Louisville's Takeaways From the 2024 ACC Football Kickoff

A look at the more significant Louisville takeaways from the 2024 ACC Football Kickoff.

Louisville cornerback Quincy Riley / Atlantic Coast Conference Pool Photo

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Atlantic Coast Conference held their annual Football Kickoff media event earlier this week, and you can imagine, the Louisville football program was present and had plenty to discuss regarding the upcoming season.

Below are some of the more impactful takeaways points over the course of the four-day event in Charlotte, N.C.

Louisville will kickoff the 2024 season against Austin Peay on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 12:00 p.m. EST at L&N Stadium.

QB Tyler Shough is continuing to become more comfortable within the scheme and the team.

While Louisville put together an objectively good offensive showing during their 2023 season wasn't bad per se, it certainly wasn't what many expected it to look like. It was a run-dominant offense powered by two future NFL running back, while the passing game - a staple under head coach Jeff Brohm while at WKU and Purdue - left some to be desired.

On top of bringing in some upper tier wide receiver transfers and almost completely overhauling the tight end room, Louisville also opted to find their next starting quarterback through the portal. In what was their very first transfer commitment after the end of the 2023 season, former Texas Tech and Oregon signal caller Tyler Shough decided to finish his career at Louisville.

Part of his rationale for choosing the Cardinals was the Brohm brothers' knack for developing quarterbacks and their offensive system as a whole. Fast forward through spring ball, Shough - a seventh year player - has a relatively firm grasp on the playbook.

"Their offensive system being a little more complex, putting a lot on my plate," he said. "We run a lot of different formations, personnel groups. I think that was really attractive to me to come in there and contribute to the team with a high standard. There was no doubt in my mind this was the place to be."

Since spring ball ended a few months ago, Shough has been using the summer to get to know his teammates a lot more and build off-the-field camaraderie. In just a short amount of time, he feels like he's developed significant bonds with the rest of the team.

"This whole summer has been crucial. ... I really, really enjoy the offense," he said. "Building that chemistry, but you're still practicing. I think this whole summer has been better (for building chemistry) on and off the field. Watching film, throwing to guys, it's been really excellent."

Brohm continues to be incredibly high on his defense heading into year two.

While Brohm has been known for his offensive prowess as a head coach, last year's Louisville team was undoubtedly led by their defense. The Cardinals finished the 2023 season with the No. 21 total defense and No. 35 scoring defense last season, giving up just 317.1 yards and 21.3 points per game.

As good as Louisville's defense was last year, there's a good chance they could be even better in 2024. Brohm has made mention at various points this offseason at how much he likes their defense, and this sentiment continued in Charlotte.

"We think the ceiling (on defense) is really high. ... I think we have really good talent," he said. "We've tried to put together a creative package every year that changes a little bit. We've inserted some different wrinkles, and we'll make sure to do that again this year. We want to be aggressive in our approach, and let our players make plays, and I think they buy into that."

Of course, returners like Quincy Riley and Ashton Gillotte are ones who garner the most national intrigue. But Louisville landed multiple impact transfers on that side of the ball as well, such as Thor Griffith, Jordan Guerad, Tahveon Nicholson and others. Players and coaches alike have also been high on various younger players within the program.

"I'm very impressed," Riley said of the defensive newcomers. "I feel like everyone can start, every body can hold their weight. ... We got young guys that are ready to play now, they're just still learning. I just love being around those guys all day, every day."

The players also believe the team-wide coaching continuity will play an underrated role as to what the defense can be capable of next season. Louisville is one of the only teams in the FBS that were able to retain all 10 of their position assistants from the previous season.

"I think they're both tacticians," Gillotte said of co-defensive coordinators Ron English and Mark Hagen. "To me they broke down the sport in a way that I never looked at before. Ron English obviously has a lot of ways that he attacks different offenses and different looks that we can give them so we put ourselves in better positions. They're also really good at analyzing what we have. They'll take full advantage of the player so we can get more wins and more stops. I think that's kind of what they brought."

Louisville's returners are eager to get back to the ACC Championship Game and avenge last year's loss.

On top of posting their first 10-win season in a decade last year, Louisville accomplished something they had never previously done in the past: reach a conference title game. After going 10-4 overall and 7-1 in the ACC, the Cardinals clinched a spot in the ACC Championship Game.

Of course, the game itself was a less-than-stellar outing by Louisville. Facing league-favorite and College Football Playoff hopeful Florida State, the Cardinals could not muster any semblance of offense, dropping the contest 16-6.

With the site of the game - Bank of America Stadium - being just a few blocks away from where the ACC Football Kickoff is held, seeing the stadium again evoked some emotions from both Gillotte and Riley. In fact, it even served as a bit of motivation.

"Just driving by- Not saying it gives bad feelings, obviously it's a cool experience to be there," Gillotte said. "But losing's not fun. The stadium's just a reminder of that. To me, it kind of gets me fired up and pumped."

But before Louisville can have another crack at winning the ACC title, they first have to get back to game itself. As far as if he has a team that can make a return appearance, Brohm is optimistic that he does. He also taken lessons from the game, and the 2023 season as a whole, and will be applying them to the upcoming season.

"While we had some good success last year, 10-1 at one point, we lost our last three games," he said. "I think because of that, there's a lot of things to learn, a lot of areas to improve. I think it's caused the hunger to get back in right away and understand if you want to be really good, you have to beat big-time opponents and find a way to win close games."

The transfer portal will continue to be a massive asset for Louisville under Brohm.

Part of Louisville's success in just year one under Brohm has been their utilization of the portal. The Cardinals brought in 27 transfers last season, and most of them played a massive role in the success that the team had in 2023.

This offseason, Louisville is welcoming 27 more transfers, which trails only Colorado (41), Indiana (30) and Arizona State (29) for the most in the FBS. The Cardinals in line to graduate 29 seniors after the 2024 season, it appears that the portal will continue to be heavily utilized moving forward as well.

Brohm reinforced that notion, believing that it helps a program like Louisville remain a contender in the ACC on a consistent basis.

"I think every year we approach it like, 'hey, how can we improve our football team, and how can we try to win this next year?' We believe in that," he said. Whether you're trying to get some starters at certain positions, whether you're trying to add competition, whether you're trying to gain depth, all those things. I think at this point, we'd like all of our additions. ... They know that, we the way we approach things, if you can play for us and help us win, we're gonna get you on the field."

While the portal will still be a crucial talent acquisition component for Louisville, Brohm isn't going to shoot for a certain number of transfers each year, and still wants to rely on the more traditional high school recruiting efforts as well. It will just come down to what specific roster needs come up in any given offseason with graduation, early declarations for the NFL Draft and unexpected portal defections.

"I don't think we set a number on, hey, we need to bring in this many transfer portal young men and add them to our team," he said. "Every year is going to be different. Every year is going to be unique. Can't really predict it now. It's a different time and a different era where rosters are going to change. If one year a roster didn't change much, I'm fine with that, if that works. Sometimes it just doesn't fit."

(Photo of Quincy Riley: Atlantic Coast Conference Pool Photo)

You can follow Louisville Cardinals On SI for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter/X - @LouisvilleOnSI
Instagram - @louisvilleonsi

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter