Notes and Observations from Louisville's First Spring Practice of 2025

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Spring ball is officially here.

On Tuesday, the Louisville football program gathered at the Trager Center, and conducted their first of 15 sessions for their 2025 spring practice.

The session open to fans and the media, and Louisville Cardinals On SI was there for it all to watch the first day of the Cardinals' over month-long period of spring ball.

Related: Louisville HC Jeff Brohm Talks Start of Spring Practice

Considering it was the very first day of practice, there is bound to be an overreaction or two, especially since players were just in soft shell helmets and shoulder pads. That being said, below is our notebook of the more notable happenings that transpired during the first day of camp:

• When it comes to who was running with the first team, it was mostly what I expected, but with a few curveballs thrown in the mix.
• At quarterback, USC transfer Miller Moss, as expected, got the majority of the reps with the ones. Behind him, it started out as Brady Allen, Deuce Adams and then Mason Mims, but Allen and Adams switched places between the second and third string fairly regularly.
• Over at running back, it's exactly what it was to end the 2024 season: Isaac Brown (who is now wearing No. 1), Duke Watson and then Keyjuan Brown. True freshman Jamarice Wilder also got some work in as well.
• At wide receiver, Chris Bell and Caullin Lacy were of course running with the ones all afternoon. As for the the third starting wideout, it was Antonio Meeks to start, but former walk-on Kris Hughes and Akron transfer Bobby Golden mixed in with the ones plenty. JoJo Stone seemed to mainly stick with the twos.
• Moving to tight end, Nate Kurisky mainly ran with the ones, while Jaleel Skinner was mainly with the twos, although he did get some first team run. Surprisingly, walk-on freshman Hamilton Atkins got a lot of run during this practice.
• From left to right, this was, for most of the afternoon, Louisville's first team offensive line: Trevonte Sylvester, Lance Robinson, Pete Nygra, FIU transfer Naeer Jackson and Rasheed Miller. Austin Collins will probably wind up as the starting right guard, but he spent today on the sideline. I assume he's injured, but he was walking around, so it's likely not too serious.
• Now moving to the other side of the line of scrimmage. Rutgers transfer Wesley Bailey and (a noticeably more muscular) Adonijah Green were manning the edge, while Jordan Guerad and ODU transfer Denzel Lowry started on the interior. I was a little surprised to see Coastal Carolina transfer Clev Lubin and Rene Konga running with the twos.
• With the linebacking corps, it was T.J. Quinn and T.J. Capers in the middle, with Antonio Watts at STAR - although Darius Thomas did mix in with the ones a couple times here. I was told that Stanquan Clark is rehabbing what was only described to me as a "short-term injury". Didn't get any more information than that, but I don't get the feeling that it's something to worry about.
• Finally, onto the secondary. The first team corners (primarily) were Southern transfer Rodney Johnson Jr. and Rae'mon Mosby, with Jax State transfer Jabari Mack and Louisiana transfer Justin Agu behind them. Antonio Harris and Jaden Minkins also got a decent amount of reps with the twos and threes. At safety, FIU transfer JoJo Evans and D'Angelo Hutchinson were the main first-teamers, with Baylor transfer Corey Gordon Jr. and Daeh McCullough behind them.
• During the position drills, I spent most of my time watching the quarterbacks and receivers, and some of the running backs (I'll shift focus to other position groups in later practices). When it came to his foot speed and overall mobility in a confined space, Moss was the best in this department by a landslide. As far as his actual ability to throw the ball, while it's not what Tyler Shough's arm strength is, he's got some noticeable zip on the ball, and is extremely accurate when throwing across his body (like Shough was).
• With the backup quarterbacks, it's already becoming increasingly clear that Adams will be the backup quarterback. He has the best arm strength, touch, and pocket presence out of all of the backups, not to mention he looks like he's tuned his physique some (plus he's grown a full beard and is starting to grow his hair out some). I hate to continue to criticize him, but Brady Allen did not look comfortable at all throwing the ball today. While Mims certainly had freshman moments today with it being his first college practice, even now, I think I'd take him over Allen.
• When it came to watching the wide receivers run their position drills, nothing was too surprising here. Lacy continues to have the best first step of the group, and he has a tremendous ability to change direction overall. I also noticed that Stone, Meeks and Hughes do look like they have taken some steps forward in terms of their agility, which is great to see. During the routes on air portion, Bell and Lacy stood out as expected, but Golden caught my eye with some very crisp cuts.
• During the first 7-on-7 period, there were a handful of plays made by both sides of the line of scrimmage. Lacy had a great catch over Mosby, Minnesota transfer wideout T.J. McWilliams had a couple difficult sideline catches, Stone got wide open on a seam route and Evans made a great break to break up a pass. This is also when I started to pick up that this first practice was very heavy on the newcomers and younger guys. For instance, Atkins made a couple plays during this period, and walk-on defensive back Eli Limouris caught a difficult interception.
• After this was a very brief 11-on-11 period. Not much to note here, other than Moss put on display his ability to navigate the pocket, and that Mims is still a freshman.
• Then practice shifted back to a 7-on-7 setting, and the offense seemed like they won this period overall. Brown had a nice catch on a wheel route, Mims rebounded and made some good throws (while Allen continued to struggle), Stone continued to make progress as a route runner, Adams had a fantastic frozen rope to Kurisky in what was probably the best throw of the day, although Moss made the most consistent throws here. There were a couple good defensive plays here, such as pass breakups by Watts, linebacker Kalib Perry (who mainly ran with the ones but did get some reps with the twos), and safety Micah Rice.
• During the water break is when Louisville got a lot of special teams work in. Cooper Ranvier is the early leader to be the field goal kicker, as he was the most consistent. Nick Keller shanked a couple short ones badly to start out, but then rebounded by hitting a couple kicks from around midfield. Lacy was the primary punt returner during this time, although Meeks got a couple reps in too.
• Finally, Louisville shifted into their last 11-on-11 period - but with a twist. The only player wearing a helmet was the quarterback. It's meant to get players used to sticking to their technique, and not leading with their head to make plays or sticking their hands in a players' face. Of course, this period wasn't at nearly the speed that a regular 11-on-11 would be, so take this with a bit of a grain of salt.
• Here, the offensive side had another good showing. Moss delivered ball that had perfect touch on it to Meeks, McWilliams had another nice catch from Allen, and Adams had a strike to Hughes. I also noticed that fourth-string running back Jamarice Wilder runs a little bit like Isiah Pacheco (like he's angry at the ground). Defensively, the main takeaway was noticing that Antonio Harris was starting to get more reps, and that Hutchinson made a great interception over Bell.
• Practice ended with a few 11-on-11 plays with helmets on. During this time, Lawson had a great PBU at the line of scrimmage, and Mims dropped a snap but was still able to recover and make a good throw.
• One final note: Over the final 10-15 minutes of practice, defensive coordinator Ron English was on the opposite field with Capers, Hutchinson and Gordon. I have no idea what they did to elicit such a punishment, but he made them do 40-yard rolls down the field, then go back down the other way doing up-downs. And he made them do it at least 2-3 times.

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