Jeff Brohm reveals who is currently Louisville's backup QB behind Tyler Shough

This offseason, Louisville Cardinals head coach Jeff Brohm brought in veteran quarterback Tyler Shough to lead the offense. That’s a job he seems to have in hand but has created a battle for the backup spot.

Now, Brohm has shared that Pierce Clarkson is in line to be the backup quarterback. However, he also emphasized that it’s an open competition and things can change.

“I wouldn’t say clear cut,” Jeff Brohm said. “Right now, Pierce Clarkson would be the next guy in. Harrison Bailey and Brady Allen would be right there. There will always be competition for that. There will always be competition for the starting spot.”

2024 will be Tyler Shough’s first at Louisville, having previously played for Oregon and Texas Tech. He’s been around a while too, first getting to Oregon in 2018 as a four-star recruit, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. However, injuries have been an issue and he’s yet to play more than seven games in a season.

“Right now, Tyler Shough has proved he’s a really good quarterback with experience, and we like what we’ve seen. The other guys are right behind him. We’ll always have competition there. Sometimes you’ll kind of gauge and see what are certain strengths of each player, and if you need to develop a certain package for every game to have that ready to go, we’re not scared to do that. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if we have those packages ready this year for different quarterbacks. Then, unfortunately, if someone goes down like you’re starter, the next guy has to be ready to go in there and win the game for you. So, continue to improve those guys is important,” Brohm said.

“But it’s important to be ready when you go in there. Sometimes, if you go in there too soon, it can affect your confidence moving forward. At the same time, now is the time for them to be ready to go and at any point, they can go in and they need to be ready, but I think they’ve all improved and they study hard, they work hard, and that room needs to be ready to play. Like I said, we need to be able to utilize all of those quarterbacks at any point.”

Pierce Clarkson, a redshirt freshman, came to Louisville as a four-star recruit in the 2023 cycle. He threw two passes in 2023.

“The quarterback position is unique. To play at a high level you’ve got to be really good. You’ve got to be seasoned. You’ve got to be sharp. You’ve got to be able to make plays. You’ve got to be able to come through when your team needs you and you’ve got to be able to get the ball in the endzone,” Brohm said. “So, I think right now Pierce Clarkson continues to improve and get better. Getting him as many game reps as we can where the rush is getting at him. He’s got to be able to make plays and be able to adjust and play on the fly. We’ve done a decent job of that but he’s got to continue to keep excelling at that.”

Harrison Bailey, similarly to Tyler Shough, is a veteran transfer in the 2020 cycle. He’s played for Tennessee and UNLV. Meanwhile, Brady Allen is a four-star recruit from the 2022 cycle who started with Jeff Brohm at Purdue before following him to Louisville.

“Harrison Bailey is a transfer we took that has shown really good things that — in the spring game I didn’t give him a whole lot of opportunity to throw up the field a whole lot. That was my fault, but he’s had a good spring and a good summer. I think he can play effective football if we ask him to. He’s not extremely mobile of a quarterback but he can throw the football and he knows our system. Brady Allen, we’ve had for a while now at a couple places. He continues to improve and get better. Playing fluid and playing natural and playing athletic is what he needs to work on because he’s very smart. He understands what we’re doing. So, right now, that position is important.”

That’s where Jeff Brohm and Louisville stand right now. However, as he also made sure to emphasize, all will play and there’s time for things to change.

“At some point, they’re all gonna play. If they prove to us they can play right now, we’ve been known to have multiple packages where maybe two quarterbacks play, maybe three quarterbacks play. Last year, at one time, 10 quarterbacks played. We probably won’t have a package for that but… those guys have worked hard and it’s hard to sit back and not get game reps and really feel extremely confident, even though all those guys are confident,” Brohm said.

“But we’ve just got to make sure that we continue to get them seasoned up, but I think once we put them in, they’ll be ready to go and they’ll play well.”