LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville football is back. Well, sort of.
Spring practice for the Cardinals is nearly in the books, and it will conclude with its annual Spring Football Game at L&N Stadium. Kickoff is set for Friday, Apr. 17 at 6:00 p.m. EST, with admission and parking free of charge.
Ahead of the spring game, here are some things to watch out for as Louisville wraps up their fourth spring ball under head coach Jeff Brohm:
While spring ball is all about competition, at this point in time, we know what most of Louisville's first team unit is going to be. Guys like Isaac Brown, Clev Lubin and Lincoln Kienholz are no brainers to be starting when the Cardinals travel to Nashville and face Ole Miss on Sept. 6 to kick off their 2026 season.
While these first teamers are going to suit up and take a handful of reps on Friday night, a lot of them are not going to get extensive run. After all, the staff already knows what they can do, so there's no need to tack on additional risk of getting hurt.
Not to mention that injuries had an impact on spring before it even got started. Tre Richardson, Brody Foley and Antonio Watts, who are expected starters for next season, have not played at all this spring as they rehab respective injuries.
Put it all together, and we should get a behind-the-scenes look at who has made the most progress during spring in the coaches' eyes based on how early and how often they play in the spring game.
"I think we've had a good spring to this point," Brohm said last week. "I think we all know we got new faces, but that's why we're here to work with them every day. To help them get acclimated to our system, the speed of practice, what we want to get done. I think we're getting really good effort and are going in the right direction."
For the fourth time in as many years as Brohm has been the head coach at Louisville, he will be going with a transfer at quarterback. Jack Plummer, Tyler Shough and Miller Moss were the first three, and this fall, Lincoln Kienholz will be the next one.
The primary difference between Kienholz and the aforementioned three is that he doesn't have much experience in college. The Ohio State transfer played three years in Columbus, but only made 12 appearances - none of which were starts. He went 21-of-36 for 250 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for 68 yards and two scores as a Buckeye.
That being said, Kienholz comes to Louisville arguably as the most athletic player at the position not only during Brohm's time at UofL, but in his career as a head coach. During his limited reps at OSU, he displayed upper level arm strength, as well as a propensity to run the ball.
During spring ball for the Cards, both elements were on full display. His arm strength was reminiscent of what Shough - now the starter for the New Orleans Saints - has, and for the most part, he was consistent with his accuracy. Additionally, not only did he excel when it came to running the ball in between and outside the tackles, it seemed that Louisville was running a lot more quarterback options, RPOs, etc. to take advantage of his athletic capabilities.
"Lincoln is coming in with great athleticism," Brohm said earlier this week. "He can really run the ball, and he does want to run the ball. So that's a little bit different than what we had before. I think with Lincoln, we got to polish up his ability to be an NFL-style quarterback as far as passing the ball, and running the show, and being accurate just handling those things. But without question I think he can escape he can make plays with his feet and we will ask him to run the ball."
Kienholz probably won't play the entire spring game, as Davin Wydner, Ryan Zimmerman and Briggs Cherry will also get their reps as well. But the spring game will serve as an early display of not only what Kienholz can do with his arms and legs but how the playbook has evolved to utilize it.
As previously mentioned, injuries are prevalent in football. But not only did they have an impact before spring started for Louisville, it had an impact during as well.
At wide receiver, Kris Hughes and Montavin Quisenberry suffered undisclosed lower body injuries during practice, and Brohm announced that both will likely be out for the 2026 season. That’s on top of Richardson being out until the summer due to foot surgery.
Lawayne McCoy and TreyShun Hurry have had the best springs so far at receiver, and they are likely to be penciled in as starters this fall alongside Richardson. But who takes a step forward to earn a rotational spot?
A couple candidates to monitor are Drake transfer Jackson Voth and T.J. McWilliams, both of whom have looked solid this spring. There’s also EKU transfer Jakob Dixon, plus early enrollee true freshmen Payton Cook, Rhys Dorsey, Gavin Waddell and D.J. Williams.
Then over at offensive line, Brohm also announced that Delaware transfer Anwar O’Neal - who had been the starting left tackle throughout spring - suffered an injury and will miss an extended amount of time. Not to mention that Cason Henry and Cameron Gorin have split reps at right tackle as Henry recovers from his own injury last season.
When the spring game starts, who will slide in at left tackle? Gorin could, but then who would start at right? Georgia Southern transfer Johnnie Brown has experience at that spot, so he could slide over from his starting right guard spot. It will be interesting to see what the first five Louisville rolls out with.
When it comes to the defensive line, there are some slight questions regarding the middle of the line. Tommy Ziesmer has missed most of spring due to injury, leaving Joshua Donald and Demeco Kennedy as the only healthy scholarship defensive tackles with decent college - although Daylen Russell does have a very high ceiling.
But on the edges? Louisville has one of the best collections of defensive ends in the entire ACC.
It all starts with Clev Lubin, who is one of the best pass rushers in all of college football. He's coming off of a phenomenal season, one where he collected 61 total tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and five pass breakups.
Opposite of him this spring has been A.J. Green, who has NFL-level upside and looks to be primed for another big time step forward after showing out this spring. Not to mention that the Cardinals brought in North Carolina's Tyler Thompson, who was one of the most underrated defenders in the ACC, as well as Kentucky's Jerod Smith II, another standout lineman who has the versatility to play both inside and out.
Obviously, these edge rushers are not going to get free reign on the quarterbacks in a spring game. But it will be great to see the depth on the edges come to fruition this Friday.
"We got a bunch of guys who can rush the passer, in my opinion," defensive line coach Mark Ivey said during spring ball. "It's very, very important because there's no doubt if you can get off the field on third down then you eliminate a lot of things that are getting ready to happen after that first down. If we can get to the quarterback strike the quarterback often and violently then we can change the outcome of the game."
Entering last season, the secondary was regarded by many as the weakest part of the roster. By season’s end, it actually wound up being one of the strongest on the roster, as Louisville allowed just 188.8 passing yards per games—which was the best mark in the ACC and 24th in the FBS.
Like every other position group, the secondary did see a good amount of players move on—either due to the portal or graduation. This includes Jabari Mack and Rodney Johnson—two of the top three corners on the team—and their top three safeties in JoJo Evans, D’Angelo Hutchinson and Corey Gordon Jr.
However, the secondary was infused with a good amount of fresh talent this offseason.
Kentucky’s D.J. Waller, Elon’s Brycen Scott and Texas’ Santana Wilson were all added to the cornerback room, and each player has had standout moments. Oh, and not to mention that their CB1 in Tayon Holloway is running it back. At safety, Iowa’s Koen Entringer has looked like one of Louisville’s top defensive assets so far this spring, with Tennessee’s Kaleb Beasley, Ole Miss’ T.J. Banks and true freshman Jordan Vann looking solid at times. So has returner Blake Ruffin, who has been taking reps at STAR with Antionio Watts still sidelined.
It will be hard to replicate what Louisville did last season in the secondary given the roster changeover. But it’s not impossible, and seeing how they perform in the spring game will be a great early indicator.
"We did an unbelievable job this spring of going through this defense breaking it down like we did last year going hood car look all miscues change spark plugs something we have done," co-defensive coordinator cornerbacks coach Steve Ellis said."We're definitely excited about this thing moving forward."