Jeff Brohm, Louisville have quietly been one of the transfer portal winners for second year in a row

I’m getting a bit of deja vu. 

While Lane Kiffin and Deion Sanders continue to suck up all oxygen with their flashy transfer portal hauls, Louisville’s Jeff Brohm quietly has assembled a very impressive group for the second straight season, too. 

This past fall, the Cardinals rode 20 transfers, including notable performances from wideout Jamari Thrash and safety Devin Neal, to the program’s first-ever ACC Championship Game appearance. A favorable schedule certainly aided in Louisville’s 10-win season, but Brohm’s aggressiveness in the portal last year allowed the team to capitalize on a leap season. 

And now Brohm is making moves to make sure the Cardinals remain a contender in ACC play again next fall. 

Louisville has hosted 20 official visitors from the transfer portal in the last two weeks, and the Cardinals could land as many as 16 of those prospects. A dozen are already on board, including some very marquee additions. 

Louisville received commitments from South Alabama wideout Caullin Lacy and Alabama 5-star wideout Ja’Corey Brooks, giving the Cardinals two impact playmakers. Lacy might not be a name folks know yet, but like Thrash, he tore up the Group 5 competition, finishing the season with 91 catches for 1,316 yards and seven touchdowns. He torched Oklahoma State’s secondary for 104 yards and two scores. Brooks is a former 5-star recruit who was injured for most of the entire 2023 season, but in 2022, he averaged 17.3 yards per catch and had eight touchdowns on 674 yards. 

The Cardinals also added a pair of tight ends (one of the more difficult positions to recruit in the transfer portal), a trio of offensive linemen including Ohio State backup Vic Cutler and Miami transfer tailback Donald Chaney Jr. 

Cutler started his career at Louisiana Monroe, where he started 21 games from 2020-22, while Chaney was a productive player for the Hurricanes in 2023 rushing for 478 yards (5.1 per carry) and two touchdowns. 

The man pulling the trigger for the Cards in 2023 will be former Oregon and Texas Tech quarterback Tyler Shough, who was one of the first QBs to come off the board this cycle. Throughout his career, Shough has flashed an intriguing skill set, but he’s been decimated by injuries nearly every year, so it’s interesting that Brohm chose to roll with the seventh-year senior over potential rumored options like Tyler Van Dyke and DJ Uiagalelei.

Defensively, Louisville has added UCF corner Corey Thornton, who led the Knights with three picks last season, and Harvard defensive lineman Thor Griffith, who was among the more coveted DL transfers in the portal this cycle after recording 55 tackles, 11 TFLs and 3.5 sacks as a First-Team All-Ivy performer. Louisville is also in play for Duke transfer end Aeneas Peebles, who had 8.5 TFLs and 4.5 sacks as a Third-Team All-ACC honoree. 

For certain, Louisville won’t hit on all these transfers. 

Counting on Shough at quarterback is a risk, but the volume of players the Cardinals have added certainly provides the program a higher floor and ceiling in 2024. The fact that star pass rusher Ashton Gillotte (team-high 11 sacks) recently announced his decision to return to school for 2024 only further boosts the team’s chances to remain an ACC contender. 

While the schedule is more difficult (games against Notre Dame, Clemson, SMU, Miami), it’s not unnavigable (still no Florida State or North Carolina). Jeff Brohm instantly upgraded Louisville’s coaching in 2023, and he continues to use the transfer portal to improve the roster, too.