LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisville football is back. Well, sort of.
Spring practice for the Cardinals is nearly in the books, and it will conclude with its annual Spring Football Game at L&N Stadium. Kickoff is set for Friday, Apr. 11 at 6:00 p.m. EST, with admission and parking free of charge.
Ahead of the spring game, here are some things to watch out for as Louisville wraps up their third spring ball under head coach Jeff Brohm:
A glance at who could be in line to earn a bigger role on the team.
At this point in time, we have a good idea of what most of Louisville’s first team unit is going to be. Guys like Miller Moss, Chris Bell and Isaac Brown are no brainers to be starting when the Cardinals host Eastern Kentucky on Aug. 30 to kick off their 2025 season.
That being said, a lot of these pencilled in first-teamers are not going to get extensive run on Friday night – if at all. After all, the staff already knows what they can do, so there’s no need to give them a lot of reps in the spring game.
Additionally, injuries are bound to happen in football, and Louisville is no exception. Expected heavy contributors for next season like Stanquan Clark and Austin Collins have missed time this spring, so don’t expect them to suit up, either.
Put it all together, and we should get a behind-the-scenes look at who has made the most progress during spring in the coaches’ eyes based on how early and how often they play in the spring game.
“We’ve had two good weeks of practice,” Brohm said roughly halfway through spring ball. “I think a lot of our guys coming back have a good understanding of what we’re trying to do, what we’re trying to get accomplished. They’ve done a really good job. Keeping them healthy is important as well, as we continue to push forward.
“There’s our lot of new faces, so we just got to keep pushing the envelope on not only just drill work, but giving them repetitions so that they can understand and hear things, and be able to react accordingly and play fast. So right now, that’s the emphasis. I think our guys are working hard, and we’re seeing improvement every day.”
How Miller Moss fits in scheme-wise.
Following and up-and-down showing out of the passing game in 2023, Louisville took a big step forward in this department when they brought in Tyler Shough out of the portal. In 2024, the Cardinals averaged 264.1 passing yards per game, which ranked fifth in the ACC and 26th nationally.
With Shough now heading to the NFL, priority No. 1 for Louisville once the offseason hit was finding another starting-caliber quarterback out of the portal. It didn’t take them long to land Miller Moss, and the former USC signal caller has certainly shown his experience in fall camp.
“You can tell he’s played a lot of football,” Brohm said. “He’s got experience. He’s a veteran. He can pick up our offense very fast. He’s run quite a few of these plays before. Just maybe call it something different. So that part is there. I think he can throw the football, throw it accurately.”
Moss spent four years with the Trojans, sitting on the bench behind Caleb Williams before earning the starting job for the 2024 season. He started the first nine games of the year, completing 64.4 percent of his passes for 2,555 yards and 18 touchdowns to nine interceptions.
That being said, some fans have had questions and/or concerns with Moss. This is mainly due to the fact the Lincoln Riley benched him in favor of Jayden Maiava for the final four game of the year.
“I think with any quarterback, maybe when you didn’t have the success you wanted, what are those really small things that we can fine tune Demanding that we throw it in tighter windows at times, being accurate with our passes, being on time, not expecting guys to be wide open. … Fine tuning that, and being precise, and trusting what he sees and his accuracy is what we just got to keep working on. But he’s really done a good job at this point.”
Moss has certainly performed well in the open practices of spring ball for the Cardinals, and his leadership capabilities are evident. But it’s also clear that he operates a completely different play style than Shough did, and his arm strength isn’t quite what his predecessor’s was. The spring game should be a good indicator of how much the staff has had to adjust the scheme, considering how much they relied on deep shots in the passing game.
Who stands out as the potential third go-to wide receiver.
Few teams in college football will head into the 2025 season with a better one-two punch at wide receiver than what Louisville has.
Chris Bell is coming off of a career year, one which saw him catch 43 passes for 737 yards and four touchdowns. While Caullin Lacy was limited by a collarbone injury, he was one of the most prolific wideouts in college football for the 2023 season, when he caught 91 passes for 1,316 yards and seven scores at South Alabama.
But of course, in modern football, most plays operate in three wide receiver sets. As to who will earn that third starting wide receiver spot for Louisville is still a little bit up in the air.
Antonio Meeks logged just three catches for 42 yards and a touchdown last season, but he has made good progress during the spring. Former walk-on Kris Hughes had seven catches for 54 yards in 2024, and could be next in line for significant playing time. Bobby Golden and T.J. McWilliams, who transferred in from Akron and Minnesota, respectively, have both flashed some good things in the spring. There’s also Shaun Boykins Jr. and JoJo Stone, who both redshirted last season.
It’s entirely possible that Louisville dips back into the transfer portal for that third starting wide receiver when the spring window open up. But, if someone stands out during the spring game on a play-to-play basis, maybe the Cardinals won’t have to do that.
“Developing other compliments are important,” Brohm said. “Antonio Meeks had a touchdown catch in the bowl game. He’s got to continue to improve, but he’s getting a ton of reps. Kris Hughes has played some for us. He did a good job, and he’s got to continue to step up and and make plays. Then there’s some other young guys that will show up sometimes, but we need to show up more, that are getting closer. That’s going to be important.”
The depth across the entire defensive line.
While the defensive line for Louisville still managed to have an overall good 2024 season, it was still one where they had a little bit of a slow start, and felt like they didn’t fully tap into their potential. Add in the fact that guys like Ashton Gillotte, Dezmond Tell and Ramon Puryear are moving on, you might think that the Cardinals could be in line for a step back on the line.
Instead, there’s a case to be made that this position group is one of the strongest on the entire roster.
For starters, the Cardinals get back both Rene Konga and Jordan Guerad, who both had underrated seasons on the interior. On top of that, both Abilene Christian transfer Jerry Lawson and Old Dominion transfer Denzel Lowry have both had tremendous springs, giving Louisville a ferocious two-deep at nose/defensive tackle.
Additionally, despite Gillotte now preparing for the NFL, the Cardinals are still in a good spot on the edges. Adonijah Green seems to have taken a big step forward, and Rutgers transfer Wesley Bailey has had such a good spring that he’s taken a bulk of his snaps with the first stringers. Coastal Carolina transfer Clev Lubin has taken reps with both the ones and twos, has shown on multiple ocassions how much of a game wrecker he can be.
Louisville has also had other players on the line make a handful of plays in spring ball, such as Micah Carter, Saadiq Clements, Maurice Davis, and William Spencer. Put it all together, and pair it with Louisville’s offensive line – which might actually be the best position group on the roster – and this is a unit that has the potential to shine on Friday night.
“It’s about our young guys coming on and getting better, and then with the portal, you’ve got some hungry guys that have done it at different levels,” defensive line coach Mark Hagen said. “We feel like we’ve got some really nice additions there.”
How the new-look secondary performs, and if UofL needs to continue bolstering it.
While Louisville’s front seven is teeming with potential for the 2025 season, one are of their defense that has a ton of questions surrounding it is in the secondary.
The Cardinals are already coming off of a season in which they ranked 100th in the FBS in passing defense, allowing 236.2 yards per game. In eight of their games, they allowed either over 300 yards passing, over two or more passing touchdowns.
On top of that, there has been a ton of roster turnover. Louisville is losing their top five cornerbacks on the roster and six overall, as well as their starting safety tandem, leaving them with just four returning scholarship defensive backs. As you can imagine, Brohm and Co. have had to hit the portal hard here, bringing in seven defensive backs (so far).
There has been some good things out of this group so far. FIU safety JoJo Evans and Southern cornerback Rodney Johnson have both done very well, returning safety D’Angelo Hutchinson could compete for a starting role, and true freshman corner Antonio Harris has gotten a lot of reps with the ones. Even with all the newness and questions here, the staff has liked what they have seen in spring.
“Well, I like where we’re at,” Brohm said. “There are a lot of new faces, so you got to digest who’s in there, and how they’re doing. We got to continue to throw a lot at them, and then with that, we got to make sure that the package is sound. and we put them in the best position to succeed as well. All those things matter when it comes to secondary play.”
Of course, while the secondary has looked good in practice and in controlled scrimmages, that doesn’t necessary mean that will translate to a more game-like environment. It very well could, but if the secondary gets torched all night, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them be super active in the portal to beef up their group of defensive backs.
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(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Sam Upshaw Jr. – Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
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