Louisville football begins spring practices in March. Here are 5 questions for Jeff Brohm
Louisville football is less than a month from starting spring practices in Year 2 under Jeff Brohm.
After a 10-4 season and their first ACC championship game, the Cardinals return 14 players with starting experience: six on offense and eight on defense. U of L also brought in five midyear enrollees from the 2024 signing class and 24 players from the transfer portal.
The Cardinals will have some players missing or limited for spring practices. Others will arrive on campus during the summer, so the team won’t be at full strength until the fall. Still, there’s much to learn about the squad with six months to go before the 2024 season begins.
Here are five questions for Louisville football ahead of spring practices:
What does Louisville football's quarterback room look like?
Texas Tech transfer Tyler Shough is poised to be Louisville’s starting quarterback, but concerns about his health loom. In January, Brohm said Shough wasn’t fully healthy. Questions about how much he’ll practice this spring open the door for questions about who’s behind him. For the last two seasons, Evan Conley and Brock Domann were the Cardinals’ backup quarterbacks, but both have graduated.
Including Shough, the Cardinals have seven rostered quarterbacks, but only three completed at least one pass last year. The order of the signal callers behind Shough is to be determined. After transferring to Louisville from Purdue to stay with Brohm, Brady Allen has the most experience with the coach’s system. He completed a 7-yard pass and played in one game last season. Pierce Clarkson, a highly touted four-star recruit who helped keep the 2023 class together, is the fan favorite and saw action in one game, completing a 7-yard pass.
Who is Louisville football's TE1?
Louisville’s tight end dilemma has been solved with experienced transfers Jaleel Skinner (Miami), Louisville native Izayah Cummings (Kentucky) and Mark Redman (San Diego State), who won’t be on campus until the summer. Cummings had a strong sophomore season for the Wildcats. Redman was an all-conference first-team player for the Aztecs in 2022.
The Cardinals also return Nate Kurisky, Duane Martin, Jamari Johnson and Gage Reale.
Kurisky became U of L’s starting tight end during Week 5. Martin started against Virginia during Week 10. Both gained quality on-field experience, but will it be enough to compete for the starting job?
How balanced will Louisville football's offense be?
Although a Brohm-led offense is generally pass heavy, last year’s Louisville squad showed the coach's ability to adjust. The run game became more prevalent. Jawhar Jordan became the first running back to rush for 1,000 yards since Javian Hawkins in 2019. Louisville’s run game accounted for 43% of its offensive yards, a steep jump from Brohm’s final two years at Purdue when the rushing yardage accounted for 30% and 19%.
Like Jordan, Peny Boone was statistically one of the nation's best running backs last year with the 30th-best grade, per Pro Football Focus. Jordan ranked 16th. In addition to signing Boone and Donald Chaney, Maurice Turner and Keyjuan Brown are back, which makes the group even deeper than last year.
What will Louisville football's defensive line rotations look like?
Louisville’s defensive line was dominant last season, and part of that was because of its depth. The Cardinals rotated 14 players throughout the season and helped the defense tally 34 sacks — 37th most in the country — in addition to having the best red-zone defense nationally. Despite losing six players to the transfer portal, they brought in three highly regarded defensive linemen. That gives U of L 16 rostered defensive linemen heading into spring practices.
The Cardinals can have a similar rotation this spring with the return of starters Ashton Gillotte, Dez Tell and Jermayne Lole along with Mason Reiger, who began to peak toward the end of the 2023 season, Tawfiq Thomas and Selah Brown. Thor Griffith will not arrive until the summer, so others will get more practice time.
Who will replace Cam Kelly and Jarvis Brownlee in Louisville football's secondary?
It didn’t take Cam Kelly long to become one of the Cardinals’ starting safeties after transferring from North Carolina. Jarvis Brownlee did the same after transferring from Florida State prior to the 2022 season. Both were instrumental in the team’s success last year but need to be replaced.
Those openings are likely to be filled by transfer players after the Cardinals signed seven defensive backs from the transfer portal. Two came from Tennessee: Wesley Walker and Tamarion McDonald. Safety M.J. Griffin is recovering from a lower leg injury that held him out of the 2023 season. He was projected to be a starter prior to the setback. Though he’s not expected to participate in spring practices, Griffin could return as a starter alongside Devin Neal, who made 13 starts in his first season with the program.
Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville football: 5 questions for Jeff Brohm ahead of spring
