Louisville kicks off Coach Brohm’s 4th season at the helm of his alma-mater with not just a ranked SEC team, but a playoff participant from last year’s CFB playoffs, the Mississippi Rebels. The Cards are facing a Rebels squad that boasts one of the best QB’s in the country in Heisman candidate Trinidad Chambliss and a Heisman hopeful in tailback Kewan Lacy…all on the big stage of a prime-time Sunday night game in Nashville, TN.
Read more: Game Day: Louisville vs Ole Miss, in Nashville, TNOFFENSE
Coach Brohm will go into this game breaking in his fourth consecutive signal caller in Lincoln Kienholz. When Coach Brohm identified and chose Kienholz out of the portal, he went in a completely different direction than his last 3 years and 3 starters. Plummer, Shough, and Moss were all 5th year quarterbacks with a ton of playing experience. Kienholz, although extremely talented, doesn’t have that. What Kienholz does have, is the ability to make plays with his legs and bring some uncertainty to opposing defensive coordinators because he hasn’t played a lot. Make no mistake about it, Lincoln is a talented signal caller and can make every throw on the field, and if Coach Brohm trust him, he’s the guy for this team.
Coach Brohm and staff completely rebuilt the offensive line, and they needed to. Going into the offseason this group had the biggest question mark, and rightfully so. EVERYTHING starts up front. Coach Brohm went into the portal, and grabbed Evan Wibberley, Johnnie Brown III, Eryx Daughtery, Cason Henry and Anwar O’Neil. Offensive line,..secured. The only questions are, how will they mesh, and how quickly can they get on the same page.
Coach Brohm didn’t mess around when it came to getting his new signal caller some targets. Lawayne McCoy transferred in from FSU. As a sophomore, McCoy tallied 396 receiving yards, and 3 touchdowns on 27 receptions. McCoy was a 4-Star prospect coming out of high school who thrived on both ends of the field. Brody Foley, the transfer from Tulsa, was one of the best tight ends in the portal. Brody finished the season with 9 total touchdowns (7 receiving, 2 rushing) and 528 receiving yards. The 6’6 tight end will be a mismatch when he lines up on the outside in the redzone. Coach Brohm didn’t stop at 1 tight end, he also brought in 6’5 Justyn Reid from Tulane. The biggest get at wide receiver was Tre Richardson. The Vanderbilt transfer is clearly going to be the number 1 option for Lincoln. Tre torched the SEC and most notably uk en route to a 7-touchdown year with 806 receiving yards. The dynamic playmaker just needs the ball in his hand and he’ll make things happen. Wide receiver TreShun Hurry and tight end Jaleel Skinner both return for Louisville and are expected to take on bigger roles this year.
We all know the unofficial Law Firm of Brown & Brown. Marquise Davis comes over from Missouri after his freshman year. We’re all familiar to Braxton Jennings after the show he put on in the Governor’s Cup last year in L & N Stadium. Incoming freshman Lekhy Thompkins will definitely get his fair share of reps to showcase his skills this year. The running back room is not only deep but extremely versatile. Finding a 3rd option behind Brown & Brown is going to be a challenge, but a challenge every coach would love to have. Keep in mind, Isaac Brown wasn’t the starting back going into his freshman season, but he was a player Coach Brohm wanted to get the ball to a few times a game.
DEFENSE
The Cards are really, and I mean really, good. They have length, size, height, and athletism at every level of the defense. They also have a mix of experienced system players (Lubin, Green, Clark, Holloway, Harris, & Watts) to go along with the talented incoming players (Thompson, Kennedy, Waller Jr, Banks, Wilson, & Entringer). Ron English is no longer calling the plays or on staff. Coach Mark Ivey and Coach Steve Ellis are your co-defensive coordinators. So the defense will hear a familiar voice.
The lone question for the Cards on defense is the depth on the defensive line. Louisville retained AJ Green and Clev Lubin. It feels funny to say a college team retains a player, but that’s the transfer portal world we’re living in. Demeco Kennedy (Purdue), Joshua Donald, Daylen Russell (Miami), Jerod Smith II, and Tyler Thompson (UNC) all joined through the portal. Thompson (7 sacks), Lubin (8.5) and Green (4) are going to create chaos in the backfield in passing situations. Lubin and Thompson are going to demand double teams. The problem is, you can’t double team that at the same time and leave Green one-on-one on the other side or on the interior.
Having a healthy Stanquan Clark is going to be huge for the Cards. Clark was looking every bit of a player who will play on Sundays before an injury sidelined him. Clark’s fellow Floridian TJ Capers is also back for the Cards and looking to improve on his stat line and impact from last season. A new, but old face has returned home in Ben Perry. Antonio Watts is back after having a great year for Louisville with 42 tackles, 2 sacks, and 3 INTs last yeaar. Perry had a couple good years at Louisville before he transferred for one year and came back home. Trent Carter, transfer Jacob Smith, and Cam White will provide valuable depth at the linebacker position. If we do use a spy on Trinidad, I fully expect Clark or Watts to have that responsibility.
I’m extremely excited about the secondary for Louisville. The secondary is almost entirely new. Antonio Harris is in his 2nd year after playing sparingly last year. He’s shown that he has all the tools to play at this level and the next. Tayon Holloway is also back and having him improve on his man-to-man skills is going to allow to shutdown most receivers. Tayon is already an exceptional zone defender, as he totaled 2 INTs last year. Incoming corner DJ Waller was a huge pick up out of the portal. I perfer him as a safety, but at 6’3 with long arms and great closing speed he’ll be a good corner. Perhaps the reasons Waller isnt playing safety at UofL is because of the additions of Iowa safety Koen Entringer, Ole Miss saftey TJ Banks, and Tennesse safety Kaleb Beasley all joined the Cards out of the portal.
EXTRA EXTRA
Isaac Brown and Keyjuan Brown were left off the Doak Walker Award Watch list is a bad look for not only the watch list committee, but for the ACC as well. Isaac Brown is considered one of the best backs in the country, when healthy. Keyjuan Brown, as a backup had more success than a lot of featured tailbacks last year.
So can someone, anyone explain to CardNation why both Browns were left off this list?
It’s a bad look for the ACC, because the entire ACC knows how great Brown & Brown are. In fact, they are at the top of every team’s defensive scouting report. Teams repeatedly stacked the box to attempt to slow down the Louisville running game. Expect Ole Miss to do the same, and expect Coach Brohm to counter with a play-action pass to the tight end or deep down the field.
I’m OKAY, with both Browns being left off the list, because it will only add more fuel to the fire of these competitors to prove why they shouldn’t be overlooked. Which spells bad news for the rest of the ACC. A motivated Isaac & Keyjuan Brown will terrorize the ACC.
This is a defense that has the talent to be a TOP 15 defense. The question is…will the playcalling and scheme allow these players to play fast and free?
Will Coach Brohm have a 3,000 yard passer, 1,000 yards receiver, and 1,000 rusher again? The talent and scheme is definitely there.
In year 4, is this the year Louisville makes it back to the ACC title game? Does Louisville finally make the CFB Playoff? All these questions and more will start to be answered starting tonight in Primetime!!!
Card Nation, have fun, enjoy Nashville, and take in the sights, sounds, scenery, and like my fellow CSZ member Higgy, the culinary scene of Nashville. We don’t get to many days like this. Louisville Volleyball swept 9th-ranked Texas earlier today. Let’s keep the momentum going as Louisville football look to take down top 10 Ole Miss in Nissan Stadium.
#GoCards #L1C4
