Louisville football concluded its spring season with the offense beating the defense, 45-37, on Friday night. The Cardinals’ defense led for much of the second half before the offense had three touchdowns in the final minutes to earn the win. Still, both sides of the ball provided fans with optimism for things to come heading into Year 2 under coach Jeff Brohm.
Here are four takeaways from the Cardinals’ Red-White scrimmage:
About Tyler Shough
From the moment the spring game began, quarterback Tyler Shough was ready. He opened the scrimmage with an 80-yard touchdown pass to Chris Bell. The two later connected on a 45-yard touchdown to put the offense up, 21-11. Though most of Bell’s yardage on the 80-yard TD came after the catch, Shough was adept at making deep and shorter passes. His throwing motions also vary, with the Texas Tech transfer able to throw the football sideways through smaller windows and also chucking the ball down the field.
Defensive playmakers
Louisville may not have the depth it wants on the defensive line, but it isn’t short of playmakers. Defensive lineman Maurice Davis and linebacker Trent Carter are only freshmen but made plays during the spring game, notching a fourth-down stop and pass breakup, respectively. But they weren’t the only ones. Redshirt senior cornerback Quincy Riley continued to deliver and picked off one of Shough’s passes near the end of the first half to give the defense a 23-21 lead. Sophomore linebacker Stanquan Clark joined in by picking off one of backup quarterback Pierce Clarkson’s passes after redshirt freshman defensive back Destin Cheirs sacked the signal caller during the second half.
Offensive protection
Shough had a clean pocket for many snaps thanks to the Cardinals’ offensive line. The experienced first-team unit added experienced players from the transfer portal including Jonathan Mendoza and Pete Nygra. Besides those two and others, the unit can rely on returning players including Michael Gonzalez and Austin Collins to hold off defensive linemen Ashton Gillotte, Dez Tell and Ramon Puryear. Shough and Clarkson were sacked only twice in the first half.
Collins still is filling in for Renato Brown, who is recovering from a season-ending knee injury but is expected back ahead of the regular season.
Running back competition continues
While some starting positions were cemented during the spring game, there’s no clear-cut front-runner for starting running back. Though Maurice Turner opened the game as the starter with Shough, Keyjuan Brown and Don Chaney were featured in the backfield with Shough later in the first half.
Louisville is down one running back after Peny Boone entered the transfer portal. The Toledo transfer had taken many of the first-team reps during spring practices, though Turner also saw some time with the first team.
Reach Louisville football, women’s basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at [email protected] and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
2024-04-20 01:14:43
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