Jack Plummer recalls process of transfer to Louisville

Jack Plummer took the long road to Louisville, but after two transfers, the quarterback is reunited with his head coach, Jeff Brohm.

Plummer started his career at Purdue but was eventually supplanted as the starter by Aidan O’Connell, who’s now in the NFL. Plummer played the 2022 season at California but opted to take his final year in 2023 in a more familiar place.

Plummer spoke on The Deener Show about his decision to transfer to Louisville and quarterback the Cardinals.

“So I was at Purdue and was the starter in 2021 and then Aidan O’Connell, who just got drafted by the Raiders in the fourth round, he’s obviously a really good player, one of my good friends, and he ended up taking over for me in 2021,” Plummer said. “And I knew he was going to come back for another year. So I was like, well, you know, I’m probably not going to play at Purdue. I decided to leave and when I was talking with coach, he was like, we don’t want you to leave, we want you to stay. 

“I mean, obviously, you gotta do what’s best for you. And you know, I understand why you want to go but we still want you here and we’ll help you get somewhere.”

Plummer mentioned he was very thankful for the help to get to Cal initially.

“I thought that was cool,” Plummer said. “As you know, he was actually fielding calls on my behalf and was trying to get my name out there and then kind of whenever he took the job here, I looked it up and Malik Cunningham was leaving and I was like, I probably could try see if I can go play there.”

Cunningham was a star at Louisville, but with his departure, it left a void at the position and Plummer seized the opportunity.

“I mean, you gotta get into the portal first,” Plummer said. “And then yeah, when they talked with me …  they’re like, ‘Yeah, you know, you can go look around, but if you want to come back, we’ll take you back,’ which is cool, because a lot of coaches don’t really let you do that once you leave. They’re like, ‘Hey, man, good luck, but you don’t really have a spot anymore.’”

Plummer tossed 21 touchdowns last season, a career high. In his career, he has 6,500 yards, 47 touchdowns, 19 interceptions and a 63.7% completion percentage.

As a member of the Class of 2018, Plummer was a three-star recruit out of Gilbert (Ari.) High, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 6 overall prospect in the state, the No. 41 quarterback in the class and the No. 567 overall prospect in the class.