'Louisville will be back': Chris Redman's message amid a rough stretch for the Cardinals
Chris Redman has seen Louisville at its best and worst.
As a Male High School graduate, the Louisville product attended his hometown university. By the time his college career was over in 1999, he was the NCAA's all-time leader in passes attempted and completed and, at the time, was one of three Division I quarterbacks to throw for more than 12,000 yards in a career. He was picked by the Baltimore Ravens in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft and won a Super Bowl with the team a year later.
Redman’s playing days were over when he stood on the sidelines of the Cardinals’ 2016 game against Clemson in Death Valley, a top-5 matchup that featured star quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson. Redman then witnessed Jackson win the Heisman Trophy that December. He was still around two years later when Louisville only won two games.
Even now, with the Cardinals sitting at 2-3 and winless in ACC play ahead of a road contest Saturday at Virginia, Redman, the current quarterbacks coach at Christian Academy of Louisville, hasn’t wavered.
“Louisville will be back. I know we're not giving up on them ever as a team. We always got their back,” said Redman, who called himself a huge fan of current Cardinals quarterback Malik Cunningham. “This is a big weekend for not only the players, but the coaching staff as well. So hopefully, have a good showing and we can kind of get back on track.”
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To do that, Redman believes it’s about the team getting back to the basics and fundamentals of football.
“As simplified as that sounds, that's what it is,” he said. “It’s just making sure that (the Cardinals) keep doing the little things right and keep working hard. They'll improve and they'll get better because there's too much talent there not to. I'm pulling for them and, again, this is a big weekend for them, so hopefully they can go on the road and take care of business.”
Louisville and Virginia will kick off at noon Saturday on the ACC Network.
Partnering with Academy
Redman voiced his support for the squad Thursday while at a community outreach event at Academy Sports + Outdoors in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He partnered with the new store, which had its soft opening this week and opens Friday, to give 20 student-athletes from Charlestown and Jeffersonville $100 gift cards to go shopping at the sporting goods store. Academy also donated a $1,500 gift card to the schools’ athletic departments for new equipment.
“It's a lot of pride on my part to be able to bring sporting goods outdoor store to this community,” said store director Trae Howard, who grew up in Clarksville. “We offer a lot of value across the board, lots of products. To be able to have Chris here tonight, that's huge. A local athlete, celebrity, Super Bowl champion. So, it's a great, great thing. Very proud to be part of it.”
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Redman had already had an existing relationship with Academy. The company provides gift cards to the player of the week on Game On, the weekly TV show Redman hosts with his father, Bob. Redman said he jumped when he was presented with the chance to be involved with the event.
“I'm from this area, and I want to try to give back as much as I can to not only the kids but the schools,” he said. “Football brought me a lot of great things, so I just want to be able to give back a little bit.”
One of the great things football brought him was a Super Bowl ring, which impressed many of the high school student-athletes.
“Is it real?” one student-athlete asked as she examined the golden, jewel-encrusted ring that took up half of Redman’s ring finger. He assured her it was. Once he took a picture with the kids, Redman walked through the store and made sure all of them had an autographed photo to take home in addition to their new gear.
“I have kids now and show them that you work hard you can go and accomplish your dreams,” he said. “I definitely dreamed about playing in the National Football League. I never thought it would happen, but next thing you know, I'm running out of a Super Bowl tunnel. … There's a lot of help along the way, and a lot of things that go your way. So just been very blessed that it all worked out for me and (I) have an opportunity to give back.”
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville football: Chris Redman confident Cardinals will improve
