ACC Media Day

Scenes from ACC Media Day in Charlotte, North Carolina. July 24, 2024. (WDRB Photo)

 ERIC CRAWFORD

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- University of Louisville football coach Jeff Brohm batted leadoff among the five coaches appearing at ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Here is a transcript of Brohm's interview on the ACC Network on Wednesday morning.

QUESTION: "You have a new quarterback (Tyler Shough) under center. But it seems like no matter who's back there and your offense, they're gonna have success.

"What is it about your scheme that's so quarterback friendly?"

JEFF BROHM: "Well, here's what we try to do. We try to make it fit around a quarterback and we always want to make sure he has success, feels comfortable and does a really good job.

"I think we're happy to have Tyler. He's an experienced quarterback has played a lot of football. He's gone through adversity. He's handled it well. He's had some injuries, some ups and downs.

"But a lot of times, when you're battle tested, he knows he has one year left and he wants to make it work. And he's done a great job this offseason leading our football team, getting better, learning our offense, and I expect him to have a great year."

QUESTION: "I'm gonna go to the other side of the ball and look at this defense because as I was studying your guys over the summer, I mean, I just fell in love with the talent you have, especially on the in the back seven, the defensive back room especially.

"I mean there's three possible all ACC guys back there, first-team all ACC guys. What does having that type of talent do for you defensively?"

BROHM: "We really like our defense. We think we've got a lot of talent, just like you said, (and) some experience. We've got some new additions that were really good players that we think will come in and do a great job for us. We try to play an aggressive style of defense. We try to do quite a few of different things and be creative in our approach.

"But last year, for 10 games, I thought we played at a high level, were really, really good and dominant at times. And then, unfortunately, the last three games, we didn't play as well.

"So I think it gave us a little wake-up call, what we need to do to refocus and get the lock back again. But our guys have had a great offseason. I expect our defense to do a really good job."

Jeff Brohm

Louisville coach Jeff Brohm speaks at the 2023 ACC Football Media Days.

QUESTION: "Coach, run game wise, Jawhar Jordan, Isaac Guerendo, both those guys are going to be making some money at the next level. How do you plan on replacing that production?"

BROHM: "You are correct. Our running game was really good for us. Last year, Jawhar Jordan, Isaac Guerendo, two guys that were drafted — the only college football team in America with two guys drafted at the running back position.

"And they did a great job and they were talented. They both had a different element to their game and really carried our football team and took a lot of pressure off the passing game and our quarterback for a good while there.

"We let our defense and run game kind of control things and help us get to get some victories

"Now, this year, of course, we want to try to be more explosive and make sure we can still throw the ball vertically and get big plays in the passing game. But you got to be able to run the football. I do think we have some key guys back that maybe you haven't heard from as much before or maybe aren't quite as dynamic.

"But Maurice Turner, Keyjuan Brown Don Chaney and Isaac Brown, those are the four guys that we feel good about and had a really good spring."

QUESTION: "But I have also a special interest in (defensive end) Ashton Gillotte. He's a Boca Raton guy like I am. My nickname in college was Boca Baby, and I'm trying to tag him with that. But tell me a little bit about his personality."

BROHM: "Well, Ashton is a unique individual. Works really hard. He puts in all the work. He came back this year, really, to improve his draft stock and improve his body to be in the best physical condition that he can be to help his team come out and hopefully compete for a championship.

"But he does everything he asked. He puts in all the work that you could have ever asked someone to put in and he's a really good leader by example, just through his work ethic.

"He's a strong physical defensive end but he also has athleticism. So I think he's a unique talent that could at the next level play on the end, move inside a little bit. Without question, he's a guy we want on the field as much as we can and he can be a disruptive force."

QUESTION: "Not to give away all your trade secrets, but do you plan to do that with him this year, moving around (on the end or inside)?"

BROHM: "I hope we do. We definitely want to move around. He's a guy that, you know, we don't want them to get an idea of where he's going to be on every play. He can do a lot of things.

"You can isolate him when it's one-on-one matchups that you like, but he is very talented and he's smart. He studies the game he works really hard. And, without question, we need to create ways for him to make big plays for us."

QUESTION: "Coach, we talk about the transfers. By my calculations, there are 31 guys coming in, another big transfer number for you this year. But you had success with it last year. Just wondering like a guy like Tyler Shough, who's coming in for one year (with) future NFL aspirations, wants to come in and play well. How do you get those guys to buy in so quickly?"

BROHM: "Well, believe it or not, we've had a lot of success with transfers even back to the late Purdue days. We believed in improving our football team. And our goal every year is to win now, is to win this year.

"We want to build our team that way. So when the season is over, we analyze our roster we go out we try to get the best players to help our team improve and not only start but to come in and provide competition and we feel like we have that.

"Our atmosphere and environment that we have in our football team, we want to win. We want to compete to win. Anybody who's new — whether you're a brand new freshman or transfer — or whether you've been there a few years, you're going to get an equal opportunity to compete get on the field and we're going to go out and try to put out the best football team we can.

"So up in the summer — more than maybe you have in the past — making sure you use the the post-spring practice months of May June in July to really get them up to speed, because, come fall camp, they need to know what to do, how to do it so you can go out there and kind of fine-tune things."

QUESTION: "Coach it's pretty remarkable to make it to ACC championship conference championship game your first year. You won 10 games. Granted, you had a bunch of transfers, You put out a great product that won a lot of ballgames. What's the hunger level?"

BROHM: "I think we got a hungry football team. You know, we've got a great setup. Louisville is a great town. Our stadium is second to none. We've got a good fan base.

"And we feel like that if we play well, we can compete and win against anybody. And I just think that last year we got to the championship game, to be quite honest with you, our defense was lights out, but our offense was not very good.

"But we were still this close to to pull it off a victory, which would have been huge for our football team ...

"We want to be aggressive in our approach. Offense, defense, special teams — try to be creative. We want to go for the win. We want to err on the aggressive side, and I think our players like that, and they know that whatever it takes to win, we're gonna try to do it."

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