Five Questions Heading Into Louisville's Fall Camp

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At this point in time, it seems like Louisville football's bowl game against Cincinnati to end the 2022 season was years ago. But the long and torturous offseason is almost in the rear view mirror.

The Cardinals are set to begin fall camp, their first one under hew head coach Jeff Brohm, on Tuesday, Aug. 1, ahead of their 2023 season-opener in Atlanta against Georgia Tech on Friday, Sept. 1.

Heading into Brohm's first season at the helm, there are no shortage of storylines. Here are our five biggest questions surrounding the Louisville football program heading into the start of fall camp:

Is the quarterback/wide receiver chemistry at a spot where it needs to be in this pass-heavy system?

In case you didn't realize by now, Louisville's offensive philosophy is going to be much, much different moving forward. Out with Scott Satterfield's run-heavy and pistol formation based system, and in with Jeff and Brian Brohm's pass-heavy and pro style scheme.

As part of the transition to this system, Brohm and his staff were very deliberate in overhauling Louisville's wide receiver room. Only two scholarship wideouts from last season are back, with seven scholarship newcomers at the position.

Even at quarterback, there is a lot of newness. Longtime start Malik Cunningham is now in the NFL, and only two signal caller are returning from 2022. The quarterback room has tree newcomers, the latter of which includes Cal transfer and projected starter Jack Plummer.

Having this many new players in these two positions to try and learn the system is one thing What's arguably just as important is that these two positions continue to build chemistry, especially since they are the focal point of the offense.

At times during the open practices in spring ball earlier this year, it was evident that this chemistry still had a little bit to go. Even Plummer admittedly said it was a work in progress during the spring. Louisville has the potential to have one of the most prolific wide receivers rooms in the ACC, they just have to put it all together during fall camp.

How do the post-spring additions at offensive line affect their rotation and performance?

During the 2021 season, Louisville had one of their best offensive lines in school history. Last season, the line was just average, if not slightly disappointing, allowing 2.08 sacks and 5.77 tackles for loss per game. The latter ranked 74th in FBS, while the former was 64th out of 130 FBS teams.

During the spring, it was obvious that the offensive line needed some improvements during the second portal window, as they were seemingly getting best with regularity at time. That's exactly what Louisville did.

The Cardinals brought in Eric Miller, Willie Tyler, Trevonte Sylvester, Lance Robinson and Vincent Lumia after spring ball. All five of these players have played tackle in some form at their previous stops, so the competition at the bookends of the line is going to be something interesting to monitor during fall camp, especially with Renato Brown still in the mix.

The interior of the line is a little more set in stone, with John Paul Flores, Bryan Hudson and Michael Gonzalez likely starting. But even there, guys like Madden Sanker or Austin Collins could make a push for regular playing time.

The offensive line is in a much better start now than it was before spring started. Who winds up starting game one against Georgia Tech - or even becomes a go-to reserve - will be something to watch.

Can the tight end and linebacker spots avoid becoming handicaps for their respective sides of the ball?

Brohm and his staff have done a tremendous job at talent retention and acquisition since he took over this past December. That being both the offense and the defense have glaring weak spots.

On offense, it's the tight end spot. Brohm's system has always operated at its peak whenever there is a go-to tight end in the passing game. Just look at Payne Durham and what he did at Purdue. The problem? The six tight ends on the roster, scholarship and walk-on, have combined career totals of just six receptions for 94 yards and a single touchdown.

Walk-on Josh Lifson looked good in the spring, but has two career receptions for 37 yards. Jamari Johnson could have a bright future, but is a true freshman. Joey Gatewood is a converted QB with zero in-game receiving reps. Right now, there simply isn't someone at tight end that will help unlock the passing game's full potential.

It's a similar story with linebacker on the defense, specifically at inside linebacker. While Oregon transfer Keith Brown and T.J. Quinn should at least a solid one-two starting tandem, ILB still has does not have much collective experience or depth.

Jaylin Alderman didn't play on defense at all last season, and Jackson Hamilton logged only three tackles. Stanquan Clark and T.J. Capers have extremely bright futures and could get early playing time, but both are true freshmen.

While all the other positions and the roster all have their own respective questions, they at least have depth. For these two spots, depth and lack of prior production is a big question, and will have to take massive steps forward in the fall if they are to avoid becoming a weak link on their side of the line of scrimmage.

Can Louisville's defense still be effective while not being as disruptive?

Last season, defense was the name of the game for Louisville. They led all of college football in sacks with 3.85 per game and were seventh in tackles for loss per game at 7.5, which was the driving factor for them producing the No. 23 defense last season.

But most of the players made the Cardinals' defense so disruptive last season are now gone. Yasir Abdullah and Yaya Diaby are now in the NFL, MoMo Sanogo graduated and Monty Montgomery is now at Ole Miss.

On top of that, Ron English and Mark Hagen's defensive scheme is not nearly as havoc-inducing. Last season, Purdue ranked just 66th and 110th nationally in sacks and TFLs per game, and had the No. 52 total defense in FBS.

That being said, there is hope that Louisville's defensive efficiency might not fall off a cliff. Unlike Bryan Brown's 3-4 scheme where the linebackers are the ones causing all the chaos, the defensive linemen are the one who typically produce the most havoc plays in this new 4-2-5. Led by guys like Ashton Gillotte, Stephen Herron and others, Louisville's defensive line talent is a vast improvement than Purdue's

Additionally, this scheme bodes well for the secondary. Purdue ranked 18th in passes intercepted with 14 and 33rd in total passes defended with 60 last season, and in English's first year during 2021, the Boilermakers were 33rd with 208.7 passing yards allowed per game. Louisville deep secondary will only see this trend carry into 2023.

Sure, the Cardinals are going to take a bit of a hit from a defensive standpoint due to the scheme change and natural attrition. But while it might not be as exciting as last year's defense was, it has a chance to be nearly as efficient.

Can Brohm and Louisville as a whole live up to year one expectations?

As soon as Brohm was hired to be the head coach of the Cardinals, the local hype train for the 2023 season started going full steam ahead. In the weeks and months that have followed, that buzz has started to reach a national level.

The Cardinals received favorable odds to win the ACC, and have been viewed by many as a dark horse to win the conference. On top of that, Louisville has also been tabbed as a sleeper to make the College Football Playoff, and Action Network went as far to say they will be a betting favorite in every single game this season.

Part of that is what he was able to do while at Purdue. Inheriting a program that had gone 9-39 under the previous regime, he guided the Boilermakers to a 36-34 overall record, including going 8-5 this past season with a berth in the Big Ten Championship. This included going 7-10 against top-25 opponent during the regular season, including 3-1 against top-five squads.

Conversely, Brohm has been prone to some tremendous letdowns in the past. After taking down No. 2 Iowa on the road in 2021 and jumping into the top 25, Purdue was then immediately blown out at home by an unranked Wisconsin. Questionable clock management and penalties galore in the final minutes gifted Syracuse a win over the Boilermakers this past season season. In back-to-back games this year, Purdue got boat-raced by an interim head coach at Wisconsin and allowed a stagnant Iowa offense to dominate them.

Louisville's easy schedule undoubtedly plays into part of the hype for this upcoming season, but there are a few games that could be stumbling blocks. Notre Dame will be a top-25, maybe even top-15, team when they come to Cardinals Stadium. Pitt isn't easy to play at home. Duke has trap game written all over it. Then of course, there's the rivalry game to end the regular season.

Brohm does have a much more talented team at his disposal compared to what he had at Purdue, and they have the potential to do great things. But can they do it right out of the gates? Time will tell.

(Photo via University of Louisville Athletics)

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