For more than a decade, Brian Brohm exhibited the same kind of patience he’s required of his players coming up in the ranks.
Louisville football’s offensive coordinator waited for his time to be a play-caller, taking a backseat to older brother and head coach Jeff Brohm. Brian had some input and would help put together the game plan, but Jeff had the final say during games. That changed a month ago, when Jeff relinquished play-calling duties to Brian and the Cardinals’ offensive staff.
Advertisement
“Brian’s been with me a long time,” Jeff Brohm said on Oct. 12. “He’s been with me. He knows the offense. He knows football. He’s extremely smart.”
Brian Brohm was hesitant but prepared.
“During the week, I’ve always been kind of scripting and putting the game plan together, and Jeff would have a couple of inputs here and there,” he said. “And his inputs, when you got to game time, he put those in. He’s probably going to call those. The ones I’m scripting, I’m probably going to call those. So that’s just a little bit more flow of what I was scripting all week, those getting called.”
The Cardinals’ offense has generally looked the same with Brian and Jeff almost always agreeing on what they like and which plays they believe are going to work. Since Brian Brohm took over, the Cardinals are on a three-game winning streak while scoring 43.3 points and totaling 230 passing yards and 269.3 rushing yards per outing. During the team’s previous three ACC games, the Cards averaged 34 points, 251.7 passing yards and 184.4 rushing yards, going 1-2 in the process.
Advertisement
Louisville’s explosive offense will open November by playing at Georgia Tech on Saturday, Nov. 7. The Cards rank second in the country with 20 plays covering 40 or more yards. The Yellow Jackets’ defense is one of the worst in the ACC, having allowed 30.8 points and 414.3 total yards per game. They’re particularly prone to allowing big plays, too, including 11 that have covered at least 40 yards. Among ACC teams, only Louisville and Stanford have allowed more (12 apiece).
Louisville’s Brian Brohm, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks, during practice before the start of the 2025 football season. August 8, 2025
“I feel like I’ve been ready to call the plays for a long time. But at the same point, I think Jeff is one of the top play-callers in the country, and he has been for a long time,” Brian Brohm said. “I think that is a difficult decision to step down from calling those plays.”
One of the biggest lessons he’s learned from Jeff is to not second-guess himself, nor be afraid to make the necessary calls, even if it doesn’t always work. During Week 9, Louisville tried to fake a field goal against Stanford. The attempt was unsuccessful and resulted in a turnover on downs. But at the same time, Louisville’s deep, talented group of skill players can make up for some of the riskier calls.
Advertisement
For example, although the trickery didn’t work, the Cardinals totaled 52 points and 545 yards of offense, their most against an FBS opponent this season. Running back Isaac Brown and wide receiver Tre Richardson were key parts of the offensive success: Brown finished with 139 rushing yards and four total touchdowns, while Richardson caught 10 passes for 140 yards.
“When plays are working, you feel a lot more free to call the full gamut of plays than when things aren’t quite going as good,” Brian said. “Then sometimes, yeah, you can tighten up and (say), ‘Hey, we need to get to these base plays that we’ve been running and we know we can execute.’ It’s a lot more fun when it’s all working and you can just call anything and it goes because your players are making plays.”
The plan is for Brian Brohm to continue calling plays and leading a unit that ranks fifth nationally in scoring (40.4), eighth in total offense (492.1 yards per game), ninth in rushing offense (225.1 yards per game), 10th in passing yards per completion (14.5) and 27th in passing offense (267.0).
“It’s a lot of pressure on me, too, to try to keep that up and to try to do as good or better than he (Jeff Brohm) has done calling the plays because he’s been at an elite level for a long time,” Brian said. “So, (I) take that challenge seriously and try to take pride in what we’re doing.”
Advertisement
Reach Louisville football, women’s basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville football OC Brian Brohm finds rhythm in new role as play-caller
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
