By RUSS BROWN
During successful stints at Western Kentucky and Purdue, Jeff Brohm became known for his prolific offense, a reputation he brought with him when he succeeded Scott Satterfield as Louisville’s head coach at the end of the 2022 season. The trademark of that offense was a quick-strike and productive air attack.
In his final two seasons at Purdue, the Boilermakers had the No. 5 passing offense in the country and were No. 17 in 2022. However, adjusting to the personnel in his debut season at UofL last year, Brohm relied heavily on a strong ground game because quarterback Jack Plummer was inconsistent and throwing an accurate deep ball wasn’t his forte. Jawhar Jordan and Isaac Guerendo combined to run for 2,418 yards and 25 touchdowns.
As a result, the Cards’ average of 236.6 yards passing per game stood out as the lowest of Brohm’s 10 seasons as a head coach and No. 56 nationally, while their average of nearly 179 yards rushing was the second-best of his career, which includes three teams that averaged less than 85 yards on the ground. In its final seven games, UofL passed for over 200 yards just three times, and in five games threw for 151 yards or less.
With the arrival of Texas Tech transfer Tyler Shough at quarterback, along with a group of more talented wide receivers, Brohm expects the Cards to excite fans with what is commonly referred to in football terminology as “airing it out,” which translated means throwing the ball downfield for explosive big gains.
“I like our quarterback room, where we continue to improve there and add depth behind Tyler,” Brohm said prior to the opening of fall camp. “The receiver room, I think, has talent. We’ve just got to put it all together and be more efficient and better in the passing game and find ways to create big plays, throw the ball vertically and get it in our receivers’ hands. And they’ve got to be consistent each and every week.”
UofL’s inability to hit big plays last season was reflected in its scoring, with the Cards’ average of 30.7 points per game ranking just 43rd overall and fifth in the ACC. That’s not bad by any means, but Brohm wants more, much more.
“In general, we believe in trying to score as many points as we can, creating big plays,” he says. “Utilizing the passing game to be effective doing that, with great quarterback play and efficient receivers and tight ends and running backs out of the backfield. Making it an exciting brand of football, I think that’s one of our goals as well, an exciting brand that people want to watch and people want to play in, that can score points quickly.”
Although he has been injury prone at Oregon and Texas Tech, Shough has all the tools to make that happen and the wide receiving corps should be vastly improved with a year of experience by Chris Bell, Jaden Thompson, Jimmy Calloway, Cataurus Hicks and Jahlil McClain, plus a trio of highly-regarded transfers in Alabama’s Ja’Corey Brooks, Caullin Lacy from South Alabama and Tuskegee’s Antonio Meeks. Four-star prospect Joseph “JoJo” Stone and three-star Shaun Boykins Jr. from North Hardin High in Radcliff, Ky. could also factor in the rotation.
Shough, who is married and will turn 25 in September, is in his seventh year of college football after starting games at both Oregon and Texas Tech. He has thrown for 4,625 yards and 36 touchdowns in 27 career games while completing 63.2 percent of his passes. He has also run for 710 yards and 14 TDs.
“I think Tyler’s talent jumps off the screen,” UofL offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Brohm said. “He’s got a big arm, an NFL type of frame. He’s athletic, he can run the football and that was intriguing to us. So was the depth of experience he has, the way the ball jumps out of his hand. He’s had a string of injuries that have kind of slowed him down a little bit, but his talent upside is very high.”
Of course, the high expectations for the passing attack doesn’t mean Brohm is abandoning the running game. He likes the Cards’ stable of running backs, even though Jordan and Guerendo both departed for the NFL. In their absence, look for returnees Maurice Turner and Keyjuan Brow, along with Miami transfer Donald Chaney Jr., to move to the forefront.
“Defenses improve and change every year,” Brohm said. “They adjust. They adapt. So you’ve got to be able to run the ball effectively and throw the ball effectively. You’ve got to be able to do both. There’s gonna come a point in time where you’re gonna have to do one, because the team’s going to take away the other. So we’ve got to get really good at both. But if you can create big plays, then you can do some great things.
“The quicker the drives are for touchdowns, the higher chance you have of scoring and winning in my opinion. So we’ve got to be able to back people off, stretch the field vertically and create room to do things like running the ball and throwing it underneath to the tight ends or running backs.”
Senior offensive guard Michael Gonzalez, considered the Cards’ best lineman, likes the versatility in Brohm’s offensive sets.
“It’s a home run offense,” Gonzalez said. “You can get a home run or you can run the ball 15 plays down the field to score a touchdown. We can do whatever. I really enjoy playing in this offense.”
A key to making all of this click is an offensive line that will have to replace three starters -- center Bryan Hudson, who was the 2023 Jacobs Blocking Trophy recipient, and tackles Eric Miller and Willie Tyler. Renato Brown, a fifth-year senior, was granted a waiver for another year after suffering a season-ending injury at Pittsburgh after starting the first six games. Elsewhere, Brohm stocked up from the portal, including one of the largest players ever to suit up for Louisville in Yale transfer Jonathan Mendoza, who checks in at 6-foot-9, 310 pounds. He allowed only one sack and 14 quarterback pressures in 337 pass block snaps and 662 blocking snaps overall last season, but will be taking a big step up from the Ivy League to the ACC.
“I feel like we’ve built depth on both the offensive and defensive lines, which is extremely important,” Brohm said. “How you play in the trenches really determines if you can win football games or not. I think we’ve added valuable depth, and hopefully we can see quite a few guys playing on both sides of the line and have great competition.”
It might take awhile to judge how well all of these working parts come together because Louisville’s early schedule doesn’t present much of achallenge. The Cards opened with Division II Austin Peay on Aug. 31, to be followed by Jacksonville State of CUSA and Georgia Tech, predicted to finish in the bottom half of the ACC, all in L&N Stadium. So UofL’s first major test won’t come until a Sept. 28 trip to Notre Dame.
The Cards finished 10-4 last season and made their first appearance in the ACC championship game. But they finished with a three-game losing streak after falling to Kentucky for the fifth straight time, Florida State in the title contest and to Southern Cal in the Holiday Bowl.
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