Notes and Observations from Louisville's Fourth Open Spring Practice

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Spring ball is just past the halfway point for the Louisville football program. The Cardinals are now three weeks into their over month-long spring practice, with nine of their 15 sessions already in the books.

Their nine practice, which took place on Friday, was the fourth of six practices that were open to both the fans and media. Like we were for the first three open practice, Louisville Report was there for it all to watch the fourth open practice of spring ball.

Previous Open Practice Notebooks: Practice One, Practice Two, Practice Three

Below is our notebook of the more notable happenings that transpired during the afternoon:

I'll start out with some notes from position drills before diving into what when on during 11-on-11's, which was what was most of the practice. Special teams was noteworthy in that there were at least four blocked kicks over the course of the day. Tawfiq Thomas got his hand on a blocked field goal early in practice, then there were three blocked punts later on.
Walk-ons earning scholarships is nothing new to Louisville, and I really think the next one in line is wide receiver Elijah Downing. He has been consistent in each of the practices I have seen, and has even taken some reps with the ones at various points.
Defensive tackle Jared Dawson is so strong that he lifts up the blocking sled way off the ground when its supposed to be designed to stay mounted on the ground. His physicality has shown up all throughout the spring.
I took an extended look at the OL vs. DL drills while 7-on-7's were being ran on the other side of practice. Unsurprisingly, Bryan Hudson and Michael Gonzalez performed the best on the OL, while Ashton Gillotte was damn near unblockable at times for the DL
On back-to-back reps, Thomas blasted right by Austin Collins and then Madden Sanker, but Sanker did rebound on the next rep against him. Joshua Black did a good job at picking up on stunts, which was nice to see. Something else to note during this segment was that Kam Wilson, now on the DL, had really worked on his explosiveness and looks comfortable shooting the gap.
Alright, now onto the notes from 11-on-11's. For the first time since the first open practice, it wasn't windy as could, so we could actually get a firm grasp as to how the quarterbacks looked. Of course, Jack Plummer did the best out of everyone, but there were a few PBU's by the defense that should have been picks, but I'll get into that part later. The only quarterback who very noticeably struggled with accuracy on the day was Khalib Johnson, who had a couple throws that whiffed horribly.
One more note on the quarterbacks: there was a roughly three-minutes segment during this time that was dedicated solely to Brock Domann, Evan Conley and Khalib Johnson running QB power up the middle. Maybe an added wrinkle to Brohm's playbook?
The MVPs of the practice were easily running backs Jawhar Jordan and Maurice Turner. Jordan had a ton of early success in practice rushing up the middle, and Turner had two separate 50-plus yard runs - one of which he had completely untouched. Plus Turner had a really big gain through the air as well as a receiver.
Speaking of receivers, it was yet another day where Jamari Thrash and Kevin Coleman stood out among the group. Coleman kicked off the practice with a deep contested catch up the sideline, and Thrash had an impressive snag where straddled the inbounds line for the toe drag catch. The only concern from this group today was that, at least early on in practice, Cataurus Hicks was dropping almost every pass that came his way.
I'm not sure if this is bigger indictment on the depth of the offensive line or the depth of the defensive line, but the former seemed to struggle with pass protection for much of the day. In particular, it seemed like Dawson, Gillotte, Popeye Williams and Victoine Brown were getting into the backfield with relative ease. The pass protection did get better as the day went on, but this was still a day easily won by the defense.
Two reserves on the defense that continue to impress me are linebacker Antonio Watts and cornerback Trey Franklin. Watts had another pass breakup that should have been a pick against Plummer, as did Franklin, who did receive a handful of reps with the ones. Franklin even had back-to-back PBU's later in the session.
I still think Benjamin Perry is the starter at STAR, especially after displaying his ability to tackle in the open field during this practice, but Gilbert Frierson should get a fair amount of snaps this season. He's physical and is underrated in coverage.
It seems like some tight ends might be struggling to grasp the offense or their role in it. In three of the four open practices up to this points, Brohm has had to replace a tight end in 11-on-11's because they lined up wrong.
I'll end with an injury update. Safety Devin Neal has now joined wide receiver Jadon Thompson, cornerback Quincy Riley and safety Josh Minkins on the sideline working out/rehabbing after suffering some sort of injury earlier in spring ball. Also, during this practice, there were a few injuries. Defensive lineman Rodnew McGraw hurt his lower right leg during OL vs. DL drills, a defensive back wearing No. 21 (maybe D'Angelo Hutchinson?) suffered a non-contact injury to his knee after being crossed up by Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, and walk-on wide receiver Austin Holland got shaken up late in practice.

(Photo of Jeff Brohm via University of Louisville Athletics)

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