Jeff Brohm, Louisville Finding the Delicate Balance Between Recruiting and Bowl Prep

The Cardinals have not only had to attack the transfer portal and put the finishing touches on their high school recruiting class, but prepare for the Holiday Bowl against USC on top of it.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Following six straight weeks of in-game action, the Louisville football program now has a bit of an extended break in the action for the first time since their bye week back in mid-October. By the time the Cardinals take on USC in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27, it will have been 25 days since their last time out against Florida State in the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 2.

Louisville might be midway through a month-long period in between football games, but make no mistake: behind closed doors, this is without a doubt the busiest time of the year for not only the Cardinals, but for every college football program in the nation.

It's one thing to have to get ready for a bowl game, and the amount of preparation time a team gets for that varies depending on when their bowl game actually takes place. But on top of that, program also have to deal with not only putting the finishing touches on their high school recruiting classes, but navigating the transfer portal as well.

"Well without question, it's getting more hectic and chaotic every year," head coach Jeff Brohm said. "It's just a timeframe where you know that it's gonna be non-stop for two straight weeks. Piecing together (the roster), and getting guys on campus, and getting a chance to meet them and their families, and then to meet us and see the facilities, meet our players and get around them and see if it's a fit. Those things change more more now, and there's a lot more reasons that people want to come and be a part of it now that you have to factor into it that you did not used to have to. That's what can be tricky, and you've got to do the right thing by all, but it's busy."

"I still try to find time to watch some some film, and to make sure that, football-wise, we're doing something a little bit every day to kind of still put this thing together for our team. Luckily. we have a strength staff and people here that, when the the main coaches are on the road, that are continuing to do that and making sure that our team is taken care, of and getting what they need to get rejuvenated and fresh for when we start back up."

This time of year had already been pretty busy for the past several years. The early signing period was introduced in 2017, adding a three-day period of time over a month before the start of the traditional signing period where high school seniors can sign with their preferred college of choice. This year for the Class of 2024, the early signing period falls on Dec. 20-22.

While this will take place roughly a week before Louisville plays in their bowl, the coaching staff has been all hands on deck. They've already started to make their rounds with in-home visits before the month-long recruiting dead period kicks in on Dec. 18, and have been making last-second pushes to several other targets in the cycle.

Then the introduction of the one-time transfer rule, NIL and subsequent changes to when a player can or cannot enter the portal made this time of year even more busy. The 30-day winter transfer portal window, where players can freely use their allotted one-time transfer, opened up on Dec. 4 and doesn't close until Jan. 2, 2024.

Since then, Louisville has already seen plenty of action in both directions of the portal. Not only did they see eight players transfer in the first two days of the winter transfer window, but the Cardinals have already secured three transfer commitments themselves. Both numbers are sure to increase in the coming days.

Related: Louisville Football 2023-24 Transfer Tracker

"Well, I try not to waste a whole lot of time even trying to figure that out," Brohm said when asked what the first few days of the portal window have been like. "I think in general, yeah, it's hectic. The changes are nonstop. You got to work at it, you got to not get frustrated with things along the way. There's a lot of things going on to it.

"Working through this, it's just a process that you got to just keep your composure, keep your beliefs of what you believe in as far as doing the right thing, and improving your team, and doing it the right way with people that fit. In that can help your team win, but also are good people that want to work hard. That are hungry and that are coming for the right reasons."

But with as important as their recruiting efforts both in high school and the portal are, they do still have to prepare for a bowl game. Being able to find that balance between on both fronts has no doubt been a difficult endeavor for the Louisville staff, but Brohm believes that they have a "good method and system" in place to attack it on both front, especially on the recruiting side of things.

"I think it all goes on right now," Brohm said. "There's been a few people decide to move on, and you have to constantly try to improve your roster and your team, and where you think you need to get better. Without question, we're hard at work on that, and that's the big focus between myself, and all of our coaches and support staff, and recruiting staff. We'll continue to monitor that, and it changes daily. Just when you think you feel good, that can easily change daily. We're working hard at that.

"I think we got a good method and system. We try to be honest, and try to present opportunities to people that maybe have their liking. But at the same time, it's not for everybody. We want guys that want to be here, that are hungry, that want to achieve their goals. We want to try to help them do that."

In the week immediately following the ACC Championship Game against Florida State, Louisville used that time almost primarily for recruiting purposes, and gave their players an extended break away from football to allow themselves to recuperate from a long regular season.

The week of Dec. 11 will feature a mixture of bowl preparation and high school/portal recruiting. Then after the weekend of the 15th where Louisville will host an influx of transfers, plus the upcoming start of the early signing period on the 20th, the majority of the coaching staff's efforts will shift to preparing to face USC at Petco Park on Wednesday, Dec. 27 at 8:00 p.m. EST.

"I think it's important that these guys get a break from football," Brohm said. "They've been going hard and long for a long time, add an extra game with a championship game, they need a break. We had some guys dinged up and banged up after this past game that they need some time to get healthy, and some of it might take all the way until game time. But they need to get refreshed. and that's important.

"Then once we get back going, I think we're very conscious to make sure we get in good practices. Make sure we really spend a lot of time with our young players, doing more and more at the end of each practice, and giving them plenty of reps and opportunities to show exactly where they're at, and continue to develop them throughout the course of those practices. But we'll give them a couple of breaks here and there. I'm not sure the exact details of what day we'll leave, but we'll be smart with them, and there are certain guys we got to get to the game healthy."

(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Jeff Faughender - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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