Louisville Football Open Practice Recap
Louisville Football opened up a handful of practices to the public this spring and while I wasn’t able to make them all, I was able to take in the full practice this afternoon. The Cards were in... Louisville Football has opened its spring practices to the public, with a full practice being held for two hours this afternoon. The team was in full pads and the competition between the offense and defense was intense. Tyler Shough, the obvious starter for the Cards, was praised for his throws and moves well for a guy his size. The backups, Harrison Bailey and Pierce Clarkson, also performed well throughout the afternoon. UofL will be deep at the running back position this year, with Penny Boone being the first man up but Keyjuan Brown having the best showing. The coaching staff has brought in two transfers and Isaac Brown in the 2024 recruiting class, making it likely a strong contender for the number two spot. Maurice Turner and Don Cheney are seen as leaders for the second spot.
نشرت : منذ 4 أسابيع بواسطة Keith Wynne في Sports
Louisville Football opened up a handful of practices to the public this spring and while I wasn’t able to make them all, I was able to take in the full practice this afternoon. The Cards were in full pads for two hours this afternoon and the competition on the field was legit. While they weren’t taking players to the ground, there were plenty of pads popping between the offense and defense.
Let’s delve into some of my observations from the practice.
Tyler Shough is the obvious starter for the Cards and I was very impressed with him today. Shough made every type of throw that you want to see from your starter and his throws down the field hit his receivers in stride. He also has great size and moves extremely well for a guy his size. When he rolled out of the pocket, there was a pace to his movement and he got to his spot quickly.
It seemed like Shough got fewer reps as the practice went on but I didn’t see any poor throws from him today. The backups really shined, in my opinion. Harrison Bailey and Pierce Clarkson made a lot of nice throws and handled themselves well throughout the afternoon.
If you were a casual observer or didn’t have a roster handy, you would probably assume that Bailey could be the starter. He looks the part and for the second straight practice viewing for me, he genuinely looked like a power-five starter. I’ve seen Bailey play in games in the past, so I know that he hasn’t shown that he can start at this level, but when it comes to practice, he has looked the part every time I’ve watched him. He may be just a great practice player but it’s also possible that the Brohm’s have helped him develop.
Clarkson also looked very good today. His first throw of the day was a long post route to Cataurus Hicks down the middle of the field. It was a tad underthrown but he laid it out pretty nicely for a gain of about 50 yards. Pierce also looked good on some of the designed run plays that were called for him and later in the practice he threw a few touchdown passes in the goal line session. I think it will be a close race for the backup position and Clarkson could have some designed packages to run.
UofL will be deep at the running back position this year and they honestly may be too deep at this point. Penny Boone was the first man up but Keyjuan Brown had the best showing for the day. The staff brought in two transfers to go along with Isaac Brown in the 2024 recruiting class. That makes for a lot of guys looking to get touches with Maurice Turner coming back.
Boone is a big back with a very thick build. His size is obvious when you’re on the field level with him but his burst stood out to me. His first noticeable play for me was during a drill running screen plays. He caught the ball in space and once he turned and found his path, he just took off up the field. The mix of his burst with his size and ability to shed tacklers will be fun to watch this fall.
The next man up could likely be anyone at this point. From what I saw, Maurice Turner and Don Cheney seem to be the leaders for the number two spot. Cheney has good size but he is more of a straight-line runner compared to Turner who can find space and make people miss in small spaces.
A funny moment today was Turner getting to the second level of the defense where he cut on a dime and blew past Tamarion McDonald in the secondary. He then took off towards the endzone only to have Quincy Riley effortlessly chase him down around the five-yard line. It was hard not to laugh at how easily Riley caught him.
Isaac Brown will definitely see the field this year in some way. He consistently found space and showed his quickness and speed today. I expected him to be much smaller in person but he has enough size to be used as a back or a returner. I think Brown is a good example of the weapons and options Jeff Brohm will be able to work with this season.
Keyjaun Brown may be the odd man out when it comes to touches for the backs but he impressed today. He broke off two long runs where he showed good speed to separate from the defense. Brown flashed in the little time he saw the field last season but this is a crowded running back room and one has to wonder if everyone decides to stick around after this spring.
This group has received a lot of focus with the additions of a few highly regarded transfers. However, no one really stood out today. Cataurus Hicks had a great play when he went up and over Jaden Minkins on a pass down the sideline and then took off for a long touchdown. The entire practice stopped while the offense sprinted to the endzone to celebrate. This was easily the highlight of the practice.
Caullin Lacy is much shorter in person than I expected. That’s not to say that he is “small”. He is actually well put together and very thick-bodied in his lower half. He is as fast as advertised as he showed on a jet sweep where he got around the corner with ease. He also caught two long touchdowns to start offense vs. defense segments. He ran away from the defense after the catch both times.
Ja’Corey Brooks was held out of contact drills, so I didn’t get to see him in action. I was told that he has looked the part in the spring but unless he looks like a star, I’m not sure Louisville has a high-level “number one” receiver like they had in Jamari Thrash last season. There is talent in the group and I do think there’s some depth but Brohm has always had a guy that stands out above the rest and I didn’t see that in my very small sample size today.
The first group today consisted of Lacy, Chris Bell, and Jadon Thompson. Brooks rotated in with Thompson during non-contact drills early in the practice. Jimmy Calloway, Hicks, and Antonio Meeks mixed in with the second group. Jojo Stone also caught a few passes today but I’m not sure I saw anything that would lead me to believe he will get on the field early on.
This is arguably the deepest group on the team at this point. UofL returns Nate Kurisky after a strong redshirt freshman season but they added some real depth with Jaleel Skinner coming in from Miami. Skinner is very long and athletic and he will have the ability to split out and add another dimension to the passing game.
While Skinner is more of a receiving tight end and has the frame of a player that will be used out wide, Jamari Johnson continues to look like a mutant. Johnson didn’t split out wide from what I saw but he did look very good when he caught the ball and got up the field. His speed and ability to create separation with his routes is what I think can get him more snaps this season.
I didn’t see Kurisky or Duane Martin make any plays today but I think they will both continue to have a role. Kurisky was underrated in my opinion but the group will only get deeper when Mark Redman arrives this summer. He is the most experienced player in the group.
I didn’t have a good view of the offensive line today and I don’t know that practice is a good way of evaluating the line. However, this group struggled all day to open running lanes. They got it together late in the day but it was tough sledding against the first defense.
I did get to catch a few moments that stuck out. Trevonte Sylvester tossed Adonijah Green completely out of a play early on. Madden Sanker held his own during one-on-one drills. Sam Secrest also had some nice moments but I believe he was beaten badly by Tawfiq Thomas in the same drill.
The pass blocking was solid today as the quarterbacks rarely had to eat the ball or take off running. They had clean pockets all day.
The defensive line returns a ton of experience and it showed today. Ashton Gillotte, Dez Tell, Ramon Puryear, and Joran Guerad spent time with the first group and they didn’t have much trouble stopping run plays.
Adonijah Green looks to be the first man up to replace Stephen Herron at the stand-up defensive end position while Tyler Barron is out. Green looks to have added some solid weight over the last year. Micah Carter made a nice play where he pursued the ball down the line of scrimmage and made a tackle across the field. Of course, he was not supposed to actually tackle the player so the coaches got on him a little bit about that.
Tawfiq Thomas looks great from a body standpoint. It’s been good to see him keep his weight down. He is still the guy up front that I think has a chance to make a big impact. He has great size and quickness. He just needs to put it all together.
Solid and steady is how I would describe this group today. Stanquan Clark made plays that stood out but Jaylin Alderman and T.J. Quinn were in position to make plays all day long. Alderman made a play on Isaac Brown that I thought was impressive. Brown took a pitch towards the edge and Alderman took an angle that allowed him to clip Brown’s heels as there wasn’t much of a chance that he could chase him down and make a form tackle. The experience that these guys bring will likely show out this fall.
Clark spent most of his time with the second group next to Jurriente Davis from Texas A&M. Davis didn’t make any plays of note that I saw but I thought it was interesting that he resembles Stacy Thomas while wearing the same number.
The secondary is full of newcomers and they all looked the part today. Corey Thornton is a big corner with great length and quickness. He made a few plays today that got me a bit excited about the potential of putting both corners on an island this season. Tayon Holloway is another big corner and he should be able to step in as a reserve when needed.
The guy that stood out to me was redshirt freshman Aaron Williams. He is long and athletic and he is very quick for a guy his size. I’d be surprised if he is not in regular rotation in the fall. He could use some more bulk to allow him to be more physical in coverage and against the run, but his high school profile looks to have translated well to college.
The safeties are so deep that it’s easy to forget that three guys weren’t even on the field today. M.J. Griffin, Blake Ruffin, and Deah McCullough were all out today and there were still three guys with starting experience taking reps. Devin Neal and DeAngelo Hutchinson ran with the first group with Tamarion McDonald and Wesley Walker running with the second group.
McDonald got shook by Turner late in the practice but he had a very nice interception in the first full team session where he beat the receiver to the sideline and made a sliding catch for the pick. Walker was tight in coverage all day and I think both players will be a substantial upgrade from a depth standpoint for the group.
I hope to make it out to the final open practice next week but if not, I will have plenty to talk about for the spring game on the 19th.
المواضيع: Football