Jeff Brohm, Louisville 'Throwing a Lot Out' at Cardinals During Spring Ball
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The calendar has flipped to the month of April, and with that, the Louisville football program is now two weeks into their first spring practice under new head coach Jeff Brohm. The Cardinals held their first of 15 practice sessions back on Mar. 21, and have conducted six practice up to this point in time.
Spring ball is typically a time where a lot of effort is spent getting players re-acclimated to the systems in which they run, especially with it being the first organized practices for transfers and early enrollee true freshmen. But for a program like Louisville, where there's a new head coach in control along with an almost completely new support staff, there's normally a lot more time spent installing the new schemes on both sides of the ball.
Both sides of the ball will look markedly different. As many fans know by now, the offense is going from run-heavy to pass-heavy, and the defense is moving from a 3-4 base scheme to a 4-2-5. Head coach Jeff Brohm has already admitted that "a lot of learning" has to take place in terms of learning the new systems, and he isn't easing into this transition, throwing as much of the playbook at them right out of the gates.
Related: Watch: Louisville HC Jeff Brohm Provides Spring Practice Update
"We're actually throwing a lot out on both sides, and just seeing what they can handle," Brohm said following Saturday's practice. "That part has probably been dialed up quite a bit, and we haven't held back a whole lot. We want to do that we want to do that. We want to see what can these guys comprehend, what can they learn."
Through the first couple weeks of spring ball, a handful of offensive and defensive players have said the are players are adjusting well to the changes. Quarterback Brock Domann said that it has been "a great transition" to Brohm's pro-style offense, while defensive end Ashton Gillotte believes that "everyone's buying into" Ron English and Mark Hagen's defense.
Also: Notes and Observations from Louisville's Third Open Spring Practice
Of course, that doesn't mean that everything has been perfect. There have also been some bumps along the way when it comes to adapting to the schemes and taking in a bunch of information at once.
"Well, it's been typical adjustments. Some good, some bad," Brohm said. "It's not necessarily they don't know it, but to quick recall and know it, to sometimes know it in the no huddle situations where you got to see signals and you got to be able to get back quickly. If you miss something, you gotta be able to have an idea of maybe what that formation is. There's just a lot to it.
"Just like we talk a lot: you have to learn it, you have to know it, but you have to be able to remember it like that. If you don't, then you don't know it enough, and that can't happen. Then we have to dial things back as coaches."
While each position is different, at this point in time through spring ball, Brohm has given a lot of reps to players who aren't running with the first team. This in part so that he can keep his top playmakers healthy, but also so that the Cardinals can continue to give reps and build depth across the board.
So far, even this has been a bit of a work in progress. Brohm noted that the offense needs to continue to "make sure they understand what to do and how to play fast," and that the defense had "quite a few mistakes and quite a few, in my opinion, big plays given up" during their most recent practice.
Fortunately, Brohm doesn't think that mistakes that have occurred up to this point are a byproduct of lack of scheme fit or lack of effort.
"These guys are working hard, and putting in the time and the effort," he said. "We're going to have mistakes every day, we had them today. We had some decent moments, and some other moments that weren't very good at all. So, there's a ways to go. We want to have the perfect combination of live tackles and scrimmage work. Making sure we're physical, and then making sure that we're smart and getting guys healthy as well."
Louisville will cap off their first spring ball under Brohm with the spring game on Friday, Apr. 21 at 7:00 p.m. EST. The Cardinals will also have practices on Friday, Apr. 7 and Friday, Apr. 14 that are free and open to the public.
(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Jeff Faughender - Courier Journal and USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK)
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