Notebook: Jeff Brohm on Roster Movement, Coaching Staff and Spring Football

It has been a busy two months since Jeff Brohm returned to his alma mater.

After he was introduced as the next head coach of the Louisville football program back on Dec. 8, Brohm immediately had to get to work. He had to prepare for the early signing period roughly two weeks later, then had to navigate the transfer portal with several players opting to go elsewhere. Not to mention that he had to assemble an entire coaching staff on top of it.

The calendar has now flipped into February, and the dust has settled quite a bit for the Cardinals. Brohm's first staff at Louisville is now complete, and both the early signing period and traditional signing day are both in the rear view mirror with Louisville making significant strides in the roster construction department.

On Wednesday, Brohm held a press conference for the traditional signing day, and answered various questions regarding recruiting, his staff, spring ball and more. Below are some of the more significant takeaways:

Brohm Satisfied with Player Acquisition From Transfer Portal and High School Ranks

As you can imagine in this day and age of college football when a coaching change happens, Louisville has had an incredible amount of roster turnover. As of this writing, the Cardinals have seen 33 scholarship players depart the program in one form or another, whether that be graduation, the NFL Draft or the transfer portal.

However, Brohm and the rest of his staff has been incredibly active in retaining key members of their 2023 recruiting class, bringing in new high school prospects and combing the transfer portal for high impact playmakers. Louisville is currently in line to have 26 newcomers on their roster. and Brohm is happy with the level of talent in that incoming pool of players

"I think we've had success, and been very successful at all the positions (in terms of recruiting)," Brohm said. "There's some really good football players that are already on this team that have done a great job. As we try to analyze and see where we need to add some people that can help us, I think we've addressed that to a great degree, and feel good about the ones that are here. We really think we've added some dynamic players at certain positions."

But Louisville isn't done just yet. The Cardinals still have seven open scholarship spots for next season's roster, and with another transfer portal window coming after spring ball, that number is liable to increase. Even before it gets to that point, Brohm already has an idea of what positions he wants to target next.

"Always on the offensive and defensive line," Brohm said. "You're keeping your eyes and ears open just to make sure you have enough physical bodies there to be able to compete at a high level. ... we want to continue to recruit the linebacker position, make sure we have enough guys here to compete in the secondary. I feel good where we're at, but we have some injuries that we're getting shored up, ... tight end is a unique position, so we're always looking to see if there's a veteran that can come in and add to the mix."

Assistant Coaching Staff Littered With Previous Ties to Louisville

Of course, the player roster isn't the only place where Louisville has experienced a lot of turnover. After former head Scott Satterfield opted to leave the Cardinals, nine of the ten assistant coaches opted to either follow him to Cincinnati or go elsewhere. The only returner is fan favorite Mark Ivey, who is making the switch from defensive line to linebackers.

Earlier this week, Brohm officially completed his first staff at Louisville, and it is one that has a plethora of ties to either the University or City of Louisville. In fact, six of the 10 have either coached for the Cardinals or are a Louisville native.

Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Brohm, on top of being Jeff's little brother, played for the Cardinals from 2004 to 2007 and is one of the best quarterbacks in school history. Co-defensive coordinator Ron English was the DC for UofL in 2008 under Steve Kragthorpe. Wide receivers coach Garrick McGee was their associate head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2014 to 2015 under Bobby Petrino. Offensive line coach Richard Owens was a four-year player and three-year starter from 2000 to 2003 under both Petrino and John L. Smith. Special teams coordinator Karl Maslowski was a quality control coach from 2019 to 2021 under Satterfield. Finally, running backs coach Chris Barclay, while he played at Wake Forest, is a Louisville native who played a Male High School.

"A lot of these guys are familiar with this university have been here before," Brohm said. "Some guys have lived here, some guys have played here, some guys have coached here. I think it matters. I think that they understand a little bit of the dynamics of what it takes to win here. What we need to do, how we need to recruit, where we need to recruit. I just think every little thing matters nowadays, and winning."

While the prior experience with the program and region certainly helps out, Brohm did admit that is wasn't the main factor in assembling his staff. At the end of the day, it was all about getting the best guys he could into the program.

"I believe in adding as much experience to a room,” he said. “We've got former head coaches on our staff, former offensive and defense coordinators, a lot of big schools. We try to continue to add great people to the mix that are going to blend in and bond well with the people we have, and can work together for a common cause to help us win championships.”

Returning Players, Early Enrollees and New Coaches Meshing Together Well Early

If you couldn't tell by the last couple sections, there are a ton of new faces around the Howard Schellenberger Complex. The integration of all these newcomers has already begun, with many of them being early enrollees and already on campus.

With so many new faces around, it will be a little bit of an acclimation period around the program, especially the players and coaches who opted to return for the 2023 season. But so far, things have been going smoothly in terms of everyone meshing together.

"I think we got a great nucleus of guys that all get along," Brohm said, They want to come here with a common purpose of trying to win a championship, achieve your goals become great at what they do, get a great degree and hopefully get a chance to play the next level.

"As coaches, we're going to be committed to helping them do that. I think we have a staff that that loves to coach, and loves to develop and loves to win. We want to try to do it year one, and that means we're going to have to work hard at it, and our players are going to have to learn what we're doing as fast as they can get out there on the field and execute."

Brohm Hoping to Continue Tradition of Developing Walk-Ons at Louisville

Satterfield might not have won at the level that many Louisville fans had hoped he would, but one thing that he was good at during his time with the Cardinals was his ability to mold walk-ons. Guys like tight end Marshon Ford, kick James Turner, offensive lineman Tyler Haycraft and defensive ends Ramon Puryear and Mason Reiger all made noticeable impacts for the Cardinals during his time at the helm.

Brohm is no stranger to developing walk-ons, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Quarterback Aidan O'Connell has thrown for 9,219 yards and 65 touchdowns in his four-year career with the Boilermakers, and running back Devin Mockobee came out of nowhere to rush for 968 yards and nine touchdowns this past season.

"I think that we have had success with a lot of walk-ons doing very well for us," Brohm said. "These guys have earned their stripes and done it the hard way, so we're always excited when they do well. We've added walk-ons to this point, and we'll continue to add. "Those guys can get out there and show what they can do."

Just in the last month alone, Brohm has brought in a number of walk-ons from around the city of Louisville. Some of the more notable additions here are Ballard defensive back and legacy prospect Jaden Minkins, Trinity punter Carter Schwartz and two-way Eastern lineman Quintez Thomas.

Quarterback Position Will Be an Open Battle Heading Into 2023

With Malik Cunningham finally running out of eligibility, there will be new starting quarterback under center for Louisville in 2023, and Brohm has already landed a signal caller through the transfer portal who will likely be the day one starter.

Former Cal quarterback Jack Plummer, who also started his career at Purdue with Brohm, committed to the Cardinals just before the start of the new year. Starting all 12 games for the Golden Bears, he completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 3,095 yards, 21 touchdown passes and nine interceptions. Prior to that, he spent four years at Purdue, where he completed 64.8 percent of his throws for 3,405 yards, 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 13 starts and 17 games.

"(Quarterback)'s an important position," Brohm said, "You want to make sure you have talented guys that can win your football games, and lead the team and that can make plays. I do think that it was important to add a veteran to the mix. Jack obviously knows us and knows our system, and he's played a lot of football. So we feel good about him."

However, Brohm is going to pencil in Plummer are the starter already just because he has system familiarity and is heading into his final season. With backup quarterback Brock Domann returning and highly-touted true freshman Pierce Clarkson in the fold, Brohm said he wants to have an open competition and get them all plenty of reps to help not only in their overall development, but for the good of the team.

"We'll always have open competition at every position," he said. "Jack does have a lot of experience, and we're bringing him here for a purpose and a reason. We'll give him an opportunity to do his thing, but we also want to continue to develop everybody. and make sure they're all ready to go. Whether it's one guy playing the entire game, or certain packages for others, or whatever we think we have to do to win, we'll definitely get that done."

First Spring Football Period Will Be Crucial for Start of Brohm Era

Spring is always an important time for football programs across the nation, but for programs like Louisville who underwent a coaching change, the very first spring ball is a critical time that will help lay the foundation for how that coach's tenure will play out.

Fortunately, Brohm is acutely aware of how crucial the spring is for a program's success, especially considering he will be installing a completely new system. He's ready to get things started.

"It'll be very important like always. ... Taking advantage of the 15 practices will be very important," Brohm said. "All the meetings and walkthroughs and workouts we have are very important. I just think you want to get these guys to compete, understand what we're doing so that when we get on the field, they can play fast and furious and make a lot of plays."

The spring will culminate with the annual spring game, which is scheduled for Friday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m. EST at L&N Stadium. With the game set the night before Thunder Over Louisville, Brohm is hoping for a big turnout to end the spring.

"We've pushed back a little farther back than we have in the previous years, but I think we understand the dynamics here," he said. "So with spring starting where it is, we're going to start after spring break, go three practices a week for five weeks and culminate with a spring game on April 21. Years ago, this used to be the best time to have a spring game: the night before thunder on a Friday night. Hopefully we have a great crowd that'll come out and watch us compete on that day."