Brian Brohm Calls it a 'Huge Honor' to Have Jersey Number Added to Louisville's Ring of Honor

If there is any position in the football field that the Louisville football program has been known for over the years, it's the quarterback position. From Lamar Jackson and Teddy Bridgewater to Johnny Unitas and Chris Redman, the Cardinals have since plenty of high level signal callers come through the Derby City.

This weekend, one of the best to ever line up under center for UofL will be the latest to have his jersey honored.

On Saturday before Louisville's primetime matchup with Notre Dame, Brian Brohm will have his No. 12 jersey added to Louisville's Ring of Honor. He will be the 28th jersey to be honored in program history, and the second this season after running back Ernest Givens was honored during Louisville's home opener vs. Murray State last month.

"It's a huge honor to have my jersey number going up in the Ring of Honor," said Brohm, who is now the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Cardinals. "There's obviously a lot of great players that have played in this program. A lot of great names that are up there on the Ring, and a lot of great names that haven't been up there that are going to go up there at some point."

Brohm, a Louisville, Ky. native and Trinity alum, played for the Cardinals from 2004 to 2007. To this day, he is one of the most prolific quarterbacks in UofL history.

His 10,775 career passing yards is second in school history to Redman, his 65.8 career completion percentage ranks third to Bridegwater and Stefan LeFors, and his 71 career touchdown comes in at fourth behind Redman, Dave Ragone and Bridgewater.

Brohm also saw plenty of success during his time on campus, going 24-9 as a starter. He helped guide the Cardinals to their best record in school history in 2006, going 12-1 including a 31-14 victory over Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl.

"Brian is our little brother but yes, he's very talented and he's accomplished a lot," his older brother and Louisville head coach, Jeff, said. "I think he was a great player – we all got a chance to watch him play. He was just a tremendous passing quarterback who did a lot of great things and now we have him on staff. He's bright, he’s very smart, he’s always had great poise in the pocket and been very calm unlike myself, so I applaud him for that and he helps our quarterbacks do the same.

"Any great players that come through here, it’s great to recognize and Brian obviously did some great things, so we’re definitely very happy for him and hopefully we can have a good day on Saturday.”

Ever since he followed his older brother back to Louisville following the end of the 2022 season, the memories of his playing days have been flooding back for Brohm. After all, his office is only a few hundred feet away from where he was once a Heisman Trophy hopeful.

In fact, some of these memories can be replayed with the touch of a button. Louisville's All-22 film database goes all the way back to 2004, Brohm's first year on campus, meaning he can pull up any snap he has ever played while in a Cardinal uniform. He's even showed some of his old plays to the current players while in the film room.

"We'll be talking about something and I'll go, 'You know what, I think we ran this play.' I can actually pull it up and show the guys," he said. "So that's been kind of kind of fun, and kind of cool being back here. It definitely jogs your memory a little bit, obviously, being back in the same building that we were in when we were playing."

Plenty of fans will be present for when Brohm has his jersey added to the Ring of Honor. The ranked matchup between the No. 10 Fighting Irish and the No. 25 Cardinals is the program's first sold out matchup since 2019, and Jeff Brohm expects it to be a raucous environment.

Having his jersey honored during this particular matchup, regardless of the rankings and the hype, adds a bit of intrigue as well. Brohm was raised in a Catholic family, attended a Catholic private high school, and was even chose Louisville over Notre Dame coming out of Trinity.

That being said, Brohm doesn't look too far into those storylines. He's just happy to be included, and gives a lot of credit to his former teammates.

"No matter what game it was before or when it happened, if it was now or 20 years from now, I think it's just a huge honor to have," he said. "I had a lot of good times playing in this program. Had a lot of good teams when I was playing, a lot of good players that I played with. A lot of credit goes to a lot of other people that helped me get up there. But definitely, it's a huge honor. But yeah,  it makes it a little extra fun to have it during such a big game.

Kickoff between Louisville and Notre Dame is set for Saturday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. EST.