By Charles Westmoreland And Ashley Trosper
It’s almost tailgating time in Louisville. As the Cardinal football team prepares for the transition into the Big East, players will also be making transitions into new roles. With a total of 12 starters returning to the field, Cardinal fans will see a slew of new jerseys on the field this season.
OFFENSE
The University of Louisville football team will enter into the 2005 season without its leading passer, rusher and receiver, all of whom helped the Cardinals achieve the number one offense in the nation last year, averaging 539 yards of offense per game and scoring 49.8 points per game. But even with the loss of players like Stefan LeFors, Eric Shelton, Lionel Gates and J.R. Russell to the NFL, the Cards still possess the offensive firepower to have one of the nation’s leading offenses again this year.
Quarterbacks
The Cardinals will rely heavily on sophomore Brian Brohm to lead the team in their first season with the Big East. Brohm played in 11 games his freshman year and threw for 819 yards and six touchdowns. He also ran for 81 yards and two touchdowns, earning 2004 C-USA Freshman of the Year honors.
Head Coach Bobby Petrino is confident that his highly recruited underclassman will run the show. “He has the size, the arm strength to make all the different throws you have to make, and he has the instincts,” Petrino said. “I think that’s probably the one thing that is underrated as a quarterback, is your instinct in the pocket.”
U of L is banking on taking advantage of Brohm’s height. The 6-foot-4 sophomore towers over his predecessor, LeFors.
“I think you’ll see Joshua Tinch catch a lot more balls because where [Brohm] on his routes over the middle are some of the things Stefan didn’t do so well,” Petrino said.
The back-up quarterback position has been up for grabs with a few candidates competing for the spot. However, one player is making an impression on the coaching staff. Hunter Cantwell, a 6-foot-4 red-shirt freshman, is making his way to the top of the list to back up Brohm. “[Cantwell] surprised me a little bit about how accurate he threw the ball, how well he saw things,” Petrino said.
Running backs
Replacing the talent of Gates and Shelton will be difficult. The three-man rotation the U of L offense used in the running back spot was detrimental to other defenses during the 2004 season. Fortunately for the Cardinals, juniors Michael Bush and Kolby Smith are ready to accept a larger role as the primary ball carriers. Bush played in all 12 games last season, rushing for 734 yards and scoring seven touchdowns.
“Michael has really taken the running back position serious and really tried to work hard on understanding all the details of playing it,” Petrino said.
Smith will also step into a more dominant position for the Cards. Last season, Smith started as fullback and carried the ball for 347 yards, scoring four touchdowns. His most impressive statistic was his 9.4 yards per carry.
Receivers
A group of experienced seniors will be on the other end of Brohm’s passing this season. Montrell Jones is a talented wide receiver who tallied 564 receiving yards last season. Jones scored three touchdowns and averaged 15.2 yards per catch.
Along with Jones, fellow senior and team captain Joshua Tinch will start at the other wide receiver position. His great size and speed at 6-foot-3 will give him an advantage over his opponents. Tinch caught the ball for 510 yards in 2004, running one into the end zone.
Broderick Clark will be another offensive threat for the Cardinal offense. Last season he caught the ball for an impressive 441 yards, averaged 16.3 yards per catch and scored four touchdowns.
The tight end position will likely be the responsibility of sophomore Gary Barnidge. Barnidge played in all 12 games as a true freshman and started in two. Though he only caught seven passes for 85 yards, four of those catches led to touchdown celebrations.
Another player that will be seeing some time as tight end is sophomore Breno Giacomini. He played in every game last season and saw time as both a tight end and an offensive tackle. “Breno has great hands and I think I want to add a little power to our running game, so he will play some tight end,” Petrino said.
Offensive Line
The offensive line returns the most experience with five starters from last season’s team. Heading up the talented group are seniors Travis Leffew and Jason Spitz. Spitz will move from the guard position to play center for the Cardinals as he replacing Will Rabatin. In 2004, Spitz earned Second Team All Conference USA honors and has started 25 consecutive games at guard.
“I think he can be an excellent center,” Petrino said. “He’s very smart, very confident in making calls. Sometimes that’s more important than anything.”
Last season, Leffew was named a Second Team All American, started every game, and was named a team captain for the upcoming season.
Also returning is junior Kurt Quarterman. Quarterman started every game last season at guard.
When Renardo Foster went down with an injury last season, Jeremy Darveau, a 6-foot-7 senior, stepped up in his place and started in seven games. Other linemen who will compete for playing time are red-shirt freshman Eric Wood and junior Michael Sturgeon.
DEFENSE
With only five starters returning to the defense, the Cards have some holes to fill. The loss of key playmakers such as linebacker Robert McCune and safety Kerry Rhodes to the NFL has raised a few questions in Cardinal country. Unfortunately, not all questions have answers.
“Any time you lose quality players it hurts,” said second-year Defensive Coordinator Mike Cassity. “We played a lot of depth last season and we’ll have to have guys step forward this season, but I think they’ll be willing to do that.”
“One thing we’ve always had here is great competition at all positions, and when there’s competition, everyone gets better,” said Petrino.
Only two years ago, the Cardinals posted one of the worst defenses in the NCAA. Fortunately, the Cards had enough offensive power to compensate for their lackluster other half. Last year the Cards improved under Cassity’s pressure-style defense, ending the year as one of the top 30 defenses in the NCAA.
“We want to be known as a pressure-style defense,” Cassity said. “Our defensive philosophy is to stop the run. If we can take away the run game then we’re off to a great start. The second thing is we want to be able to pressure the quarterback if we get them in a passing situation.”
The Cardinals will need heavy pass rushing to offset the inexperience of the secondary. The secondary’s performance will be a deciding factor in the team’s success this year.
Defensive line
Seniors Elvis Dumervil and Montavious Stanley will return to the Cards’ starting defensive line. Last year Dumervil stood out as one of the top pass rushers in C-USA by leading the Cardinals with 10 sacks. Stanley has started in 23 games over the past two seasons and will team up with Amobi Okoye at the other defensive tackle position. Stanley and Okoye already have NFL size and power, weighing in during preseason at a collective 638 pounds.
Senior Chad Rimpsey and sophomore Brandon Cox will compete for the other defensive end position. Both will see significant playing time regardless of who starts.
“Rimpsey and Cox played a lot of football last year and made a lot of plays for us,” Cassity said.
Junior college standout Zach Anderson, junior Brinson Harley and red-shirt freshmen Maurice Mitchell and Adrian Gray will likely see action as well. Petrino said he intends to take advantage of the defensive line’s depth to wear down offensive lines and keep constant pressure on the quarterback.
Linebackers
Junior Abe Brown and senior Brandon Johnson will return at the outside linebacker positions, but between the two is a gaping hole that McCune used to fill, who was the Cards’ leading tackler over the past two seasons. Brown and Johnson started all 12 games last year at the outside linebacker spots, tallying 55 tackles and six sacks and 84 tackles and one sack, respectively.
Vying for the middle linebacker position will be sophomore Matt Sanders and junior college transfer Nate Harris. According to Athlon Sports, Harris was a top recruit of Miami until his involvement with a robbery limited his options to Dodge City Community College.
After high school Harris was the 74th-ranked high school recruit nationally, according to http://scout.com. Harris could possess the speed and tenacity the Cards need to plug the middle. The only concern is Harris’ size — he weighs in at only 220 pounds.
“We’ve got quite a few guys we’re looking at,” Cassity said. “We got on the field and took a brief look this spring. The emphasis for us is going to be … to plug the middle.”
Red-shirt freshman Lamar Myles is also expected to see time as middle linebacker.
Defensive Backs
Graduation hit the Cards’ defensive backfield hardest of all. Junior William Gay is the only returning defensive back with substantial playing time from last year, having started 11 games at cornerback. Cassity expects junior Gavin Smart to contribute time at corner, assuming Smart’s shoulder injury doesn’t slow him down.
Red-shirt freshman Rod Counsil is expected to start opposite of Gay. Counsil’s speed has impressed the coaching staff during spring practices.
“Rod Counsil has a lot of talent and is real fast,” Cassity said. “We have some young corners that have size and speed and we need to find out which guy is going to help us contribute like William [Gay] did as a freshman.” Sophomore Bobby Buchanan is ready to step onto the field for the first time after sitting out last year due to academic ineligibility.
Brothers Brandon and Antoine Sharp will likely start at the free safety and strong safety positions. Both saw limited playing time last year and have only one start between them.
Petrino said he will be counting on some younger players to step up and add depth to the defensive backfield. Darius Mann has the potential to be a freshman stand-out and was rated by Athlon Sports as one of the top recruits entering the Big East Conference.
Special Teams
Sophomore kicker Arthur Carmody shocked college football last year as a true freshman by setting a new NCAA record for most consecutive extra points made in a season with 77. He also made 12-15 field goals, but two of his misses were blocked.
The leading punter candidate is sophomore Todd Flannery, who kicked two punts last year for an average of 40 yards per punt.
Kick returners will be senior Broderick Clark and sophomore Harry Douglas. Clark is U of L’s third all-time leading returner with 2,101 return yards tallied during his career.
Senior Montrell Jones will likely spend another year returning punts along with his wide receiver duties. Last year Jones returned 40 punts for an average of 10.4 yards per return. Freshman Rod Counsil will also be tested at returning punts.
