Louisville Getting Good Work From Quarterback Room to Start Fall Camp

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - If you've followed football for any amount of time, you've likely heard the phrase "quarterback is the most important position in all of sports" at some point in time. It might sound incredibly cliche, but there is a semblance of truth to it.

The quarterback touches the ball on every single snap, and his performance in a game has the single biggest impact on whether or not that team will win or lose. Sure, other positions on the gridiron serve a meaningful purpose. But the signal caller is without a doubt the most crucial player to not only to a team, but arguably in any team sport.

For the Louisville football program, they are entering their upcoming 2025 season with a brand new starter after Tyler Shough was drafted in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the new Orleans Saints. Through the first half of fall camp, while there has been some ebbs and flows with their various players at the position, the quarterback room has put in some good work overall, and head coach Jeff Brohm likes where they're at.

QB1 for the Cardinals' season-opener has long been decided, as Miller Moss opted to play his final season in college for UofL after spending the first four years of his career in his hometown with USC. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound signal caller 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.

But as most Louisville fans know by now, he was benched for the final three games of the year. While Moss was mainly a scapegoat for the Trojans' problems as a whole, he didn't have a perfect 2024 campaign, either.

Those up-and-down tendencies have emerged a couple times in fall camp, but overall, Moss has put together a very good preseason. He's impressed the Louisville coaches with his ability to keep the offense on schedule and navigate the pocket. Brohm was particularly impressed with that aforementioned pocket presence in their first scrimmage of fall camp this past Saturday.

"I think he's got great poise, that showed up today," Brohm said. "He's calm in the pocket, can deliver the ball accurately, he knows where to go when things are in rhythm. Buying a little extra time, standing in there when things are getting bumped, jiggling around a little bit when it doesn't happen quite perfectly the way we draw it up. He's got to continue to kind of feel his way through that and make good decisions, slide in the pocket, make a play.

"Those are things you got to work through, and until you get in game situations, van you really practice that? I think for the most part, he did good there, but maybe clean that up a little bit. I think he's a veteran who understands the position, that I know he'll play well."

The coaches aren't the only one who have been impressed with Moss so far in fall camp. Whether they play on the offensive side of the ball or over on defense, Louisville's players have loved what they have seen since Moss arrived on campus back in the spring.

"It's like hitting the ground running," wide receiver Kris Hughes said earlier in fall camp. "First day, he's trying to get in the film room with everybody. He's trying to get routes with everybody, get timing down, so he can learn everybody and see where they're at."

"Miller definitely came in, and we could tell he took a leadership role coming in the spring," cornerback Jabari Mack added. "As far as on the field, I feel like he's definitely very patient in the pocket. He's not going to force throws. We like what we've been seeing for Miller so far. Definitely looking forward to seeing him play this year."

While Moss has undoubtedly been the best quarterback in fall camp, the rest of the position has made tangible progress as well. As far as the battle for the backup spot goes, Deuce Adams and Brady Allen have been neck-and-neck.

Adams has the strongest arm and most mobility in the room, which has flashed multiple times throughout camp. Allen has built off of his strong end to spring ball, and parlayed that into the first week-and-a-half of fall camp.

Of course, both players still have things to work on. Adams might have best arm strength and chunk play ability with his legs, but the accuracy aspect is still a bit of a work in progress. While Allen certainly looks better than he did to start his time at Louisville, he does have a tendency to hold onto the ball for way too long, and the decision making is still touch-and-go. Even true freshman Mason Mims, while he has flashed some good things, certainly has had freshman moments.

In the aforementioned scrimmage where Moss had an overall good day, Brohm admitted the backups couldn't say as much. That being said, he still has liked what he has seen overall from Adams, Allen and Mims in fall camp.

"I think that we've been improving that (backup) position," Brohm said. "I don't think today was one of our better days for the backup position with the quarterbacks. We weren't as consistent, and that's not always on the quarterback. New receivers that maybe weren't quite as sharp, the offensive line, the second unit was not not as sharp, for sure. It wasn't an easy pocket to throw from, and there weren't wide open people all the time.

"But overall, we've made progress this fall. I think they'll continue to push forward. We'll see a lot of things on this video they could correct and get better at. But that's the tough part. A lot of times when you're a backup, and you're going with the twos and the threes, pieces around you will not be quite as complimentary as the ones. But you got to make it work, so I think we got to work through that."

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