Jeff Brohm Not Yet Ready to Pencil In Louisville's Starting Quarterback
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The quarterback room for the Louisville football program will look a little bit different in 2023
For the first time since the 2016 season, the Cardinals will not have Malik Cunningham as an option to put under center. The Montgomery, Ala. native, who arrived at Louisville in 2017 and has been their starter since the 2019, has finally exhausted his eligibility and is now setting his sights on a career in the NFL.
Fortunately, the Cardinals have a solid option to replace Cunningham as the starting quarterback.
20 days after he was officially introduced as the next head coach at Louisville, Jeff Brohm scored a big win out of the the transfer portal, landing graduate transfer Jack Plummer. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound quarterback transferred to Cal last offseason after starting his career at Purdue with Brohm, and made the most of his fresh start. Starting all 12 games for the Golden Bears in 2022, he completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 3,095 yards, 21 touchdown passes and nine interceptions.
"It's an important position," Brohm said. "You want to make sure you have talented guys that can win your football games, and lead the team and that can make plays. I do think that it was important to add a veteran to the mix. Jack obviously knows us and knows our system, and he's played a lot of football. So we feel good about him."
But will Plummer actually be the starter when the Cardinals take on Georgia Tech on Friday, Sept. 1 down at Mercedes-Benz Stadium? Conventional wisdom says yes, but Brohm isn't going to just hand the keys to offense to Plummer just like that. Speaking during Louisville's traditional signing day press conference last Wednesday, Brohm said the battle for QB1 is very much an open competition
"We'll always have open competition at every position," he said. "Jack does have a lot of experience, and we're bringing him here for a purpose and a reason. We'll give him an opportunity to do his thing, but we also want to continue to develop everybody. and make sure they're all ready to go. Whether it's one guy playing the entire game, or certain packages for others, or whatever we think we have to do to win, we'll definitely get that done."
By no means is that a knock on Plummer. In fact, Brohm has - on multiple occasions since landing his commitment - commended him for his leadership, football IQ and experience. Considering Plummer has system familiarity with Brohm stemming from his four years at Purdue, it's understandable why the head coach of the Cardinals would be so high on him.
Plummer redshirted in 2018, started six games in 2019 after Elijah Sindelar suffered a season-ending injury, then started the final three games of Purdue's COVID-shortened 2020 season. He then started the first four games of 2021 before getting benched in favor of Aidan O'Connell. He completed 64.8 percent of his throws for 3,405 yards, 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 13 starts and 17 games with the Boilermakers.
"He's played a lot of football," Brohm said. "He's smart, he's intelligent, he's athletic, he's a leader, he's a winner. We think they'll do a great job for us."
That being said, there are a couple players who have an outside chance of seizing the starting position away from Plummer: Brock Domann and Pierce Clarkson
Domann is the more likely of the two to dethrone Plummer from his perceived starting role. A former JUCO transfer who saw minimal time during his first season with Louisville in 2021, he was forced to make four starts for the Cardinals last season due to various injuries to Cunningham. He went 3-1 as a starter, completing 54.9 percent of his passes for 998 yards, four touchdowns and six interceptions.
However, don't count out Pierce Clarkson, either. The true freshman was one of the top quarterbacks in the Class of 2023, helping lead St. John Bosco to 13-1 record, a CIF Open Division State Championship and a No. 1 national ranking by MaxPreps. Ranked as the No. 345 prospect in the class by the 247Sports Composite, Clarkson completed 64.0 percent of his passes for 1,903 yards and 26 touchdowns to six interceptions, while also rushing for 422 yards and five touchdowns.
"Brock Domann has experience as well, so we want to allow him to compete on the offense and do some things," Brohm said. "And I think we have some young quarterbacks that we're looking forward to developing. Pierce (Clarkson) and a nucleus of a few other guys will get an opportunity to show what they're all about."
Louisville also has former backup Evan Conley, redshirt freshman Khalib Johnson and walk-on Nathan McElroy at their disposal in the quarterback room to help fuel competition. Brohm is excited to watch the quarterback room battle it out over the course of the offseason, and has been pleased from what he has seen so far.
"I've been excited about what I've seen to this point," he said. "I think that getting them on the field, getting them game reps in spring practice as much as we can, in team settings where they have to make plays with a little heat on them will be very important. We're excited about that position and developing it, and adding Jack I think will be big because he does understand it."
(Photo of Jack Plummer: Soobum Im - USA TODAY Sports)
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