My perception of it being an opener will probably be checkered by the debacle in Syracuse last year and the season opening burp against Miami at home back in COVID year; I have to get over my skepticism because it's UC's problem now and they just don't know it.
1. My guess is Puryear, Dawson and Tell are primaries at DT with some stints of Tawfiq Thomas in more run specific downs. Anything more than that would be a pleasant surprise. Preseason last year they seemed confident they had really good numbers on the interior, and that turned out to be accurate so much so we lost a big to Florida that was almost a luxury item. Will Lole' play a role; we were optimistic to see what he had for us going into Syracuse only to get the hopes dashed with an injury and he's played little if any football in over two years.
2. I watched some stints of the Big 10 Title game last night and their RB Mackabee was a lot more active in the passing game than anyone I recall in a prior Louisville offense outside of the screen game. Jordan and Turner seem to fit into that. Was that attack specifically to augment a running game not expected to get much against a stingy Michigan run defense or a benchmark for a Brohm attack?
...as I said after the one practice I attended, work and timing in the screen game with the RBs was a huge focus; give Jordan and Turner a crack and big things will happen and if you get the timing right with the space between the linemen downfield and your RBs tackling and pursuit angles in first games can be pretty dicey.
3. Ben Perry was very good for us last year at the sort of Rover LB slot; the biggest question defensively is just what we have at LB. It took a while to get Sonogo and Montgomery going last year and we had the rough spots against FSU and BC (especially with Montgomery who looked on the verge of getting supplanted). TJ Quinn is the talk of camp but it sounds like a casting call at the other LB slot. Big chunks on the ground invariably are the byproduct of bad gap attacks or reads by a linebacker early in the season; that's why you here alot of talk after the first game of "getting our splits right". The D line is pretty much a veteran group, the LBs though light in experience by comparison.
4. A whole bunch of people's first weeks are ruined by special teams; we lost our incumbents and I'm never comfortable with that.
I'm also interested to see if Gillotte lives up to his preseason billing and if Plummer is an offensive manager or a weapon; I think he has good parts at WR and was impressed with Thrash. Brohm's attack has always been based on getting the ball into his best receiver's hands all over the field...does Thrash fill that role or will it be allocated across the entirety of the WR corps.
1. My guess is Puryear, Dawson and Tell are primaries at DT with some stints of Tawfiq Thomas in more run specific downs. Anything more than that would be a pleasant surprise. Preseason last year they seemed confident they had really good numbers on the interior, and that turned out to be accurate so much so we lost a big to Florida that was almost a luxury item. Will Lole' play a role; we were optimistic to see what he had for us going into Syracuse only to get the hopes dashed with an injury and he's played little if any football in over two years.
2. I watched some stints of the Big 10 Title game last night and their RB Mackabee was a lot more active in the passing game than anyone I recall in a prior Louisville offense outside of the screen game. Jordan and Turner seem to fit into that. Was that attack specifically to augment a running game not expected to get much against a stingy Michigan run defense or a benchmark for a Brohm attack?
...as I said after the one practice I attended, work and timing in the screen game with the RBs was a huge focus; give Jordan and Turner a crack and big things will happen and if you get the timing right with the space between the linemen downfield and your RBs tackling and pursuit angles in first games can be pretty dicey.
3. Ben Perry was very good for us last year at the sort of Rover LB slot; the biggest question defensively is just what we have at LB. It took a while to get Sonogo and Montgomery going last year and we had the rough spots against FSU and BC (especially with Montgomery who looked on the verge of getting supplanted). TJ Quinn is the talk of camp but it sounds like a casting call at the other LB slot. Big chunks on the ground invariably are the byproduct of bad gap attacks or reads by a linebacker early in the season; that's why you here alot of talk after the first game of "getting our splits right". The D line is pretty much a veteran group, the LBs though light in experience by comparison.
4. A whole bunch of people's first weeks are ruined by special teams; we lost our incumbents and I'm never comfortable with that.
I'm also interested to see if Gillotte lives up to his preseason billing and if Plummer is an offensive manager or a weapon; I think he has good parts at WR and was impressed with Thrash. Brohm's attack has always been based on getting the ball into his best receiver's hands all over the field...does Thrash fill that role or will it be allocated across the entirety of the WR corps.
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