Louisville Cardinals

Louisville football: Bobby Petrino to reportedly redshirt QB Jawon Pass

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Louisville football head coach Bobby Petrino addressed the playing status of his star freshman quarterback in an article early Friday morning.

There has been a lot of discussion around Louisville about the status of four star freshman quarterback Jawon Pass. Fans and media have made their opinions clear on whether Louisville’s head coach Bobby Petrino should sit him this year as a redshirt or give him some game time action.

Sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson got off to a great start last night while leading the Cardinals football team to a 56-0 lead at halftime. Not to mention, Jackson also had a total of eight touchdowns at the half as well. Yes, it was only the Charlotte 49ers, but Louisville’s offense could do whatever they wanted and whenever they wanted to do it.

As special as Lamar Jackson is, there is a realistic possibility that he could go down during a game this season. Due to Louisville’s high expectations for 2016, this has left fans around Louisville intrigued by what this could possibly mean for Jawon Pass.

Steve Jones from the Courier Journal wrote a great article this morning as he broke the news of what Bobby Petrino’s plans are for Pass throughout the 2016 season:

After Jawon Pass was not used in Louisville’s 70-14 victory over Charlotte Thursday night, coach Bobby Petrino said the plan will be for the Cardinals to redshirt the freshman quarterback this season.

Petrino said he and Pass, a former U.S. Army All-American and the most celebrated of U of L 2016 signees, decided together that they would proceed through the season with Pass practicing and being prepared to go into a game but that he won’t actually play unless it’s completely necessary.

From all the opinions that have been expressed over the past few weeks, this is more than likely the best route of action. As important as this year is to Louisville fans and this football team, what Petrino is building is going to last for a while. The success that Louisville has this year could just be scratching the surface of what this program could be in the next 2-5 years.

Give Jawon Pass a year to learn and watch guys like Lamar Jackson and Kyle Bolin. It’s definitely going to be worth it in the long run. This program is not a one year wonder, they are going to be competing at a high level for the next five years and hopefully even beyond that. It’s smart to give the freshman an extra year in Petrino’s program.