Reggie Bonnafon is ready.
The University of Louisville true freshman is ready to start at quarterback for the football team again. He’s ready to pick up where he left off in the Boston College game. He’s ready to showout Saturday at Notre Dame.
“It’s going to be amazing,” Bonnafon said earlier this week. “Growing up as a kid I never thought of playing at Notre Dame Stadium, but it’s a big game. All of us are prepared and ready and getting ready to go up there and put on a show.”
The Cardinals (7-3), who are No. 24 in the College Football Playoff Rankings released earlier this week, and the Fighting Irish (7-3) are set to kickoff in the first-ever meeting between the two at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in South Bend, Ind.
Bonnafon, the 6-foot-3, 206-pound QB from Trinity High School, started three games earlier this season - going 2-1 against Wake Forest, Syracuse and Clemson - and will make his fourth start Saturday after Will Gardner suffered a season-ending knee injury in UofL’s win over Boston College on Nov. 8. Bonnafon played great - passing for two touchdowns and running for a game-high 76 yards and another TD - in the victory over the Eagles, rallying Louisville from a 13-10 deficit after Gardner got injured.
“I was ready,” Bonnafon said. “I prepare every day in each practice as if I was the starter. So to come in behind Will, there’s no pressure, he’s always there to support me.
“I just have to operate the offense just as he would.”
Bonnafon has operated fairly well so far this season, completing 51 of 92 passes (55.4 percent) for 662 yards and four touchdowns against only one interception while also rushing 51 times for a net total of 138 yards and three touchdowns.
“I give credit to my coaches and my teammates for giving me support and encouragement, that’s given me confidence,” Bonnafon said.
And his coaches have confidence in him.
"He's a great athlete and he did a really nice job the other night of running with the football,” UofL coach Bobby Petrino said. “At the end of the day, when you look and you get 86 (actually 76) yards rushing from your quarterback, that's a significant difference in the game.
“I think you have to play to his strengths. We are asking Reggie to be smart, to make sure that he gets the first down and takes care of himself, knows how to get out of bounds or get down on the ground. He's a really, really good athlete. In those runs the other night he never got hit hard one time. It was great to see, something we really look at. But he's also a good thrower, I think he can do a good job of, particularly, throwing the ball down the field."
Added UofL offensive coordinator Garrick McGee: “He’s just got to be himself and have fun with it, but he has to understand how serious this is. It’s a huge game for us. He has to really take his preparation serious and go out and perform when he gets the opportunity to perform.”
The opportunity is now, and Bonnafon says he’s ready.
Photo courtesy University of Louisville Football Facebook Page
