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Louisville DC Todd Grantham said he laughed off report of Petrino tension

Louisville DC Todd Grantham said he laughed off report of Petrino tension

Louisville defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said he had a simple response when he heard of the report that said there was tension between him and Louisville coach Bobby Petrino.

"You know what, I have not seen the report," Grantham told Football Scoop. "I heard about it and you know, we're in camp, so we're busy. Truthfully I kind of laughed it off and went on to a meeting."

After Football Scoop gave Grantham a summation of the article, he flatly denied it. Sports Illustrated said Monday that there had been multiple feuds between Grantham and Petrino and Petrino would have gotten rid of Grantham if it wasn't for the five-year contract he signed in the offseason at Louisville after leaving Georgia.

"Not at all," Grantham said when asked if the summation was true. "We've made significant strides here with our football program since coming in January. Our players have worked really hard in the offseason and going back and looking at our tape from the spring to what we're doing right now you see some really good strides in our players."

Grantham also said he hadn't been asked about any issues between himself and Petrino. After he was hired at Louisville for a second time, Grantham was Petrino's choice for defensive coordinator.

While it'd be highly unlikely that Grantham would admit publicly that there are issues between he and Petrino, another report at WDRB.com cited a source that said reports of a feud are also overblown.

“Bobby told me the frustrating thing about this is it's 100 percent not true,” the source cited by Rick Bozich at WDRB said. “Bobby and Todd are fine.

WDRB's source also made a salient point regarding the reports of feuds. If Louisville's defense plays well against Miami and in other early games, many people will forget that there was tension. But on the flip side, if Louisville's defense struggles early, attention paid to the relationship between Petrino and Grantham will only be heightened.

For more Louisville news, visit CardinalSports.com.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!