Notes and Observations from Louisville's Spring Game

The Cardinals concluded spring ball with the first spring game of the Brohm era.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Spring ball is now in the books for the Louisville football program.

Friday evening, the Cardinals gathered at L&N Stadium and held their first spring game under new head coach Jeff Brohm, which was fully open to the public and fans. The program had the offense go against the defense for two halves like a normal games, with the exception of a running clock used in the second half. The defense came out on top with a decisive 51-30 win over the offense.

Considering a handful players were out due to injuries and a lot of the first team or other impact players were held out during the second half, there is bound to be an overreaction or two. But that being said, below is our notebook of the more notable happenings that transpired during the rainy evening at L&N Stadium:

• As far as who was getting the majority of the reps with the first team, it was mostly what was expected. Ramon Puryear slid in with the ones with Jermayne Lole still working his way back from injury, D'Angelo Hutchinson got some run with the first team at safety with Josh Minkins still out, and Jackson Hamilton occasionally rotated in at middle linebacker. Outside of that, the first team offense and defense was consistent with what it has been all spring.
• With Brohm coming in, it's natural for fans to get the most excited about Louisville's offensive capabilities, especially in the passing game. But if the spring game -- as well as some of the last couple open practices -- are any indicator, the Cardinals have a deep defense on their hands as well. Sure, there were a few big plays given up when it was first team defense and offense going at it, particularly in the second quarter. However, the defense not only had the sharper start to the game, they flat out dominated after halftime. In fact, the offense didn't score at all in the second half. They had a 30-15 lead at the half, and then the defense put a halt to all 10 of their second half drives.
• The depth of the defensive line is what arguably stood out to me the most. No matter which unit was in, they seemed to get a lot of disruption in the backfield. In fact, the defense as a whole wound up tallying three sacks plus a whopping 16.0 tackles for loss. Ron English's 4-2-5 scheme relies a lot on defensive lineman winning their one-on-one battles, so this is obviously a fantastic development.
• I still believe that Louisville needs to add at least one starting-caliber linebacker through the portal. However, the linebacking corps looks really solid in the spring game, regularly swarming to the ballcarrier all night long. T.J. Quinn stood the most and was the defensive MVP, delivering several hard hits as well as an interception on a good close out. Guys like converted safety Antonio Watts and true freshman Stanquan Clark also were consistent with open field tackling.
• Speaking of which, tackling didn't seem to be an issue at all. There were only a handful of times all night where either the one-on-one open field tackler didn't bring his man down, or there weren't a bunch of defenders swarming for a gang tackle. Considering how much missed tackles have been an issue in the past, this is an extremely welcome sight to see.
• As previously mentioned, the secondary did give up a few big plays in the second quarter. Other than that, they plays pretty tight coverage for most of the night. Walk-on linebacker Daniel Martins had a good sideline interception deep in coverage on the sideline, while Derrick Edwards III -- who has been making strides in spring ball -- hauled in pick No. 3 close to the end of the game.
• Now let's shift to the offense. The biggest takeaway is that there seems to be a bit of a drop-off from the first team to everyone else. Sure, even the first team was a bit disjointed in the early stages of the game. But once they settled in, they looked sharp and efficient. While the defense did flex their depth in the second half, the offense didn't do them any favors.
• At quarterback, Jack Plummer continues to have a stranglehold on the starting job. His timing, release, arm strength and accuracy are just so much better than anyone else on the roster right now. On one drive, he had a beautiful 53-yard deep ball to Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, then immediately followed that up with a quick 12-yard touchdown strike over the middle to tight end Josh Lifson. Even on the double reverse flea flicker to Lifson later in the first half, Plummer put just enough touch on the ball to drop in right in the bread basket.
• Staying on quarterbacks for a second, Brock Domann actually looked pretty good in the spring game. He was incredibly comfortable navigating the pocket, and made good decisions with the football. As for Evan Conley and Khalib Johnson? Not so much, considering Conley had two picks and Johnson had one.
• As far as the pass catchers go, it seems like they still collectively have a bit of work to do when it comes to establishing chemistry with the quarterbacks. Of course, it also doesn't help that Jamari Thrash was held out for most of the game and Jadon Thompson is still hurt. Huggins-Bruce had that long deep ball, and Lifson had two touchdowns, but other than that, no one really stood out at receiver. It seemed like they tried to get Jimmy Calloway involved in the short catch-and-run game a few times, but that didn't develop as much as they hoped in this game.
• Jawhar Jordan was also held out for most of the game at running back, which paved the way for Maurice Turner and Isaac Guerendo to get a lot of reps. Of course, the defense mostly kept them in check, but Turner had one drive where he did break off a 42-yard touchdown run, and Guerendo had an early drive where he had a trio of really strong runs up the middle.
• The offensive line might be the biggest concern on the whole team, and that includes linebacker. The first team line (Gonzalez, Flores, Hudson, Black, Brown) actually did a solid job all things considered. Beyond that is where Louisville really started to struggle, as the pocket seemed to collapse a little bit faster and the run game wasn't nearly as effective when the first team wasn't in. Louisville has already dipped into the portal once this spring to add another lineman, and don't be shocked if they add one, or even two more.

(Photo via Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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