Spring Review: Louisville Cardinals
Spring practices have concluded across the Southeastern Conference. You kept a close eye on what was happening with Kentucky football, but how did the Wildcats’ opponents fare? KSR has everything you need to know from spring about the guys that will line up on the other side of the line of scrimmage this fall. The Louisville Cardinals are up next.
Past Spring Reviews: Vanderbilt Commodores, Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Missouri Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide, South Carolina Gamecocks
Louisville’s first family has brought instant excitement
Some could argue that Scott Satterfield did not get a fair shake at Louisville. The former Appalachian State quarterback, offensive coordinator, and head coach inherited a bad situation following the Bobby Petrino mess and quickly won games. Remove the COVID-19 year, and Louisville made the postseason three consecutive times under Satterfield with a winning record (13-11) in conference play. Unfortunately, the fan base never bought in, and Satterfield hurt his stock within the fan base after it was reported that the head coach showed interest in an opening at South Carolina at the end of the 2020 season.
After four seasons, Satterfield jumped on the opportunity to become the next head coach at Cincinnati following a third double-digit loss to Kentucky. The 50-year-old became the third consecutive coach to leave the Cardinals with a winning record (25-24). Director of Athletics Josh Heird had the next hire teed up after UofL decided to pass on giving Satterfield another extension following the 2022 campaign.
After turning down the Louisville job at the end of 2018, Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm could not pass up on the opportunity to return. Joining him at UofL will be younger brothers Brian (offensive coordinator) and Greg (Chief of Staff). On Brohm’s first full coaching staff, there are numerous individuals with direct ties to Louisville. That has gotten people excited.
Louisville has seen a spike in season ticket sales after multiple games the last few seasons where there were some glaringly wide open spaces of empty seats at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. With home games against Notre Dame (Oct. 7) and Kentucky (Nov. 25) on the schedule, there should be some strong home crowds for the Cards this season.
This fan base is very excited to have Brohm home, and the expectations are very high after the 52-year-old alum went 36-34 over six years at Purdue with a division title in 2022. The most popular family in Louisville football is back, and there is real buzz with this program for the first time since Lamar Jackson was on campus.
A legitimate roster flip
Things turned around for Louisville in the 2023 recruiting cycle, but there was no denying that talent accumulation was an issue for Scott Satterfield and his staff at Louisville. The Cards finished below 45th in average star rating three consecutive years under Satterfield before signing a top-25 high school class in 2023. However, that wasn’t the only issue.
Louisville did not have very good retention rates for most of Satterfield’s recruiting classes. Last year’s team was heavily powered by super seniors. Regardless of who the head coach was going to be, Louisville needed to hit the transfer portal hard again after adding 11 transfers last season.
Brohm’s new staff has double that.
By my count, Louisville has seen 21 scholarship players leave the program but has replaced them with 25 scholarship transfers. Brohm’s first team could have as many as nine transfers starting when they open the season with Georgia Tech in Week 1.
- Jack Plummer (QB, Purdue/California)
- Jamari Thrash (WR, Georgia State)
- Kevin Coleman (WR, Jackson State)
- Jadon Thompson (WR, Cincinnati)
- Eric Miller (T, Purdue)
- John Paul Flores (G, Virginia)
- Stephen Herron (EDGE, Stanford)
- Keith Brown (LB, Oregon)
- Storm Duck (CB, North Carolina/Penn State)
That list does not even include some of Louisville’s more high-profile transfers. Brady Allen (QB, Purdue), Marcus Washington (CB, Georgia), and Marquis Groves-Killebrew (CB, Texas A&M) were each former blue-chip recruits with four years of eligibility. You can essentially add these three to Louisville’s 2022 signing class. The Cards have also addressed depth in a big way adding multiple quarterbacks (three), wide receivers (four), cornerbacks (three), and tackles (five) to the roster.
With a commitment from Georgia State defensive tackle Jeffrey Clark on Friday, UofL has surpassed Colorado for the No. 1 spot in On3’s Transfer Portal team rankings. Louisville’s team will look a lot different in 2023.
Pass-heavy approach
Despite seeing Scott Satterfield’s offense produce three top-20 yards per play offenses in four seasons, Louisville supporters were very critical of the run-heavy attack that lived and died with the stretch zone action out of the pistol. They won’t have to worry about that anymore.
Jeff Brohm is bringing one of the most pass-heavy offenses in college football to Louisville. The Boilermakers consistently had one of the top pass-play percentages in the FBS under the play-calling head coach.
- 2017: No. 22 (53.9%)
- 2018: No. 6 (57.4%)
- 2019: No. 3 (61.6%)
- 2020: No. 2 (64.5%)
- 2021: No. 6 (61.1%)
- 2022: No. 12 (57.8%)
The Boilermakers only had one top-20 yards per play finish under Brohm (2018) and never finished better than No. 45 in points per drive. Brohm’s Power Five offenses have struggled to run the football and use a ball-control passing attack that will dink-and-dunk its way down the field with occasional explosive plays sprinkled in. It’s not all that different from the philosophy Mike Leach used at Mississippi State.
Louisville’s transfer portal movement tells us that things will remain pass-heavy for Brohm moving forward. The Cards have loaded up at quarterback, wide receiver, and on the offensive line. Expectations are high for tailback Jawhar Jordan after the former Syracuse transfer rushed for 555 yards (7.4 yards per rush) and three touchdowns over the last five games to end 2022, but this offense will go as the passing game goes with some wrinkles included.
Expect super senior Jack Plummer to throw for over 3,000 yards with 400-plus passing attempts.
Soft schedule
It was hard to pull anything from the spring game since Louisville added multiple players to the roster after spring camp wrapped. Some will play a huge role this fall. Jeff Brohm has quickly put together one of the better rosters in the ACC on paper. That plus a generous schedule could allow the Cards to make a run at a championship game appearance with the elimination of divisions.
The Atlantic and Coastal are a thing of the past in the ACC, and Louisville will get to avoid both Clemson and North Carolina because of it. Per ESPN’s SP+ preseason rankings, UofL will not face a conference foe ranked above them despite checking in at No. 32 overall. Louisville has seven home games, plays Indiana at a neutral site in Indianapolis, plays Georgia Tech in an NFL stadium, and also avoids North Carolina. The Cards have 11 power conference opponents on the schedule but project to be a betting favorite in seven games and a single-digit underdog in the remaining five games. Draft Kings has Louisville’s season win total at eight mostly due to this soft schedule.
There are real expectations for Louisville football this season despite middle-of-the-road power ratings. A new head coach, fresh offense, a roster flip, and a great schedule will give Jeff Brohm a great shot at getting off to a fast start at his alma mater.
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