By Kaila Burns-Heffner.

Louisville saw some success last season in its first year in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Cardinals went 9-4 and were 5-3 inside the ACC, losing to Clemson, Florida State and Virginia. They advanced to play in the Belk Bowl after the regular season where they were beaten by Georgia, 37-14

The Cardinals return nine starters for the 2015 football season, and there are concerns on both sides of the ball due to the departure of five All-ACC players.

Last season, Louisville started three different quarterbacks after redshirt sophomore Will Gardner suffered a knee injury early and then a second which ended his season early. Freshman Reggie Bonnafon replaced Gardner, but he was injured in the season-finale against Kentucky and did not play in the Belk Bowl. That left sophomore Kyle Bolin with his first career start against Georgia after he rallied the Cardinals to a win over Kentucky following Bonnafon’s injury .

All three quarterbacks, along with Penn State transfer Tyler Ferguson, will compete for the starting role this summer.

Gardner is not expected to return fully until the fall, but in Louisville’s spring game, Bonnafon seemed to emerge as the leader after he completed 15 of 19 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown and rushed 10 times for 37 yards and a score in the spring game.

“We’ve had some good quarterback competition going on, which is always a lot of fun and something that I thought they all handled well,” said Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino. “Overall I thought we got a lot done in spring ball, but certainly we have a lot of work ahead of us and a long way to go to get ready for a real tough early schedule.”

Bonnafon also threw seven passes to sophomore receiver James Quick for 127 yards in the spring game. Quick will have to step up to fill the gap left by DeVante Parker. In 2014, Parker caught 43 passes for 855 yards in only 6 games. He is projected to be a first-round selection in the 2015 NFL Draft which begins on Thursday.

Louisville also gained transfers Ja’Quay Williams from Texas A&M and Jamari Staples from UAB, who are supposed to contribute to filling the void left by Parker at wide receiver in combination with mid-year enrollees Traveon Samuel and Jaire Alexander.

“Overall I think it’s going to be a really good group. I think we’re a little taller as a group. We have more speed. We’re just inexperienced,” said Petrino. “James Quick had a really good spring for us, kind of moving him around, playing him at different spots, and he’s been through how we practice and then through how we go about our business, so he was mentally in better condition than the other guys.”

Although the Cardinals have talent they can develop to fill the receiver position, the offensive line lost three starters including second-team All-ACC left tackle Jamon Brown. The coaching staff will have to make position adjustments along the line to cover for the loss of talent. The uncertainty could pose some difficulty for Louisville’s offense.

Moving on to the defensive side of the ball, the Cardinals face even more uncertainty. Last season, Louisville’s defense ended up ranked as the sixth best unit in the nation, but it lost all of its starters in the secondary. That group totaled 26 interceptions in the 2014, and 14 of those came from NFL bound safety Gerod Holliman.

Louisville also lost standout defensive ends Lorenzo Mauldin and B.J. Dubose to the NFL Draft. There is still talent left on the line and in the linebacker positions, so that will be the strength, at least early on.

Georgia transfers Shaq Wiggins and Josh Harvey-Clemons will take over on the back end. They are talented and had playing time at Georgia before arriving on Louisville’s campus after brief altercations with the law.

“I like what I see from our defense. We’re going to be strong on the defensive front. We’ll have some new guys in the secondary, but they’re talented, and we have a really good linebacking crew,” Petrino said.

The Cardinals will be put to the test early with a season opener against Auburn in the Georgia Dome. They are currently predicted as a 12.5-point underdog for that game. Louisville also has to face off against Clemson two weeks after the opener.