Louisville's Running Backs Gearing Up for an Explosive 2025 Season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - This time last year, the running back position for the Louisville football program was a relative question mark.

Jawhar Jordan and Isaac Guerendo combined to anchor a surprisingly stout run game during Jeff Brohm's inaugural season as the head coach of the Cardinals, but both backs were selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. In turn, this meant the room was laden with players stepping into new or enhanced roles for the 2024 season.

Fast forward to the present day, and running back is unequivocally Louisville's biggest strength heading into the upcoming 2025 season. Isaac Brown and Duke Watson burst onto the scene as true freshman last year, and now they anchor one of the best one-two punches at running back in the entire sport. Already a prolific duo, the two backs have shown incredible growth over the course of spring ball and fall camp.

"It like it's happening in slow motion for those kids at times in practice," running backs coach Chris Barclay said. "I told them yesterday, I thought they had a really good practice diagnosing reads earlier than they used to last year. Very dialed in with pass protection, they're seeing safety rotation to get pre-snap reads. It's been very, very exciting to see their growth."

Despite starting the year at third on the depth chart and not earning a start until a month into the season, Brown put together one of the best true freshman seasons in the history of the Louisville football program. The 5-foot-9, 190-pound all-purpose back rushed for 1,173 yards and 11 touchdowns on 165 carries, while also catching 30 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown. He broke Lamar Jackson's true freshman rushing mark at UofL, and was named the ACC Offensive and Overall Rookie of the Year.

For his upcoming sophomore season, Brown believes he will be even more explosive than he already was.

"I got better on and off the field," Brown said. "Everything's slowing down for me, for real. Last year, was just out there running. Now, I feel like the game's slowed down for me, and I can have more explosive plays than I had last year."

But don't count out Watson to do some significant damage, either. Despite being the No. 2 option behind Brown, and not logging double-digit carries until the 10th game of the year, the 6-foot-0, 180-pound running back rushed for 597 yards and seven touchdowns, and caught five passes for 60 yards and a score.

Throughout fall camp, Watson has looked even more dynamic than he was last season. On top of that, he's in line to be much more of a factor this season simply due to the fact that, like Brown, he's a lot more familiar with the playbook and reading defenses.

"I knew the plays, but I was really just getting the ball and running on instinct," Watson said of his freshman season. "Now, I can let the blocks set up, I know what's going on, I know what the defense is doing, I look at rotations. I definitely learned way more than I learned last year. It should add to my game."

Brown and Watson also have some good complementary pieces behind them, adding to the overall depth of the room. Keyjuan "Bama" Brown gives Louisville some good change-of-pace, as the bruising 5-foot-10, 210-pound back is coming off of a season where he rushed for 243 yards and three touchdowns, while also catching five passes for 53 yards.

There's also true freshman Jamarice Wilder, who rushed for 1,916 yards and 28 touchdowns as a senior at Venice (Fla.) HS, but has been on the mend due to an ankle injury. Because of this, wide receiver Shaun Boykins Jr. has been cross-training at running back during fall camp, and has made significant progress in a short amount of time.

Wilder and Boykins could see some time this season, but for the most part, expect I. Brown, Watson and K. Brown to get the overwhelming majority of the carries in 2025. While they are actively competing against each other, if you ask them, they're focused on bringing each other up and not how many reps they will get in-game.

"I think they're all close, and that helps," Barclay said on how he keeps all his guys happy. "Obviously, Bama, Isaac and Duke, all three are next door neighbors, so you can't get any closer than those three kids. They're like the Three Stooges, three peas in a pod. I love them to death.

"They're just coming along and they see three really good backs. I feel like I have three starting running backs, I really do. You can take any one of those three kids, and would start at most schools in the ACC. We're fortunate here to have an embarrassment of riches. and I just thank God every day for the opportunity to coach them, come in here and hopefully be a blessing to them on and off the field. It's been fun to watch them grow everyday."

While Louisville does have a fair amount of offensive weapons, there is still a good amount of expectations for this group to perform at a high level. Brown has already been named to the Preseason All-ACC Team as well as a preseason All-American, while him and Watson were both named to the Doak Walker Award watch list.

The weight of expectations might be heavy, but Brown, Watson, and everyone else in the room aren't worried about the pressure. They're only worried about what's directly in front of them.

"We don't focus on what happened last year," Barclay said. "Yeah, (Isaac Brown) talks about (the accolades), but we've had many conversations that there is no pressure. We just got to go out and play one play at a time, right? This is a new year. Last year was last year, and it was what it was, but we've got to prove ourselves all over again. It's almost like this is, starting over from scratch. Let me be great today, let me be great on this rep, and that's all that matters right now."

More Cardinals Stories