Louisville Football 2025 Preview
- Lewis Huston
- Aug 15
- 7 min read
Jeff Brohm enters his third season at his alma mater with yet another transfer portal QB. That hasn’t been an issue so far as Louisville has racked up 19 wins the last two years and re-entered the national picture. In 2023 they capitalized on a weak schedule to reach the ACC title game. Last year’s team was probably better but had 3 one-score losses to Notre Dame (CFP), SMU (CFP) and Miami (top 10). A shocking loss to Stanford as 3 TD favorites put a black eye on an otherwise solid season. The Cardinals have heavy losses on the defensive line and in the secondary, but return a lot of talent elsewhere and with Miller Moss at QB look to be one of the top teams in the league once again.
Offense
It doesn’t seem to matter who Brohm has under center, that guy should be expected to lead a successful offense. His last three QBs (Tyler Shough, Jack Plummer, and Aidan O’Connell) all had career years and were on NFL rosters as rookies. Brohm and Co. became pretty familiar with Miller Moss during his coming out party in the 2023 Holiday Bowl when he torched them for 372 yards and 6 TDs. Between that and a similar stellar performance in the season opener last year vs LSU, Moss felt destined for stardom at USC before turnovers and inconsistency ultimately led to his benching after nine starts. USC hasn’t exactly been the most stable program under Lincoln Riley and they may have pulled the plug prematurely, but I think this is a great move for Moss. He’s a perfect fit for Brohm’s offense with his ability to read defenses, make quick decisions and be accurate. This addition has flown way under the radar both nationally and within the ACC.
Although Moss isn’t a huge threat vertically as a passer, this Louisville run game could open up some layup opportunities in the play action game. Isaac Brown is back after the best freshman season by a RB in Louisville history (1,168 yds, 7.2 ypc, 11 TDs) in which he was named ACC ROY and a Freshman All-American. He should only get better and will be on a short list for the Doak Walker award. It’s not just him though as the second and third leading rushers return as well; Duke Watson (602 yards, 7 TD) led FBS in ypc at 8.7 while another true sophomore Keyjuan Brown (243 yards, 5.2 ypc and 3 TD) tested the portal before withdrawing. This trio is as good as any group in the country.
Their leading receiver is gone as is their top TE, but senior Chris Bell is back off his best season with 43 rec, 737 yds (17.1) and 4 TDs. A big play threat who has been the number 2 for a couple seasons, can he step into the lead role? Caullin Lacy came in last year with high expectations after starring at South Alabama, but had an odd year missing the first 4 games with an injury, then playing the next 4 before opting to redshirt the remainder of the season. He maintained the narrative that he wanted to return in ’25, and to many people’s surprise actually followed through with signing to return before playing in the bowl game. In 5 games the electric playmaker had 18 rec, 196 yards and returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
NC State transfer Dacari Collins started 15 games in two years after playing his first two at Clemson. Two more transfers Treyshun Hurry (28 rec, 478 yds at SJSU) and Bobby Golden (31 rec, 446 yds at Akron) are experienced players that can provide some pop as well. Nate Kurisky (12 rec, 112 yds, 3 TD), former top 150 recruit Jaleel Skinner and another SJSU transfer Jacob Stewart forms a solid group at TE.
There are several holes to fill on what was a really solid offensive line, but starting C Pete Nygra is back for his 4th year as a starter in college. Rasheed Miller appeared extensively in 8 games across the line with a start at RG after 2nd Tm All-Sun Belt honors as a RT in ’23. Makylan Pounders (Mississippi State) and Mahamane Moussa (Purdue) were P4 starters a year ago that will need to improve on poor PFF grades this year. Three more starters at the G5 level transfer to Louisville and figure to factor in. In total there are 203 career starts on the offensive line so as long as the new guys can gel, this can once again be a good unit.
Defense
Seven starters are gone from a defense that didn’t always perform up to its talent level and will have its work cut out to improve. DTs Jordan Guerard and Rene Konga each started a handful of games and will solidify the middle. Coastal Carolina star DE Clev Lubin (44 tkl, 9.5 sk, 2.5 TFL) is an exciting addition that should help to ease the blow of losing Ashton Gillotte to the NFL. The other starting end position looks to be Wesley Bailey after playing four seasons at Rutgers, although he played just four games in ’24 before redshirting. Denzel Lowry (ODU) and Jerry Lawson (Abilene Christian) were both super productive multi-year starters at their previous stops. Adonijah Green appeared in all 13 games a year ago and will need to take a jump. Several other young guys are back to push for playing time as well.
The middle of the defense will be relied on heavily with all 3 starters returning at LB. Top two tacklers TJ Quinn (82 tkl) and Stanquan Clark (76 tkl, 7 TFL) are really good with Clark having star potential in his junior season. Antonio Watts (51 tkl, 6.5 TFL) rounds out the starting group. Kalib Perry comes in with 3 years of experience at Tennessee and the staff was able to convince former prized recruit TJ Capers to take his name out of the portal. Talent and experience are plentiful here.
All four starters from the secondary are gone with S De’Angelo Hutchinson (52 tkl) the only returning contributor. He’ll be joined in the back by 1st Tm All-CUSA safety JoJo Evans who had a massive year with 93 tkl and 9 PBU. Rodney Johnson is an old, big bodied corner from FCS Southern that had a 78.0 coverage grade. Justin Agu started 10 games a year ago at Louisiana while Jabari Mack allowed just a 47.4 cmp% and 62.0 passer rating at Jacksonville State. S Corey Gordon had two solid seasons at Baylor but outside of that there’s a ton of unknown. Raemon Mosby did get burn in 6 games as a true freshman and could emerge in the CB rotation. Expecting more of a drop off from the secondary than the D-line in terms of losses vs replacements.
Special Teams
This was one of the better ST units in the country after a not-so-great performance in ’23. They’ll have to replace their kicker and lose half of their punting tandem, with the lesser of the two returning. RS Fr Cooper Ranvier will likely get the first shot at placekicker after a solid showing in spring ball. Caullin Lacy handled punt return duties when active and there’s no reason to think he won’t do the same this year, hopefully just for a longer period of time. Bobby Golden has experience returning both punts and kickoffs at Akron so my money is on him to be the primary kick returner. An underrated aspect of special teams, Louisville ranked 2nd nationally with just 17.7 yards per kickoff return allowed.
Schedule
Aside from the actual opponents they face, there a couple things worth noting with this schedule. They’ll play 8 home games, just the second time that’s happened in school history. On a negative note though, while the travel is limited over the course of the season, both bye weeks come in the first half forcing them to finish with seven consecutive games. In that stretch are road games at Miami, Virginia Tech and SMU with Clemson and SEC rival Kentucky at home in November. A 5-0 start against the softer part of their schedule is crucial considering the grueling stretch to finish.
Overall Outlook
In Jeff Brohm’s two seasons this has been a program that has spent a lot of time in the national polls and competed at the top of the ACC. This year’s roster certainly has the chance to continue living up to such a standard. Miller Moss should thrive in this offense backed by one of the best backfields in the country. The offense may need to carry them in some games though with a defense that lost nearly every starter outside of linebacker. The good news is that all those new pieces up front and in the secondary essentially have three tune-ups and a bye before traveling to Pitt for their first test. If they can iron things out early and have lower-level transfers get acclimated, the Cardinals could be playing with confidence in late October/November. The secondary is by far my biggest concern with a lack of depth, but there really aren’t many passing offenses on the schedule that scare you outside of the two games they’ll already be underdogs in. If they can stay healthy and be adequate there, this is a team that once again will find themselves in the conference race.
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