Takeaways From Louisville Football's Media Day

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - On Tuesday, the Louisville football program held their annual Media Day, as well as kicked off their first fall camp under new head coach Jeff Brohm.

As you can imagine, the Cardinals had plenty to discuss regarding the upcoming 2023 season. Below are some of the more impactful takeaways points from those who were made available for questions:

The post-spring offensive line additions will help the offense reach its maximum efficiency.

If you were to identify a weak point on Louisville's roster immediately following spring ball back in April, most people would point to the offensive line. Throughout much of the open practices, the line struggled to give the quarterbacks much time to find their receivers.

Immediately following spring, Brohm and his staff went to work. They added multiple lineman after spring ball, including Eric Miller, Willie Tyler, Lance Robinson, Vincent Lumia and Trevonte Sylvester. The added depth and talent

"We haven't seen them in full pads and go full speed yet, so we don't want to judge it too soon, but I think we definitely have depth and competition," Brohm said. "We would like to play more than one deep, and get other guys ready to go just in case things happen to keep guys fresh. We've always done a pretty decent job of that. So that's been encouraging to this point."

Add in three quality returning starters in Bryan Hudson, Renato Brown and Michael Gonzalez, and the line is sure to generate a high level of competition over the course of fall camp. Which, in turn, will only raise the ceiling for what the offense can accomplish.

"I think it's gonna help us get better, because the competition is gonna make us get better, because no one wants to lose their spot," Brown said. "No one wants other guys come in and just kick you out, you know? I think us just being hungry, and keep fighting with the new guys coming in will help us."

The defense is putting an emphasis on stopping the run.

Just like how the offense is going through a dramatic scheme change with a new staff coming in, the same thing is happening on the defensive side. Out with Bryan Brown's 3-4 base scheme, and in with the 4-2-5 that is co-manned by secondary coach Ron English and defensive line coach Mark Hagen.

This particular scheme relies a lot on players winning one-on-one battles, especially up front on the defensive line. With the depth Louisville has in this area, they are placing an emphasis on stopping the run, with defensive end Stephen Herron going as far to say that it will be their defining trait.

"Coach English is not it's not playing any games about stopping the run," Herron said. "If you don't stop the run, you don't get to third downs. So, it doesn't really matter what you do against the pass if you can't stop the run. That's one thing we're going to do early and often. That's what we put an emphasis on throughout spring ball, throughout summer ball and in camp is that we're going to stop the run first and foremost. Then we can have a little fun sending blitzes."

Louisville sports a deep line both on the edges and in the middle, headlined by guys like Herron, Ashton Gillotte, Dezmond Tell and Jared Dawson. With the team's transition from a three-man front to a four-man front, it was a learning process for this group in the spring, but Herron is starting to the see Louisville's run-stopping potential as guys get more comfortable in the scheme.

"You see guys start to finally understand that, 'Oh, what coach is saying in these meetings, it's actually making sense. Like, what he told me to do two weeks ago, now it's really coming into play, and I'm making a lot more plays.'," Herron said. "Then you see guys just doing what they're supposed to do all the time, like clockwork, and it's been amazing."

The chemistry between the quarterbacks and receivers is still a work in progress, but has made significant strides.

The offensive line wasn't the only reason that the offense occasionally struggled to get going during the spring. At times during the open practices, it was evident that the chemistry between the quarterbacks and wide receivers wasn't quite where it needed to be.

On top of the scheme change, a lot of this was due to the fact that this was the first time a lot of these players were playing together. The wide receiver room features seven newcomers, and the quarterback position has three new scholarship players, including starter Jack Plummer.

With an entire spring and summer under their belt, that chemistry that has been built on and off the field is starting to become apparent.

"Throughout the spring, we did make a lot of strong strides," wide receiver Jamari Thrash said. "Going into the first game, I feel like we'll be as comfortable as ever."

Of course, there's still an entire fall to work on this, and it can always be improved upon. Still, the quarterbacks and receivers, or at least QB1 and WR1, like where the chemistry is at right now.

"I think we made some big strides, but obviously, there's still a ways to go before our first game, and that's what fall camp is for," Plummer said. "Spring was a lot of feeling each other out, summer we were doing a little bit. now here in fall camp we're going to try to perfect that."

Players are already starting to embrace the rivalry with Kentucky.

One of the biggest criticisms of Scott Satterfield from the fanbase during his time at Louisville is the perceived apathy he had towards the rivalry with Kentucky. Not only did he go 0-3 against the Wildcats, his teams never seemed to get up for the game at all.

At least with Brohm, that last part is not something you have to worry about. Considering he's from Louisville, played at Louisville, and previously coached as an assistant at Louisville, Brohm knows how important the rivalry is. He has even mentioned it as a goal multiple times this offseason.

While the Battle for the Governor's Cup is still a few months away, it seems that Brohm's attitude and mindset towards Kentucky is very much rubbing off on the players.

"It's honestly a hatred toward anything blue in this locker room, and honestly, I'm starting to fall in love with it," Herron said.

Louisville is entering fall camp with a mostly healthy roster.

Injuries are a simple reality in football, as everyone knows. After what they had to go through last season, Louisville knows this as well as anyone.

Even this past spring, the Cardinals had a handful of impact players - such as Josh Minkins, Quincy Riley and Jadon Thompson - that had to sit on the sideline because of injuries. But as they start fall camp, Louisville seems to be at a much better spot health-wise than they were earlier in the year.

"There are a few guys that have had offseason surgeries that have recovered, and probably 90 percent of them are fully cleared," Brohm said. "A few others, it'll take a little time to see how they progress in fall camp."

(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Jeff Faughender - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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