Notes and Observations from Louisville's Sixth Open Fall Camp Practice

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program is deep into their 2023 fall camp. The Cardinals are halfway through their second week of their first preseason under head coach Jeff Brohm, with six practice sessions already in the books.

Their sixth practice, which took place on Tuesday, was once again open to both the fans and media. Like we were for the first five open practices, Louisville Report was there for it all to watch the fifth open practice of fall ball.

Previous Open Practice Notebooks:

Below is our notebook of the more notable happenings that transpired during the morning:

*Editor's note: I won't be attending the final two open practices of fall camp, so this will be the last notebook. Enjoy!*

Just before the main practice session started, Louisville's placekickers were practicing from around 30-40 yards out. As he has been through most of camp up to this point, Brock Travelstead was the most accurate during this drill.
With this practice taking place back at the traditional practice fields, I was only able to really watch the offensive side of the ball during the individual drill periods.
The main focus for the wide receivers today was their release off the line of scrimmage, working on getting a quick first step and parlaying that into their full motion upfield. Unsurprisingly, the more shifty and agile receivers on the roster stood out here, like Jamari Thrash and Ahmari Huggins-Bruce.
Early on for the quarterbacks, they were going through rollout/bootleg drills and honing in on their accuracy when it comes to throwing on the run. It was hit-or-miss at times, but largely the group was on target. They also had a drill with the running backs that had them going through the motions of dumping the ball to them as a safety valve if need be.
Speaking of the running backs, they had a drill with the defensive linemen where they worked on their pass protection. I will say, given how talented and physical some of the linemen and edge rushers are, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the backs held up here. Especially Jawhar Jordan.
Competition has been extremely high throughout fall camp, and today it finally resulted in some on-field brouhahas. There were not one, not two, but three fights during the first hour of practice. The whole team had to run sideline-to-sideline after the second fight, then after the third one, two players had to be tossed for about half an hour, and Jeff Brohm cussed out the entire team. You could have heard a pin drop while Brohm was yelling. After practice, both Josh Minkins and Benjamin Perry both said it was "just football."
Okay, now back to the actual notes. During the one-on-ones, a lot of the wide receivers displayed good body control against pressure to make difficult catches. Thrash and Kevin Coleman Jr. made some of the more impressive catches of the period, as did some of the tight ends too.
The offense didn't waste anytime getting started during the 11-on-11 period. On the very first rep of the period, running back Maurice Turner exploded through a hole in the offensive line and took it to the house. In the next few minutes, walk-on wide receiver Jatavian Churchill had a really impressive jump ball sideline catch in triple coverage, then Jordan found a good angle on an outside zone run to get to the endzone as well. Later in the period, Jack Plummer connected with Jimmy Calloway on a beautiful deep post route.
That's not to say that the defense didn't make some plays in the first 11-on-11. Linebacker Keith Brown had a tackle for loss on a blitz that looked like he was shot out of a cannon, and safety Devin Neal caught an interception. After a dominating start by the offensive line, the defensive line started gaining momentum and collapsing the pocket with more regularity later in the period.
After the first 11-on-11, Louisville shifted to a seven-on-seven period. Like in the previous segment, the offense was clicking right out of the gates. Thrash had a good catch-and-run on a mesh concept, Chris Bell hauled in a pass directly over Brownlee, and tight end Jamari Johnson trucked Minkins over the middle after a catch.
Of course, the defensive players eventually adjusted. Brownlee, cornerback Derrick Edwards and safety/linebacker Antonio Watts all had pass breakups in the segment.
Someone who stood out the most during the segment was actually tight end Joey Gatewood. He's had a mostly quiet fall camp, but had his best showing today. In this period, he had a nice catch in double coverage and scored a touchdown when the focus was shifted to the redzone. He even started building a repertoire with the quarterbacks in the second 11-on-11 period, catching a couple shallow passes over the middle.
Onto the second and final 11-on-11. Unlike the first one, the defense set the tone early, creating a lot of pressure on the quarterback regardless who was taking the reps. Gilbert Frierson had a would-be sack, and linebacker Stanquan Clark had a combined tackle for loss (couldn't make out the other defender).
Some of the better plays by the offense in the final period were: a long catch by Coleman where he had to lay out for the grab, Turner bouncing off tackles to earn extra yardage in the middle of the field, and Jimmy Calloway with a long catch up the sideline where he had to battle the defensive back to the ground and finish the catch.

(Photo via University of Louisville Athletics)

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