Jeff Brohm Expecting Louisville's Offense to Operate at a 'High Level' in 2024

The Cardinals will kick off their season this Saturday vs. Austin Peay.

Louisville’s coach Jeff Brohm led the first practice of the team for his second year as head coach. / Scott Utterback/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At this point in time, it's a general consensus that - regardless of how good the Louisville football program is this upcoming 2024 season - the Cardinals are likely going to be a team that is led mainly by their defense. Louisville posted a top-25 defense last season, returned their top two playmakers on that side of the ball (as well as several others), and bolstered it significantly through the transfer portal.

Even with this in mind, over the course of fall camp, some were beginning to wonder what Louisville's ceiling was going to be on the offensive side of the ball. Head coach Jeff Brohm noted after the first scrimmage of camp that he wanted "more playmakers" to step forward, and then said that the offense had a "dismal" day after the final scrimmage day of camp.

That being said, Brohm also noted that the offense's performance in those particular scrimmages was just the ebbs and flows of fall camp, and that there were plenty of other instances where the offense dictated the pace of practice. In fact, during Louisville's weekly conference ahead of their season-opener against Austin Peay, Brohm said that he expects the offense - as well as the defense - to perform at a high level this season.

"I just think that (the defense) had their day with us that day, and that can happen at times," Brohm said. "You got to learn to snap out of it when things happen. I think as we get playing this season, every experience we have where we have some adversity along the way is good for you. We want to go through it as much as we can in practice and in scrimmages, and I think we have. I think we've we've learned from it, and we expect both units to play at a high level every time we step on the field."

The offense's ceiling is likely going to be determined by the player of Tyler Shough. The Texas Tech/Oregon transfer quarterback has shown in the past that he can be a significant asset to a team thanks to his overall experience, arm strength and abilities with his legs, and all three were on display during fall camp.

Of course, the biggest question on the team revolves around Shough's health and his ability to play an entire season. As a member of the Red Raiders, he suffered a broken collarbone in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons, and a broken fibula early last season. Having not played an in-game down of football in roughly 11 months, there also could be mental hurdles that Shough has to overcome.

But if you ask offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Brohm, he believes Shough will be full steam ahead right out of the gates.

"He's been through this before," he said. "Obviously, he's a seventh-year guy, very veteran, played a lot of football. He's come back from injury before. ... The first time come back an injury, you can be a little hesitant, you can be looking forward to that first hit- which I'm sure he's still looking forward to. He's been through this process before. I think he's a veteran that's experienced in that way. I really expect him to come out just ready to go, and you're going to hopefully see the best of him right away."

Speaking of injuries, Louisville's wide receiver room has already been impacted significantly by it. South Alabama transfer slot receiver Caullin Lacy, one of the Cardinals' top portal acquisitions this offseason, suffered a collarbone injury on the final day of fall camp and is set to miss an "extended period of time."

There is good news on this front, though. For starters, it's not a season-ending injury, and Lacy - barring setbacks - will return to action at some point this season. Additionally, the coaching staff does like the rest of the position and their capabilities.

"In the meantime, we feel like that other guys will step up," Jeff Brohm said. "Ja'Corey Brooks had a really good camp. I think he's got legitimate speed and play making ability, he's been very consistent through camp. Chris Bell needs to continue to play well, and show up and make plays, and play physical and make the strong catch and get yards.

"Jadon Thompson now will have to step in and emerge, and be a consistent playmaker for us, which I think he can do it, and will have more opportunities to do that. After that, we have a lot of young receivers that maybe haven't played as much. Cataurus Hicks, and (Antonio) Meeks and Jahlil McClain, but they need to step up."

Even the tight end room is in a much better spot compared to this time last year. Combining the progress of the few returning with the additions that were made via the portal, the Cardinals now have a handful of viable options in the passing game at tight end that will help take the pressure off the of wide receivers to make plays and give Louisville more options in the middle of the field.

"I think we have a quite a few veterans at tight end that have played a lot of football," Jeff Brohm said. "Even though three of them are new pieces, they all have different, really good traits and characteristics they bring to the table. We got to figure out a way to utilize all those tight ends at what they do well."

Outside of Shough's health, one of the bigger questions regarding Louisville's offense is how productive Louisville's ground game will be. Powered by Jawhar Jordan and Isaac Guerendo, the Cardinals had one of the most prolific rushing attacks in the ACC and college football as a whole last season, resulting in both backs getting selected in this past April's NFL Draft.

While the running back position and their potential does have some questions, Louisville's coaching staff are still very high on them.

"We like our running back room," Jeff Brohm said. "Maurice Turner has played a lot of football for us. He's in really good shape, he's had a really good fall camp. Donald Chaney was little nicked up early in camp, but he's healthy now. He's got some strength, he's played a lot of football himself. Then you throw in Isaac Brown and Keyjuan Brown, those are two young guys we feel good about."

When you have so many newcomers and so many moving pieces, it's hard to predict what your exact strengths and weaknesses are going to be when heading into a season. While Louisville has a good idea of what their offensive identity is going to be, they aren't going to try and forcibly live by it, and are open to the idea of their identity evolving as the season goes on.

"As an offense, you're always looking to see what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, and that does evolve as the season goes on," Brian Brohm said. "Obviously, we have quite a few new faces on the offense that are important pieces of the puzzle. ... We now have seen them in the spring, we've see them in the summer, we've seen them throughout fall camps.

"We have a good idea of where we want to focus our offense, and who we want to get the football to, and what we want to do there. But it all has to come together on game day as well. Sometimes you think things are going to go one way, and you get in the game, they go another. So it does evolve as the season goes on. 'What are our strengths? What do we need to be focused on? What areas do we need to really hammer home?' That always evolves as the season goes on.

The Cardinals will kick off the 2024 season against Austin Peay at L&N Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 31.

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

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