Louisville Football 2026 Position Previews: Quarterbacks

The state of Illinois is nicknamed, “Land of Lincoln.” The hope around the Louisville football facility this camp is that Ohio State transfer, Lincoln Kienholz will propel himself onto the national scene and steal that moniker. The Cards have gone the route of the one year transfer quarterback the first three seasons of Jeff Brohm’s tenure. Jack Plummer led The Ville to a 10 win season and the program’s first ever berth in the ACC Championship in 2023, en route to the Holiday Bowl. Eventual 2nd round pick, Tyler Shough took the reigns in 2024 guiding the Cards to an 8-4 record and a berth in the Sun Bowl. Under center in 2025, Miler Moss was able to put together a 9-4 campaign and lift the championship trophy in the Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl of Beans.

Kienholz is expected to be the Louisville starter when the Cards take the field September 6th in Nashville vs Ole Miss. A 6’2 junior from Pierre, South Dakota, he has battled it out the last few seasons in spring ball and fall camp with Julian Sayin, a 2025 Heisman finalist. Kienholz saw the field in limited action as a Buckeye, throwing for 139 yards on 11 of 14 with a touchdown & adding two scores on the ground with 66 yards on 11 carries. A three sport athlete in high school, he lettered and was all state in football, basketball and baseball. He averaged 19 points per game on the hardwood, batted .472 on the diamond while also obtaining a 1.24 ERA & 3-0 record on the mound. In his senior season on the gridiron, he threw for 3,422 yards and 46 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,435 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Kienholz will add a wrinkle in the Brohm offense that we have not seen yet, a true deal-threat capability from the quarterback position. With the already loaded running back room, Tre Richardson’s ability to run out of the backfield (11 carries last season at Vanderbilt) and a veteran offensive line/tight end room, the Cards have an embarrassment of riches to lean on in the ground game.

Offensive coordinator Brian Brohm on diversifying the playbook with Kienholz's mobility:

“It’s the type of plays you are running, being able to stretch the defense laterally with a mobile quarterback. So, just thinking about the safety that’s dropping down in the box or that back side linebacker or backside defensive end, if you have a quarterback they are really scared of running the football and say you hand it to Isaac and he just runs out fast the other way, there’s that split second they have to worry about him having the football. You think about the space that might create for an Isaac Brown, how fast he is if you give him just a little bit of space. He can take it. I think it puts stress on a defense. We will have to keep finding ways to work on that & utilizing that type of offense as well as the normal stuff we use.”

“We’ve always had those plays, we just probably haven’t called them as much or used them as much. Just digging into that file, we always study other teams, you know studying mobile quarterbacks out there in college football. We try to take little bits and pieces from all the ones we have seen.”

Behind Kienholz, the Cards welcome in a 6’5 transfer from the University of West Georgia, Davin Wydner. Wydner turned heads in the spring game with his deep ball and ability to pass on the move. A redshirt junior from Clinton, NJ he initially committed to Ole Miss after being the Class 4A Player of the Year his senior year. Wydner was in the Ole Miss QB room for two seasons before transferring to West Georgia. He played in 10 games for the Wolves last season completing 148 passes at a 56 percent clip for 1,667 yards, 15 touchdowns and 8 interceptions.

Briggs Cherry is a true freshman coming in from the prestigious Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN. Cherry led the Baylor School to the Division II Class AAA championship, throwing for just under 3,000 yards and 32 touchdowns. In the Navy All-American Bowl he went 6 of 10 passing for 56 yards and a touchdown. He chose Louisville over Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Pitt & Syracuse among others. He is a tall pocket presence (6’5) with a powerful arm that has shown downfield ability early in fall camp.

Coach Brian Brohm had this to say about Cherry:

“He looks very comfortable, he looks like he has been in the system for longer than he has. Which is great. I feel really good about his progress and the depth of the quarterback room.”

Other Rostered QBs:

Ryan Zimmerman (6’6 / RS Sophomore / Geurin Catholic / Indianapolis, IN)

Mason Fields (6’4 / Freshman / Dixie Heights / Edgewood, KY)

Travis Egan (6’2 / RS Junior / Bullitt East / Mt. Washington, KY)

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