Trahan are transferring, while freshmen Tejay Johnson, Kenneth Kirksey and Djwany Mera will attend prep school instead of enrolling.
  
  Rutgers also announced several other departures, including receiver Julian Hayes and offensive lineman Rob Forst, younger brother of starting offensive lineman Art Forst.
  
  Many of the transfers resulted from playing time issues, while the three 2010 signees are expected to enroll in January. Schiano said Fabian Ruiz will move from defensive line to tight end to help offset the loss of Trahan.
  
  Also, backup quarterback Steve Shimko has a shoulder problem which may slow him in camp. Tom Savage had better stay healthy.

• Could South Florida get receivers A.J. Love and Sterling Griffin back in time for conference play?
  
  Coach Skip Holtz said the best-case scenario for both wideouts is that they'd be back after missing four-to-five games. Love tore his ACL in the spring game, while Griffin broke his ankle in summer workouts.
  
  Both are needed since the Bulls don't have much experience or depth at receiver. Getting them back in the fold is one thing, though; having both guys being confident enough in their healed wheels in order to contribute at a high level is another story.

• Louisville's two highly-publicized summer additions still aren't with the team.
  
  USC transfer Jordan Campbell has yet to arrive on campus, and head coach Charlie Strong told The Courier-Journal that the linebacker has "to get some things worked out where he is."
  
  Meanwhile, former Michigan signee Demar Dorsey's status remains up in the air. The Courier-Journal's Eric Crawford reports that Louisville officials are saying the odds Dorsey plays for the Cardinals are 50-50. The defensive back was denied enrollment at Michigan and has had some arrests in his past.
  
  Strong also said that 6-foot-8 receiver Josh Chichester has been working out at tight end, but he said Chichester would be moving around until the coaches found the most effective way to use him.

It was obvious during spring practice that Louisville lacked playmakers on defense.

Well, Charlie Strong has addressed that with two apparent summer upgrades.

Former Michigan signee Demar Dorsey has pledged to play for the Cardinals. And now ex-Southern Cal linebacker Jordan Campbell says he's transferring to Louisville.

Campbell, a junior, served mostly as a backup and special-teams performer for the Trojans, registering just 16 total tackles in 17 career games. He started last season's Washington State game and had eight tackles before injuring his ankle late in the contest.

Because of the NCAA sanctions levied against USC, upperclassmen from that school can transfer to another team and be immediately eligible.

The 5-foot-11, 230-pound Campbell was ranked as the 42nd-best inside linebacker by ESPN's Scouts Inc. coming out of high school. Louisville's top two linebackers from a year ago, Jon Dempsey and Chris Campa, were both seniors. Though Campbell saw little playing time at USC, he seems talented enough to step in right away and contribute, if not start, for the Cardinals. Dorsey is in the same situation at defensive back.

So Strong might have found two defensive starters in the summertime, or at the very least a couple of playmakers. That could be a huge boost for Louisville's chances this fall.