Notes and Observations from Louisville's Fifth Open Spring Practice of 2026

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program is about to head into the homestretch of spring practice, with 10 of their 15 sessions already in the books.

Their 10th practice, which took place on Friday, was the fifth of six practices that were open to both the fans and media. Like we were for the first four, Louisville Cardinals On SI was there for it all to watch the fifth open practice of spring ball.

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

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

Injury update: No new developments on guys like Tre Richardson, Antonio Watts, Brody Foley. Still continuing to do work off to the sides. During this practice session, Montavin Quisenberry went down with what appeared to be a right leg injury. Wasn't sure the exact injury or seriousness, but he had to be helped off the field.
Prior to warmups, I watched the placekickers get some kicks up. While Nick Keller hasn't looked supremely accurate from what I have seen, he did make a couple kicks from around the 45-yard. His power is very much still there. During the pre-stretch walkthrough, the only thing that was different among the firs team unit was Johnnie Brown III back in at right guard and Cason Henry was back at right tackle - although Cameron Gorin played her in most of the actual team periods.
During positional period, I spent most of my time watching the running backs. That being said, they seemed to absolutely fly through these segments in favor of the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 periods.
With this practice being outside, I got to watch the back run the gauntlet machine. Most of the backs did well here, but surprisingly, Braxton Jennings was the one who glided through it the smoothest. Following a few times through the machine, the running backs then teamed up with the quarterbacks to run screens on air and practice handoffs and options - the latter of which continues to be a massive emphasis.
After that, the running backs and linebackers teamed up for some extended work. Their first drill together was a pass block drill where the linebackers line up like they were blitzing the edge and up the middle. Cameron White had a couple good reps from the linebacker side, but I came away impressed by the pass blocking from the running backs - especially from Jennings. Isaac Brown did alright, but at least it was better than he looked during this past season - so that's progress at least. The two sides then did a one-on-one drill where the running backs ran check downs, but the drill couldn't have lasted more than a couple minutes.
Before the practice shifted to the first team period, there was a one-on-one segment between the wide receivers and defensive backs. This drill proved to be somewhat indicative for how the rest of the day would go, as none of the quarterbacks looked particularly great in this segment. Lincoln Kienholz had dazzled in the first four open practices, but this was the first session where looked "mortal" so to speak.
Following the one-on-one segment was the first 11-on-11 period of the day, and as you can imagine, the defense had a good amount of early success here. Jerod Smith absolutely smoked a tackle (couldn't see who) for an easy pressure, Bailey Abercrombie blew up a slow developing play, A.J. Green logged a "sack," Brycen Scott snagged a tip drill pick and Koen Entringer laid a fierce hit on a drag route. While there was some up-and-down play from the quarterback spot, the offense still had a handful of good reps here. Kienholz had a nice cross body throw to Lawayne McCoy (who himself had a good overall day regardless of QB) and looked smooth on a fake toss QB power run. Davin Wydner had a nifty shovel pass the Gavin Waddell. Briggs Cherry continued to shown his confidence growing by way of taking deep shots. Isaac Brown and Marquise Davis had a few runs that showcased their agility and contact balance. Jaleel Skinner also had an impressive catch with three defenders around him. There was even play where they tried getting Jackson Voth involved on a WR pass play, but it didn't pan out.
After this was another brief positional drill prior to the water break. Here, all of the skill position players took part in the gauntlet machine. Wydner did the best out of the quarterbacks, while McCoy and T.J. McWilliams were the best out of the wide receivers.
On the other side of the water break was a special teams segment. Here, Antonio Harris, Brycen Scott and Jordan Vann got the majority of the punt return work. From what I could tell from my angle, the punter put together a good kicking segment. There was also a shovel pass fake punt sprinkled in.
Following the special teams work was a 7-on-7 segment. Cherry got some of the first reps in this stretch, which included a beautiful deep bomb to TreyShun Hurry and a nice drag route to Dylan Mesman. Wydner struggled a little bit, as Taj Powell nearly had a pick and Cam White did have a tip drill pick. Julius Miles had a one-handed snag for a touchdown, while Scott and Blake Ruffin both had pass breakups. When the segment shifted to the red zone, downfield coverage across the board seemed to excel.
Practice then ended on a fairly long 11-on-11 team period. The first snap was a fumbled exchange between Kienholz and Isaac Brown, which I believe is the second time that's happened in the open practices. Fortunately, Kienholz bounced back down the stretch and ended practice on a high note with a handful of good throws and plays that showcased his mobility. Ryan Zimmerman also had a nice strike to McCoy over the middle, Keyjuan Brown had a couple good runs in between the tackles, and Kris Hughes got upfield quickly on a jet sweep. As for the defense, D.J. Waller displayed some good early coverage, Tayon Holloway had a hard hit on Miles, and Blake Ruffin showed good closing speed on a swing pass to Keyjuan Brown, which resulted in some pushing and shoving. In fact, later in the practice, there was a full blown fight that resulted in the coaches stopping practice to run sideline-to-sideline sprints.

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