Louisville's Running Backs Living Up to Expectations in Fall Camp

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Heading into year one of the Jeff Brohm era of the Louisville football program, many are excited about the brand of football that Brohm is bringing with him to his alma mater. Considering his prowess when it came to scheming up the passing game while at Western Kentucky and Purdue, it's hard not to. Especially when you add in the fact that he vastly upgraded the wide receiver room and added a quarterback that is familiar with his system.

While we are undoubtedly going to see a very pass-heavy offense moving forward, Brohm and his staff also inherited an extremely talented running back room. Over the course of the offseason and first two weeks of fall camps, the backs on the roster have continued to impress the coaching staff.

Running backs coach Chris Barclay went as far to say that they are "absolutely" living up to what the he felt how they could perform in camp.

"To see the amount of growth that each one of the young men have had since practice one has been tremendous," he said. "It's just a sign of their hard work and their dedication to really being meticulous in their approach."

Louisville's top three running backs on their projected depth chart is highlighted by one of the best returners in the ACC at the position. This time last season, Jawhar Jordan was fourth on Louisville's depth chart. By the end of the 2022 season, he rushed for 815 yards and four touchdowns, including 555 yards in the final five games of the season.

The two guys behind him aren't half bad, either. Maurice Turner also finished the 2022 season strong, winding up with 314 yards as just a true freshman. Wisconsin transfer Isaac Guerendo was able to display what he can do when fully healthy, rushing for 385 yards and five touchdowns despite being third on the Badgers' depth chart.

Collectively, this trio, and even true freshman Keyjuan Brown plus walk-on Mario Agyen, continuously push each other both on and off the field.

"The three of them, I'm lucky because they have great chemistry, they love to be around each other, they push each other and they love each other," Barclay said. "When you have that type of connection, I think it just raises the whole room, and the guys help the young guys out as well. I'm just ecstatic about where this unit is right now."

On top of the talent and production that each of Louisville's running backs bring to the table, they have been incredibly receptive and attentive when it comes to learning the new offensive system. It's a scheme where walk-on Devin Mockobee still was able to rush for 968 yards and nine touchdowns last season, despite Purdue averaging only 33.29 rushes and 121.0 rushing yards per game. For context, Louisville averaged 39.92 rushes and 200.6 rushing yards per game last season in their final year under Scott Satterfield.

"You have kids that have a lot of want to, they have a lot of desire, they're pleasers," Barclay said. "They want to do well. They care about their performance, and they take notes. They're very detail oriented. They come prepared to every meeting, and they're asking questions. They want to know the why. Any of the best players I've ever been around, they want to know the why. You have a mature unit like that, you got a lot of experience in there, they've played some games, and they want to know the why. It's been awesome."

Even with the running backs in the thick of learning a brand new offensive scheme, they have still made efforts to improve from an individual and collective standpoint. Barclay says that "one major area of growth" that he has seen in fall camp from his guys has been improving their velocity through the line of scrimmage, as well as getting better at manipulating would-be tacklers in a small area.

"It's critical that we can always carry good velocity through the line, make sure we're getting positive yards, but also be ready to manipulate defenders as well," he said. "We've worked on that as well, just making sure we're bending, we're giving head, shoulders and hips in one direction, and making sure we're moving defenders and able to win in a closet.

"I tell them all the time, if you can win in a closet, we can win in space. The best backs I've been around can do both. I think that those are two areas that I really saw a lot of growth on this week, and hope to continue to see growth."

(Photo of Isaac Guerendo: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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