Louisville Cardinals

Athlon Sports praises Louisville football in mid-season projections

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

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The Louisville football program got a ton of love from Athlon Sports in their midseason awards predictions.

Athlon Sports released their predictions for the conference awards for the end of the season earlier today. They gave the Louisville football program a ton of love as Lamar Jackson and Bobby Petrino each made appearances on their list of predictions. Going into the eight week of the season, it’s still amazing to see so many people giving the Cardinals much-deserved respect.

Here are the awards that Louisville was featured in on Athlon Sports:

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ACC Offensive Player of the Year:

Steven Lassan: Lamar Jackson

Mitch Light: Lamar Jackson

Jon Kinne: Lamar Jackson

Adam Kurkjian: Lamar Jackson

ACC Coach of the Year:

Steven Lassan: Bobby Petrino

Mitch Light: Bobby Petrino

Jon Kinne: Bobby Petrino

Adam Kurkjian: Bobby Petrino

Biggest Surprise Through 7 Weeks:

Mitch Light: Lamar Jackson

It was a little surprising to see Bobby Petrino being selected across the board, but it makes sense since the Cardinals could end up 11-1 after finishing 8-5 last season. The way he has handled and coached Lamar Jackson has been amazing. The difference of Jackson from year one to year two has been astronomical.

With that being said, I don’t know why Lamar Jackson isn’t their unanimous pick of the biggest surprise through seven weeks. It’s not a legit ACC award, but it at least shows where their opinions lie. The other three picks for the “award” were Florida State’s defense, Virginia QB Kurt Benkert, and North Carolina QB Mitch Trubisky.

It looks as though the country is still taking notice of the Cardinals success, don’t be surprised when Lamar Jackson piles up the awards at the end of 2016.