LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The University of Louisville began spring practice on a sunny Monday afternoon on the practice fields next to L&N Stadium on campus, putting in a two-hour plus workout under the direction of head coach Jeff Brohm and a staff of coaches going into their third season – plus new wideouts coach Deion Branch, who was elevated to wide receivers coach after the departure of Garrick McGee.
It was the first of six opening practices for the Cardinals, including the Spring Game, scheduled for April 11 in L&N Stadium.
For fans who turned out, it was the first glimpse of new Louisville quarterback Miller Moss, a transfer from USC. Isaac Brown, who won freshman All-American honors in his first season, was back with a new number, sporting No. 1. He may well be option No. 1 on the Cardinal offense.
After the session, Brohm sat down with reporters to talk about his team, its first day on the fields, his early impressions of Moss, what he’s hoping for Brown in the spring, and much more. A transcript follows, with questions slightly edited.
OPENING STATEMENT: OK, well, I thought was a good first day. Without question, we've got some new faces, so we've got to get to work and get everybody up to speed on what is about to take place, the way we want to practice, the things we want to cover. And as efficient as we want to be, we want to make sure we're starting off on the right foot and getting things corrected and working these guys as much as we can. We've got, you know, some limited time to get that done, but through meetings and workouts and on-the-field work, we should be getting up to speed as fast as we can. But we have to utilize every practice we can and we're looking forward to that. Our guys had good energy today, and I thought for the most part, we got quite a bit out of it.
Louisville quarterback Miller Moss completes a throw under the watchful eye of Louisville offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Brohm.
Q: Jeff, when you we see all the newcomers, for us it’s the first time but for you guys, you've had them now for a month or so. Is the first day like a brand new day? And how much of an adjustment is it on the field with helmets on for the new guys, especially the younger kids?
BROHM: Well actually, you know, there's quite a few new faces out there, so while we've been around them in weight workouts and meetings, it is the first truly time on the field in a practice setting. So, we've got some work to do without question, and getting to know everyone and what they're good at and their strengths and what things they need to work on. We'll take plenty of practices to make sure we're on top of that, and we're studying it, and we're getting better. And you know, it's, it's quite a bit of a new team without question, and that's just the nature of where we're at right now. But we like what we have here. We've just got to put the work in, and we've got to give them as many reps as we can and watch it on video and figure out ways to be as sharp as we possibly can and crisp as we possibly can every time we step out there.
Q: Coach, a lot of eyes are on your new quarterback, Miller Moss. What did you think of his first day, not only just throwing the ball, but also in the pocket, around the other guys?
BROHM: Well, I like Miller a lot. I think, you know, he gives us a veteran at that position. He's got experience. He's played some football, just like Tyler (Shough). He's had some ups, he's had some downs, but I like his mental makeup. I think he works really hard. I think he can throw the football. He can control it. For the most part, he's got a pretty good grasp already of what we're doing. So, I think he will continue to get better at that. But, you know, we like his ability, and I think that we've got to figure out what he's best at and continue to do those things. But I think he'll be productive for us, I think he'll play well and we've got to, you know, build the depth of that position, you know, for the future.
Q: Between you and your position coaches, how much time do you spend watching tape of these practices just to see things you might have missed on the field?
BROHM: We'll watch quite a bit of this video. I think that's the best part about it. In spring practice, you're not practicing every day, so you have some days in between, normally. You normally have about three practices a week. So, you have plenty of time to watch the film as a staff, to watch the film as a unit, to watch the film with your position players, and we want them to go back and watch it on their own and learn some things and quiz themselves. And that has to happen. So that's the good part. Not practicing every day, you don't get overloaded with too many reps where you're just trying to catch up. They got plenty of reps today. There's plenty of time to get to work on that. And like I said, these spring practices are used to continue to work to be a physical football player, but we want to get smarter at what we're doing. We want to get educated. We want to know our assignments. We want to know exactly what ourselves and the guy next to us are doing, and some of the adjustments that we may have to make along the way, even though we're trying to keep it simple and be sharp. So, the film is very valuable at this time of the year.
Q: Jeff as far as Miller's adjustment, and considering this is your third-straight transfer quarterback here, what do you kind of see already from him grasping the offense, and what do you want to see from him over the next couple weeks here?
Miller Moss throws a pass as Louisville offensive coordinator and QB coach Brian Brohm watches.
BROHM: Well, I would say it's a similar situation to Jack (Plummer) and Tyler. All three guys have played football. All three guys have handled adversity along the way and had some good moments and others that probably they'd like to have back. But that's very valuable. I think, you know, Miller has shown intelligence. He understands what we're doing in some form or fashion, while maybe in different terminology. He's done similar things. I think he knows we want to give him some weapons around him, find ways for him to be successful and make him as sharp as he can be. And that's always our job as coaches is to adjust the offense to fit what he's good at and to make sure that every game he's as efficient as possible. And while we want to ask him to make plays, we don't want to ask him to do too much as well. But he's shown a great understanding at this point. I think he can control the football and throw it. I think he's a willing learner. I think he wants to work hard to be a leader. And, and, you know, sometimes when you get guys that just have one year left, they want to make the most of it, and they're dedicated to get that done. And that's a great quality.
Q: Some of those early enrollees got a good amount of time on the field today. What did you like from them?
BROHM: Well, what's interesting is there's a lot of new enrollees. And it takes a while to learn what they look like in the helmet. So sometimes I'm asking who exactly that is. But I like our crew. I think that we've got some athleticism, we've got some length at certain positions, we've got some depth that we've built. They can play football. And I think just getting them up to speed and educated on what we're doing, so that they're sharp, they're crisp, or know what they're doing, they can play fast, is what's going to be important. But I think talent-wise, you know, we have some key additions that will contribute and do a really good job.
Q: One of those spots you added a bunch of guys is in the secondary. Obviously right now, you're just trying to see, but would you say you have a lot of guys back there that you can rotate in and out?
BROHM: I think so. I think we do have depth at a lot of positions on defense. We have depth in the secondary now. We for sure, have depth on the D-line. We've added depth at linebacker, and then a couple young pieces that I think, you know, have potential. So, I like the depth we have. Just got to get efficient on what we're doing. Try to keep, you know, as many guys healthy as we can throughout spring practice, so that we get them to fall camp and ready to go and much sharper and crisper once we get there.
Louisville running back Isaac Brown runs a drill during the first day of spring practice on March 3, 2025.
Q: What do you look to try to get out of Isaac (Brown) and Duke (Watson) and Keyjuan (Brown) in spring ball? You saw what they could do last year. You know what they can do on the field. What do you try to get out of them now?
BROHM: Well Isaac and Duke played outstanding for us last year. Of course, we've given them the talk of, you've got to stay hungry. You can't have a sophomore slump. The first thing you do is to relax a little bit and feel too comfortable. And we can't have that. They've got to be hungry. They've got to put in the work. They've got to find ways to push themselves even harder, and that has to be done by us, but also by them, and they have to be aware of that. And so that's going to be important. On the flip side of it, we got to keep them healthy. These guys play a lot of football. They really ran well last year for true freshmen that just got here. My hat's off to them. They ran hard. They're slippery. They can make guys miss. I think if we continue to add some strength and size to them along the way, it can help them be more durable. But they've done everything we can ask to this point, and more, I think Kejuan can give us some good action, as well. He looks in more shape and leaner, and I think he wants to get on the field. So we feel good. We've got depth at that position. And, you know, they did a really good job for us last year.
Q: Brock Travelstead is gone. You've got a competition at kicker. What do you think about your options for field goal kicking and PATs?
BROHM: Well, I feel good about it. You know, I think that there's multiple guys at that position that, to this point, have shown that they can kick the ball now, being consistent and doing it every day, and it's what we've got to continue to push. And we'll have competitions throughout spring to make sure that, you know, they're kicking enough balls that are on the line. You know, kicks that mean something. Obviously, you want to get the practice the reps in, but sometimes you’ve got to put meaningful reps on the line where, hey, this is for the win, or this is something we're going to chart, or if we don't make it we have consequences, we'll run and do up-downs, whatever we've got to do. And I just think it's important to do that to kickers, to make sure that they're feeling the pressure as much as we can in practice. But as far as the work they put in, I think we'll be OK at that position for sure.
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