Notes and Observations from Louisville's 2025 Spring Game

Spring ball is now in the books for the Louisville football program.

On Friday evening, the Cardinals gathered at L&N Stadium and held their third spring game under head coach Jeff Brohm, which was fully open to the public and fans. The program had the offense go against the defense for two halves like a normal games, with the exception of a running clock used in the second half. The offense came out on top with a 32-24 victory over the defense.

Considering a handful players were out due to injuries, and a lot of the first team or other impact players were held out during the second half, there is bound to be an overreaction or two. But that being said, below is our notebook of the more notable happenings that transpired during the evening at L&N Stadium:

• As far as who was getting the majority of the reps with the first team, it was mostly what was expected, although there were a couple surprises. Obviously, Miller Moss was the starting quarterback, but it was Brady Allen who was QB2 and not Deuce Adams (more on both in a bit). From left to right on the offensive line, because of a couple injuries, it was: Mahamane Moussa, Lance Robinson, Pete Nygra, Naeer Jackson and Rasheed Miller. Adonijah Green and Wesley Bailey were the starting edges, while Rene Konga and Jordan Guerad were on the interior with the ones. T.J Quinn and Kalib Perry were the inside linebacker duo, while Antonio Watts was the starting STAR. In the secondary, the biggest surprise was that Rae'mon Mosby started with Rodney Johnson Jr. at corner. Then at safety, D'Angelo Hutchinson earned a starting spot next to JoJo Evans.
• While Louisville wasn't as banged up as they were for the last spring game, there were still a few players who didn't participate. Mainly, it was Austin Collins, Trevonte Sylvester and Stanquan Clark, but all three are expected to be full-gos for fall. Most importantly Brohm noted after the game that the team was able to get through the spring game with mostly just nicks and bruises.
• While the offense is who wound up winning the day, the defense is who looked the best in the first half, which is when the majority of the ones and twos played. In the first seven drives of the game, the defense had four stops, held the offense to a pair of field goals, and snagged an interception. Of the 15 full drives on the night, the defense allowed the offense to get points on seven of them, and just three were touchdowns. All night long, that side of the line of scrimmage did a fantastic job of swarming to the football, and did a solid job in coverage all things considered.
• Having said that, I'll start with what I saw from the offense first since they won. Quarterback Miller Moss, for the most part, had a good day at the office. Minus the pick to Johnson, he made good decisions and took care of the ball, kept the offense on schedule, and made several throws in tight windows. That being said, he did have a few overthrows on the day. Not to mention that, while he does have plus arm strength, it's most certainly not the same as what Tyler Shough had. He ended the night going 18-of-26 for 208 yards plus a touchdown and the pick.
• Heading into spring, it seemed like Deuce Adams was the runaway favorite to be the backup quarterback. But after being lackluster in the first half of spring ball (plus last fall and the spring before that), Brady Allen has absolutely turned it on since. He made a handful of "wow" throws that showcased his potential from an arm strength and confidence standpoint, and wound up going 10-of-14 for 124 yards. While Adams wasn't as crisp, going 8-of-15 for 55 yards, he's by far the most mobile quarterback on the roster, and put that on display several times with his escapability.
• Now for the weapons in the passing game. While Chris Bell is still one of the best receivers in the ACC, this was... not his night. While he did finish with five catches, it went for just 39 yards, and he had a couple drops. Not to mention that he had a fumble on a trick play (which was wipes anyways thanks to a defensive penalty, but still). However, there was a lot to like elsewhere. Caullin Lacy continues to show that he can be a threat both underneath and down field, and had a couple really tough catches. Additionally, unless they shop for another receiver in the portal, Antonio Meeks seems to be WR3. His concentration and route running has taken a massive step forward since he first stepped on campus, and it was evident on his 35-yard catch. Then in the tight end room, while it's likely that Nate Kurisky is the starter, Jaleel Skinner showed that he has made a lot of progress in terms of consistency, and even hauled in a touchdown.
• As far as other pass catchers go, JoJo Stone had a couple chain-moving throws, Jaedon King captalized on both his targets, while T.J. McWilliams had just three catches on nine targets. Louisville's running backs seemed to do well catching passes out of the backfield, too.
• Speaking of running the ball, yards were hard to come by given how much the defense was swarming in the front seven. Though Duke Watson did have a 60-yard touchdown where he beat a couple angles, Jamarice Wilder was able to run for 64 yards and 12 carries, and Keyjuan Brown had a couple bruising runs. Isaac Brown was largely kept on ice, as he should be. The low rushing numbers might also have to do with the fact that there was a major drop off in execution from the first team offensive line to the second team. Some of this was because of injuries having to give guys bigger roles, but it's something to take note of.
• Now onto the defensive side of the ball. As previously mentioned, the front seven largely set the tone for the night, so as you can imagine, multiple defensive lineman and linebackers made plays. Adonijah Green had multiple sacks, while C.J. May, Darius Thomas and Micah Carter also logged sacks. Selah Brown logged an early TFL, while Thomas did too and also nealry had a pick. Antonio Watts nearly snagged an interception as well, while T.J. Quinn, Kalib Perry and T.J Caper were regularly plugging holes in the A and B gaps against the run.
• Something that was a little bit of a surprise to me was that the secondary didn't look as bad as I thought they would. In fact, they actually performed well for large pockets of the night. Johnson has been one of the best DB's in spring ball, and that showed in the spring game. Corey Gordon came up from his safety sppt to make a fourth down tackle in the flats. Johnson logged a sack on a corner blitz. Antonio Harris and Jabari Mack both logged pass break ups.
• Now for a brief special teams update. Nick Keller and Cooper Ranvier both hit two field goals, but I'd probably give the edge to Ranvier. Not only did he hit a 52-yard field goal, but Keller also missed an extra point attempt. As far as the punting unit went, it was about average, though Xavier Porter did get his hand in and block one.

More Cardinals Stories

You can follow Louisville Cardinals On SI for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter/X - @LouisvilleOnSI
Instagram - @louisvilleonsi

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter/X and @mattmcgavic.bsky.social on Bluesky