Jeff Brohm Pleased With Louisville's Overall Showing in Spring Game

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As quickly as spring ball for the Louisville football program started, their over month-long set of spring practices is now complete.

The Cardinals' third spring ball under head coach Jeff Brohm culminated with the program's annual spring game on Friday night, with roughly 5,000 fans packing into L&N Stadium to get one last glimpse of their team before the fall. Like last year's spring game, the pit the offense against the defense, with the former coming out on top with a 32-24 victory.

While there are still some areas to work on before the 2025 season officially gets underway, overall, Brohm was satisfied with the showing that both sides of the ball showed in Friday's spring game - and in spring ball overall.

"It was a good effort by our guys today," he said. "I think for the most part, we've had a good camp. We understand it's going to take a lot of hard work and dedication, and guys working really hard - since there are a lot of new faces - to make sure that we know exactly what to do and how to do it, and that we can just play as fast as we can without making a lot of mistakes.

"For the most part, we've gotten better at certain things. There's still some things we need to clean up. They continue to show up sporadically, so it's good to get it on film. It's good to get it on film in a game-like situation, where we can study it and find ways to get better. That's as players and coaches."

While the offense took a few drives to truly get going, once they were able to find their stride, they were able to move the ball downfield fairly regularly. By the end of the spring game, the offense had compiled 523 total yards - and that was with a running clock in the second half as well.

As you can imagine, the offense really shined in the second quarter, especially when the first team unit was in. Louisville's dynamic running game wasn't showcased all that much on the evening due to there not being live tackling, save for a 60-yard run by Duke Watson, but the passing game certainly flashed some great things.

USC transfer quarterback Miller Moss had a bit of a slow start, but after a couple drives, he was able to find his rhythm and keep the offense on schedule. While he doesn't have the arm strength that Tyler Shough has, Moss put the ball where it needed to be more often than not, and had few really nice downfield strikes.

He finished the evening going 18-of-26 for 206 yards plus a touchdown and an interception. Caullin Lacy was the main beneficiary, catching six passes for 99 yards plus a touchdown, while Antonio Meeks logged 63 yards on just two catches.

"I think Miller's had a really good camp," Brohm said. "He's a good leader, he works really hard, he can throw an accurate football. He's got good poise, he's been battle tested, he can handle adversity. He made some good throws.

"There was a couple times when he got some pressure, that you'd like (him) to stand in there and make a throw with conviction. But that's all part of it. I think throwing with conviction as much as you can, stepping into the throw, throwing with power, thrown with pop. If you do have to occasionally throw off your back foot, you still got to snap the wrist and make sure that thing is spinning and getting on target. Those things show up a little bit, but it's not uncommon. You got to continue to work through that. It's not easy when you got people coming right at you. I think he's got a chance to be really good."

Of course, while the offense arguably had a better evening (as evidenced by the fact that they actually won the spring game), it's not because the defense let them. In fact, the defense didn't allow a touchdown until the eighth drive of the game, and only gave up three overall.

All night long, Louisville's front seven gave the offensive line a major challenge. The Cardinals were swarming to the football with regularity, not only limiting the running backs to just 111 rushing yards, but multiple players - such as Adonijah Green, Darius Thomas and Micah Carter - logged sacks in the spring game.

Even with there being some question marks in the secondary, this area of the field still had an overall good night despite the numbers that the quarterbacks and wide receivers put up. The lone interception of the night came when Rodney Johnson Jr. ripped the ball away from Chris Bell, while several defensive backs were able to make plays on the ball.

For the majority of the night, the secondary played relatively tight coverage and only had a couple big time breakdowns. Brohm was mostly pleased by the defense, with the only thing that he really harped on with this group was their coverage in the middle of the field.

"I thought we had some sustained drives that stalled a couple times in the red zone, which is good for our defense," he said. "I think when we don't give up the big play, which right now, are balls up the seam, and balls over our head when we're in press coverage, then we're really good.

"Those two things can happen, and this happened last year and it happened a little bit today. It's happened camp, and it can't happen. We got to make sure we get that cleaned up, and if we do, then it'll make it easier to call defense for our coaches, and we'll be more efficient. It's got to be a perfect balance of aggressiveness, but yet being smart and safe and keeping the ball in front of us. But I do think that these guys are understanding more."

Louisville will kick off their 2025 season and year three of the Jeff Brohm era with a home matchup against Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, Aug. 30.

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