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Louisville Football head coach Jeff Brohm looks over his teams during open practice. March 18, 2026 | Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Louisville football started spring practice this week after a few months following a 9-win season under Jeff Brohm. The Cards are coming off another portal window, where they were major buyers in an effort to replace some of their top players. The staff was also able to hold on to some of the top players on the roster who had an opportunity to hit the portal themselves. Isaac Brown and Stanquan Clark head up their respective sides of the field and both return as the leaders of a team that will enter the season with lofty expectations.
Let’s dive into some notes and thoughts on each position group.
QUARTERBACK
Louisville has a new quarterback for the fourth straight year, and the early returns are promising. Lincoln Kienholz transferred in from Ohio State after being their backup last season. Linc (I’m going with it. Deal with it.) looks the part early on as a passer and as a runner when plays break down. Brohm has spoken highly about Linc’s athleticism, and it showed up very early. On passing plays when there is no receiver open, he has tucked the ball to run, and he is extremely quick in the open field. His open field speed is still a bit of a mystery, but in those short bursts when he runs, it’s obvious he has good speed.
As a passer, the ball jumps out of his hand. His accuracy on short and intermediate throws has been excellent, while the pace on the ball has really stood out. It’s early, but his traits shade much more towards Tyler Shough than Miller Moss. We’ll all have to wait to see how he looks in pads and in a live spring game, but the early impression has been good. The one caveat has been his throws down the field. Outside of his very first throw on a deep crossing route, I have not seen Linc hit a receiver on a throw down the field for a completion.
The backup quarterbacks have played about as expected early on. Davin Wydner has had some struggles with his accuracy, but he commanded the offense well and showed his experience with some nice throws over the middle of the field. Briggs Cherry has looked very good for a freshman early on. His highs have been high, and his lows have been pretty low. However, he has shown real promise as a passer with a couple of nice throws down the seam, as well as showing off the ability to make quick decisions. There’s a lot to like about the quarterback group.
RUNNING BACKS
The best group on the team is the running backs, and it’s not really close. Isaac Brown is fully healthy, and he’s back to making lightning-quick cuts before running away from everyone. For the second straight year, Keyjuan Brown looks faster and leaner than he did last year. Keyjuan has a chance to have a huge year before heading to the draft, and it seems like he knows it.
The depth is the exciting part about this group. Braxton Jennings spent the last few months working on his body, with very noticeable evidence of his improvement. He was a very undersized player at this point last year, but he looks like a legit P4 back now through his legs and upper body. He obviously wants to take advantage of the opportunity he seized in the UK game.
Marquis Davis is going to be an excellent addition to the offense. He’s a compact back with good size and speed. I’ve been impressed with his ability to make cuts in tight spaces. While Duke Watson showed great things as a freshman two years ago, Davis has more of a complete skillset as a third option this season. Check out the catch he makes below in the background of the clip of Ja’Hyde Brown. Worth noting that Brown backed off of his pledge to IU recently and immediately began to trend on the recruiting sites to flip to the Cards.
RECEIVERS
The Cards have a lot of turnover at receiver, but the overall group could be deeper this season. Tre Richardson is out after having surgery on his ankle after the season ended. He has posted on social media that it was a minor injury that he played through last season. He has been present at practice, and outside of a small limp, nothing seems to be too serious about his ailment from what I’ve seen.
Lawayne McCoy is likely the next man up when it comes to targets this year, and you won’t find a bigger fan of his potential than me. McCoy flashed everything you want to see from a young receiver. His route running and ability to separate really stood out to me, and he has already had some nice moments in practice to get open as an outside receiver. He had a rough concentration drop early on in 7-on-7 today, but he was able to follow it up later on with the best catch of the day on a comeback route where he toe-tapped on the sideline.
I think we will see some of the young guys on the field this year to provide depth. Treyshun Hurry and Kris Hughes are back in the fold after flirting with the portal, but there isn’t much depth beyond those two guys. UofL will need DJ Williams, Gavin Waddell, or Payton Cook to step into a role as a depth piece, from what I’ve seen in a very small sample size.
TIGHT ENDS
One of the best additions to the roster this spring hasn’t been able to show what he can do yet. Brody Foley has been working out on the side of the field with a trainer as he appears to be working back from an injury. He’s another player who doesn’t seem to have a major injury, but is still missing practice while working back from something that appears to be minor. Hopefully, we get to see him before the spring period is over.
Justyn Reid has been the guy to stand out through two practices so far. Reid is a very big guy at 6-5/260, and I actually mistook him for an offensive lineman during a play at one point. However, Reid has impressed with his speed down the field. He moves very well for such a big guy, and he consistently made catches after separating from the defense.
The young guy who has stood out more than anyone else in any position group so far has been Julius Miles. The freshman tight end looks like he could have been blown away by the heavy winds the other day, but this kid has been open non-stop in every team segment. He was a consistent target on short throws to the flat, but he also made a nice play on the best throw of the day from Wydnar on a seam route about 25 yards down the field. If he can add some bulk this summer, he could be an option to see the field if needed.
It’s worth noting that Jaleel Skinner didn’t do too much to stand out, but he did have a couple of drops.
OFFENSIVE LINE
There is next to nothing to learn from line play in shorts and no pads, but I did make note of the first group of offensive linemen. They are listed below from left tackle to right tackle.
Anwar O’neal (Delaware)
Eryx Daughtery (Boston College)
Lance Robinson (Returner)
Johnnie Brown (Georgia Southern)
Cameron Gorin (Returner)
Gorin seems to be splitting reps with Cason Henry, who was a starter at South Carolina two years ago. Evan Wibberly has also been in for first team reps at center with Robinson sliding to right guard. It will take some time to land on a starting group, but the staff did well to add experienced depth to the group.
DEFENSIVE LINE
The defensive line has a lot of newcomers as well, but it was very nice to see Clev Lubin and AJ Green on the field together as bookends. Tyler Thompson appears to be the next man up behind Lubin at the “Leo” spot, and he looks great, physically. Jerod Smith took reps behind Green. That’s a very nice group of edge players for the defense.
Demeco Kennedy and Daylen Russell took the first team reps on the inside on both days. Russel has lined up at the nose tackle spot with Kennedy replacing Jordan Geruad at the other tackle spot. This is a position that worries me a lot, but I’m hopeful that we will learn some things about them once they throw on pads.
LINEBACKERS
Stanquan Clark and TJ Capers are back for another year, and they both have picked off a pass in team segments over the first two days. While the running backs are the best group, the linebackers are just as experienced, while also boasting two of the more talented players on the roster.
This will be the first year that the staff didn’t bring in portal depth behind the starters. They will rely on Trent Carter, Cameron White, Caleb Matelau, and Jacob Smith to battle it out for the backup spots. Carter is the only player with more than a year in the system. He and Smith are the only guys with more than a year in college at all. It’s something I’ve been asking for, so it’ll be good to track how these guys play as they get snaps in the fall.
Blake Ruffin has moved down to the “Star” position this spring. Antonio Watts is out after his injury late in the season, and he won’t return until the fall. Ben Perry is back in the fold, but he is behind Ruffin at this point. The added depth will be an underrated factor this season as Watts rarely left the field last year.
CORNERBACKS
Tayon Holloway is the leader in the clubhouse for “guy who looks to have taken a huge step forward”. He has wiped out any and every throw to his side of the field while playing with the type of swagger and confidence that you want to see from your top corner.
The other corner spot has been manned by both Brycen Scott on day one and DJ Waller on day two. I don’t believe Waller practiced on the first day, but he was the first man up when they shifted to the team segment today. Scott had an interception on day one, so it will be something to watch to see if he is the third corner in the group.
The early showing from this group makes me feel pretty good about depth. Antonio Harris had a nice PBU today, while Santana Wilson has been all over the place in coverage. New addition, Myles Norwood, could be the fourth option after a nice showing so far. He has more game experience than the younger guys, which could lead Steve Ellis to lean on him.
Jaydin Broadnax looks like a guy who has been here for a while because of his size. He is every bit of 6-3, and he is filled out in his upper body, which I didn’t expect. He and Kris Brunson have the size you want for bigger corners, and they haven’t shown the nerves you expect from guys who should be preparing for prom. This is another group where the youth has looked good early on.
SAFETIES
We will have a completely new group this year on the depth chart at safety. Koen Entringer transferred in from Iowa to pair with Kaleb Beasley from Tennessee to man the starting spots. TJ Banks and Micah Rice ran with the second group, and I didn’t notice a big dropoff in the play. I think this could be the deepest group we’ve seen recently. Rice also lined up closer to the line on some plays, which makes me think they will look to play with three safeties in some packages.
The concern about the safety group is that there are no other players on the roster behind this group of four. If there is an injury, someone is going to log a lot of snaps.
I’ll be back with more updates as spring practice rolls on, as long as I can make it out to watch.
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