Brohm Discusses Transfer Class and Looks Ahead to Spring Practice

Jeff Brohm Press Conference
February 7, 2024

(On the landscape changes of the transfer portal and signing day)
"Well, yeah, it's kind of been an uneventful day for us. I think the college landscape has changed quite a bit. Yes, it'll probably continue to adapt moving forward even more. We just try to figure it out and make the most of it. So from our end, I think you've always got to be ready for roster change. And that's always going to be guys that graduate, guys that possibly enter the NFL Draft, guys that maybe are unhappy with their playing time. And then you factor in that these guys can transfer freely, basically whenever they want. So you've got to be prepared to add to your roster. So I just think that we understood that from the beginning. Throughout the entire season, until the very end, we worked hard to prepare ourselves to adapt and change our roster to improve our football team. I think we were in a good position, we were on it early. Our coaches, and our recruiting staff, identified what we thought could help us, and we were active and going and trying to get that. In the end, we feel good about what we've brought to the table. Of course, now they got to come here, and we've got to work with them, and they've got to prove their worth, and we've got to gel it all together. But in my opinion, all winter, all spring, all summer, all fall camp, you should be able to piece things together if you put the time in. I am looking forward to seeing these guys play."

(On the priorities of adding defensive backs in the portal, and the importance of having back M.J. Griffin)
Well, we're excited to get MJ back. Unfortunately, he got injured last year with a knee injury, but it was early in camp so he's close to being fully healthy. We'll probably limit him throughout the spring, but by June it'll be 100 percent, full speed. I think he's way ahead of schedule right now. I look forward to getting him back. But I do think the defensive back position is very important to be aggressive on defense, to stop the run, to get after the quarterback. You've got to be able to play some one-on-one matchups occasionally. When you've got good secondary players that can do that, can challenge routes, understand route structure and schemes, and the timing of how certain blitzes and attacks work, you can make plays. I think that we did some really good things on defense overall, and would like to play better towards the end of the year, so there's a lot of things to improve on. But adding good aggressive, good size defensive backs, can help our football team play at a high level.

(On the process of bringing in players in the transfer portal)
Well, I think now there are so many elements involved in recruiting. There are so many elements involved in each player and his situation that they have people reaching out to places for them. With all that going on, you sometimes have a little bit of an idea that something may happen or may not happen. You always keep your ears open and listen, and I think you can learn a lot by listening. I just think that there are so many layers to this, that you do the best you can to always be within the rules, but at the same time, be aware of your surroundings and make sure that you know when that portal period opens, that recruiting period opens, that you're very aggressive, and you're exploring all options. Making sure you're trying to piece this together to add. Not only to what can help your football team win, but good people that you think are going to want to work hard and prove themselves for possibly just their last year, maybe their last two years, and I think with us, when we get guys that just have one year especially, but even two, I think they want to come here with a purpose, and they want to prove themselves. We've had pretty good success in the last so many years doing that when I've been a head coach is getting guys with just one year left that want to come and make a difference.

(On the ratio of recruiting high school talent and transfers in the portal.)
"We don't put a ratio on it. I do think we still want to be very active in recruiting high school prospects, and doing right by that, and doing right by our state and the surrounding area. The best case is bringing guys, developing them, and they become great players for you. But unfortunately, that is not how it always works now. There's just a lot of change. There are a lot of factors that go into how long it is going to take to develop players. When they develop, is someone going to try to poach them from you in a way that you don't like, but happens? So there's a lot of risks that go on that. When you're able to attract someone with experience, who's played a lot of football already, who is probably coming here with a purpose, sometimes you feel comfortable about let's go this route, and let's get somebody that can help us win right now, that has already played competitive football. That's kind of what I think you're seeing, is you're just seeing teams that understand the importance of winning right now this year. Yes, you want to build for the future and all that, but the important thing is always how can we win this next game? How can we win this next year? I think that's what you have to factor into it. So for us, I got to help our football team win in 2024. On paper, we did a pretty good job doing that. Now, of course, it's a matter of gelling it together, but I do think that's how the landscape works now. Some people may see it different, I don't know, I'm not going to say there's no other way to skin the cat, but at the same time, how are you going to win this next year? That's what we want to do."

(On other things you look for out of players in the portal)
"Well, there are a lot of elements to it without question. You know, we have had a lot of success taking young men from a group of five or FCS programs that want to prove themselves and that did a good job where they're at. I think we've got a few of those pieces to our team right now, and I think they're going to do a great job just based on what I've seen in this first month. At the same time, we probably got a lot of young men from really good programs this year as well that after researching and investigating why they want to switch and what they're looking for and what value we think they can add, we feel good about them to this point as well. I think that, you know, we like the additions to our team. I think anytime you're trying to win football games, even guys on your team currently that play well and that play at a high level, they want to win, so they want great teammates around them and you know what, if we have them already on our team, that's great, but at the same time, I think you can still add value by gaining experience, especially with the quarterback position, which we feel like we did with Tyler (Shough). I think bringing him in, it's his seventh year. He's coming here with a true purpose: to prove himself, to prove that he can stay healthy, to prove that he can play an entire year and help his football team win, and he wants to play at the next level, so we like all the dynamics that go behind that. Now, does he need to prove that he can stay healthy? Sure he does. Is he fully healthy now? No, he's actually not. He's continuing to get back fully healthy, but we have time and we like what we've seen to this point. At the same time, we want to develop the other quarterbacks on our roster, which we feel good about, but it doesn't happen overnight. We used the bowl prep to kind of get a glimpse of where we thought they were at, and they have made progress, but we want to see more. So I think with Pierce (Clarkson) and Brady (Allen) and even Harrison Bailey, those are three guys that we just want to continue to progress as fast as we can. Having depth at every position is important, definitely at quarterback."

(On addition of Tyler Baron and what he brings to the defense)
"We love the addition of Tyler. Anytime you get a big, tall, athletic edge rusher that has played a lot of football, man, that's a big piece. I think he wants to go somewhere and basically play that position, and try to play their position solely if he can. I think he was moved around a little bit and proving that he can be a great edge piece and rusher is what we want to try to help him do, so we're excited to get him here and he gives us a lot of experience. The other two additions that we added from Tennessee in Wesley Walker and Tamarion McDonald, we like those additions as well. They bring a ton of experience in the secondary. They play a lot of football. You know, they can run, they can hit, they can strike they understand football. There are multiple guys at a lot of positions that I think give us a lot of experience and we feel good about them at this point, and now we've got to just make sure we get them up to speed and we get them trained to know exactly what we want to do, how to do it, so that they can play fast and showcase their skills."

(On Tyler Shough's fit in offense and any concerns with his injury history)
"We look at all those factors. I do think from a talent standpoint, he has a great deal of talent. He's very skilled, he can throw the football, he can see the field and he's six-four and a half, six-five, and he's played a lot of football, and when he's played, he's played well. Those are all great elements to add to your football team. Yes, you look at okay, yes, he's had some injuries. You know, we studied exactly what they were, we had him in for a physical, we analyzed everything he had. We went through it in great detail, and you know what, he's had some unlucky times that happened actually during the season that has caused him to miss some action. That sometimes happens and sometimes it doesn't, but, you know, we've all had injuries throughout our time. This last injury he had was an ankle injury that Jack Plummer had for us when he was at Purdue, David Blough had for us when he was at Purdue, it's somewhat of a common injury. We had other receivers have it at Purdue and you know, it's something that you can come back from, it just takes five or six months to fully heal. So I just think that there's always going to be a risk for injury, and he's going to work hard to get his body ready to play, and we're going to work hard to put him in a great position and surround him with great talent. Like I said, we're going to continue to improve the quarterback position as much as we can between now and fall camp to make sure that all guys on deck are ready to play just in case something happens."

(On how you envision Izayah Cummings in the offense)
"We are excited about adding Izayah. I think that once again, he's coming here with a purpose and wants to prove his worth and prove that he can catch footballs against great competition and hopefully be able to play beyond if he can. Tighe end is a position we want to add depth and we want to add some playmakers. He gives us a receiving skill to that position that we would like to have. Is he going to be an in-line blocker all the time? Probably not. I think he's a guy that can do multiple things, that you can split him out and you can flex him out and let him show that athleticism but, you know, I think he'll come in and do a really good job, and he cares, he wants to be here, he's from here, and he wants to prove that he can play football so we're excited about him on our football team."

(On any more additional pieces after spring, adding running backs Peny Boone and Donald Chaney Jr.)
We have a lot of pieces, so the roster is pretty full right now. We have to see what happens with our roster after the spring. We have a pretty full roster, so I don't see up being too active. At the same time, we are prepared to be in a position to be ready if there becomes room and that always changes. When people get through spring practice and see where they're at on the depth chart, things may shake and move. We have to be prepared for that. Right now, it's a pretty full roster. Peny Boone is a big physical back. He's had an interesting path. We recruited him from Michigan when I was at Purdue. He went to Maryland and maybe didn't play as well as he'd liked or get the action he would've liked. Then he went to Toledo and played well. I think he wants to come back and prove that he can play against great competition at a high level. I think the circumstance aligns that we're wanting a guy that is hungry and wants to prove his worth. He wants to utilize this spring, fall, and summer to get himself in the best shape that he possibly can to perform well against great competition. I think he understands as well. He has to get in great shape. He's done great in workouts, but we want to get him in better shape so he can perform well every week and stay healthy. He definitely is a big, strong, and physical back that adds great value to our team."

(On having more weapons, what that allows you to do as an offense)
"I think that position is vital to success. When you look at great teams and great NFL teams, they have great tight ends. You have to have somebody that can control inside the hatches, stretch the field vertically, and make physical catches in-between linebackers and safeties. We want that. At least on paper, we've worked hard to improve that position. Some guys are here. Once we get to the summer, we're going to have more weapons in that position. If we can utilize those guys, that can help us in our passing game by being more efficient, explosive, and help our receivers be a little bit more open. I think we need that. That's a very important question for our offense."

(On how the season ended last year, if that's been motivation to the coaches and the team)
"I'm very proud of our football team. I thought they played really hard all year. We found a way to win a lot of close games which means we're playing hard until the end and not giving in. It means we're playing with confidence and sticking together. That was good to see. That was a great positive you like to see. We did find a way to get to the ACC championship game. As you look back there is, without question, a lot of fuel to use. The Kentucky game didn't go the way we wanted. We let a 10-lead slip twice in the second half. There were a lot of miscues there that we're going to learn from. That falls on me and the coaches first because I thought we didn't do a good job. We have to compete to the end and find ways to make plays. We did get to the championship game and our defense was outstanding, but our offense wasn't up to par, so that was disappointing. If we just made a few plays here or there, it could have changed the whole course of the season. You don't get those opportunities very much, so you have to take advantage of those when they're there. The bowl game didn't go the way we wanted. It was a disappointing loss. There were a lot of miscues we have to improve on that the coaches have identified already. We have to make sure we have a better plan and give our players a better chance to succeed. Yes, we have to use this fuel. It was not the way we wanted to end and that's football. We have to work harder and we have to put a better plan together."

University of Louisville Athletics

Brohm Discusses Transfer Class and Looks Ahead to Spring Practice

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Players Mentioned

Harrison Bailey

Tyler Baron

Donald Chaney

Izayah Cummings

M.J. Griffin

Tamarion McDonald

Jack Plummer

Tyler Shough

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