Notes and Observations from Louisville's Fifth Open Spring Practice of 2024

Here is our notebook of everything that transpired during the fifth of six open practices for Louisville football's spring ball.

The Louisville defense takes to the field during practice on April 12, 2024 / Matt Stone/The Courier Journal / USA

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Spring ball is nearly in the books for the Louisville football program. The Cardinals have just one week left of their over month-long spring practice, with 12 of their 15 sessions already in the books.

Their 12th practice, which took place on Friday, was the fifth of six practices that were open to both the fans and media. Like we were for the first four open practices, Louisville Report was there for it all to watch the fifth open practice of spring ball.

Previous Open Practice Notebooks: Practice One, Practice Two,Practice Three, Practice Four

Below is our notebook of the more notable happenings that transpired during the afternoon:

• Before warm ups, of course, special-teamers were there first getting some kicks in. Placekicker Brock Travelstead was striking the football very well, and even nailed one right down the middle and with some room to spare from around the 40-yard line. With the punters, Brady Hodges was getting some incredible hang time and regularly hitting the ceiling of the Trager Center, while Carter Schwartz seemed to get the most distance of the group.
• When the practice started with a positional period, I watched the defensive line first, They started out with an edge rush drill against a dummy that tested their lateral quickness and hand placement/usage. Of course, it's no surprise that Ashton Gillotte dominated this. Ramon Puryear, R.J. Sorenson and Tawfiq Thomas also looked good during the drill as well. They also ran a drill that tested their ability to jump on the snap of the ball and not fall for the pre-snap cadence, which has been a slight issue at times in the open practices (nothing super concerning though).
• I haven't been able to watch much of the linebackers in spring ball because of the arrangement of the viewing areas and the drill locations themselves, but I was able to watch some today. Specifically, I saw a drill that had them move from block to block then burst towards their intended target, with both Jaylin Alderman and T.J. Capers actually standing out the most.
• It was a scrimmage-heavy practice today, so the majority of the afternoon was 11-on-11. Surprisingly, the first 5-10 minutes of the period was a mix of the second- and third-teamers. During this time, the defense is what stood out the most, with the front seven swarming to the ball on every snap, regardless of who held it. Jurriente Davis had a strong play-through the whistle type of hit/tackle on the very first rep. Capers had a nice downhill hit on Isaac Brown. Keyjuan Brown was stuffed around the line of scrimmage and fumbled the ball. Marcus Washington had a good pass breakup. Even on a free play (offsides), Brady Allen threw a deep ball way short.
• Shortly after is when the first-teamers got their first reps of the day. This probably has to do with the fact that there have been a few injuries in spring ball, but there were a few interesting changes from what I had seen in the past few practices. Micah Carter started on the edge opposite of Gillotte, D'Angelo Hutchinson got some early first-team reps at safety, as did Capers at inside linebacker.
• When it was the "good on good," that's when it was a little more even in terms of offense vs. defense. On one of the first first-team reps, Tyler Shough delivered a pass to Chris Bell, who split a couple zones deep across the middle, right on the money. Shough has another pass that, had it not been a perfect placement to Cataurus Hicks up the sideline, would have been picked off. Donald Chaney had a run where he shed multiple tackles in between the numbers to gain several extra yards. Maurice Turner had a run where he was able to swerve in between gaps almost like a gauntlet, and somehow keep his balance while run nearly full speed. Pierce Clarkson had one read option where it was not only a quick read, he pulled the ball in a way that fooled most of the defenders, and was able to gain several yards up the middle almost immediately. Harrison Bailey was consistent on most of his throws in this period and for the day.
• The defense did make some plays during this period, such PBUs from Devin Neal, Antonio Watts and Tahveon Nicholson, and a great pursuit angle from Trent Carter. But this is when it really started to hit me that there had been a trend through most of spring ball that I hadn't really picked up until then: the offensive line does have good size and depth up front, but there seems to be some sort of issue at the tackle spots. Far too many times, edge rushers have been able to get free and clean shots at both the quarterback or the running back on an outside run. Even with the running backs, most of their best runs have come in between the tackles. It's not just one person doing it or a lack of fundamentals, it's just straight up missed assignments. For instance: Gillotte and Maurice Davis both had reps in this period were they got in the backfield completely unblocked for free shots at the quarterback. That can't happen.
• My good friend Keith Wynne pointed this out to me during the first 11-on-11. At some point, they ran a defensive formation that had Benjamin Perry and Antonio Watts at inside linebacker, with three safeties and three corners for an eight-DB formation. It was interesting, and I love that they're mixing some new wrinkles in to see what works.
• After the first 11-on-11 period was a segment where the team gathered around the 30-40 yard lines, blared Joker and the Thief from the sideline and hyped up the place kickers on field goal tries. Once again, Travelstead hit about a 50-yard kick that had plenty of room on the back end.
• Before the next 11-on-11 period is when they broke up into 7-on-7 and offensive vs. defensive line, and I went to check out the latter. It was pretty even overall for the period, but there were some dominant wins in the period. Puryear ran right over Monroe Mills and Gillotte destroyed Reuben Unije, but Michael Gonzalez at left guard and Lance Robinson at right guard held their ground on pretty much every rep. Some other notes from this drill: Maurice Davis continued to take steps forward with a nasty spin move on Ransom McDermott, Madden Sanker took some reps at center and did well, plus walk-on Mike Powell looked really, really good at right guard on all of his reps.
• The second of three 11-on-11 period was somewhat brief, but I'd say the offense looked better here. Bell had a nice toe drag catch up the right sideline, the middle of the offensive line opened up a massive hole for Peny Boone, and Hicks beat Tayon Holloway off the line on a slant route that was taken to the house. There was also a play that appeared to be a simple left swing pass to Chaney, but acted almost like a screen with the linemen on the that side coming over as lead blockers. The best defensive play in this period that I saw was a wide receiver screen that Quincy Riley read like a book, blew up the block and then secured the tackle. An All-American type of play right there.
• There was a very brief positional period, then it transitioned to the final 11-on-11. Here, there was a somewhat balanced helping of plays made on either side of the line of scrimmage.
• Defensively: Capers had a read and react that, while he didn't get the tackle, he forced the running back (couldn't see who) into a tackle. Maurice Davis had a great read and wrap up tackle of Clarkson on a speed option. Hutchinson came screaming downhill on a dumpoff pass.
• Offensively: Turner displayed his versatility with a solid catch and run. Antonio Meeks had a very shifty run after the catch on a wide receiver screen. Caullin Lacy broke his slot receiver mold for a "go up and get it" type of catch deep over the middle. Jamari Johnson ran a corner route that he disguised by blocking off the snap, then leaking out and catching the ball with no one within 15 yards of him. There was also a play on the goal line that was a flea flicker that resulted in a pass to Jaleel Skinner on a drag route.

(Photo of Louisville Players: Matt Stone - The Courier Journal / USA)

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