JEFF BROHM: Good afternoon. It’s exciting to be here for Media Day. Of course that means the season is getting ready to start. I think everyone across the country is looking forward to college football this season. I think it’ll be exciting for everyone. I know our team is looking forward to the challenges ahead. We’ve got a great challenging schedule that we’re looking forward to playing. We’ve got a lot of guys on our team that have worked really hard, put the time in all spring, all summer to get to this point.
We’ve got a great collection of young men that — guys on our team last year, additions that we’ve had through the transfer portal, additions through the high school recruiting. They’re all here. They’re working hard, and I think at this point we’ve gelled together very well.
We feel like we’ve got very good components that understand what lies ahead and what it’s going to take to win. So for the last couple years here at the University of Louisville, we’ve had some success. We want to continue to improve upon that and push it forward, correct some of the mistakes we made along the way and have a successful season.
But we’ve got a lot of hungry young players that really want to excel and play well, and we’re looking forward to getting things started.
Q. How do you balance developing talent versus leaning into the transfer portal?
JEFF BROHM: Well, player development is the number one thing we’re going to work on doing, and that’s whether we get young high school prospects or even transfers. We’ve still got to develop and make them the best players they can be.
Our team will consist of both. We want young players that you believe in from the high school ranks that fit and come in and work hard and you hope they get on the field as fast as they can, but if not, you’ve got to continue to work with them and understand that it’s a process sometimes that takes a little bit of time.
But if you spend the right time with your players and you invest in them, you’ll get the most out of them.
When it comes to transfers, whatever is going to make our team better. I think if you ask our good players on our football team every year, they’re going to want more and more of the best players you can to help them succeed and play well and win football games. I think even when you get those guys in, you’ve got to continue to develop their talent and sharpen some things along the way and study film and put a lot of work in to help them succeed.
Our team will consist of both, and whatever we think we’ve got to do at the end of the year to improve, we will do that. We don’t have a number and figure on it, but we will work hard to make sure we analyze every position and do the best job we can to put the best product on the field.
Q. Kind of similar to that question, what goes into how you target players for your program, whether it be in the portal or in your high school recruiting classes? And specifically relating to 2025, what players from this recruitment class have stood out to you so far?
JEFF BROHM: Well, your first question, I don’t think it’s an exact science. You believe in what you think makes up a great football player and how it can help your team win, and without question, between myself and our recruiting staff and our coaches, we analyze as many guys as we can and make sure that if we find some and they want to be a part of our program, and we think it fits, we’re going to go full speed ahead.
That’s going to continue every year. You’ve got to build relationships. You’ve got to spend the time in to making sure that gets done.
In football, there are a lot of players on a team. So you’ve got to really get to know a lot of young men, and that requires a lot of time and a lot of effort to get done, but it’s part of the process. We enjoy doing it. It’s fun to get a chance to know players from all over and their families and hope that it’s a good fit.
When it comes to players on our team, we’ve got a whole handful of players that we really think can do well. We’ve got four young men with us here today in Miller Moss, our quarterback, Chris Bell, our receiver, and T.J. Quinn, one of our linebackers on defense, and Antonio Watts, one of our outside linebackers/nickel defenders.
All four will be outstanding players for us. They’re great leaders. They’re really good teammates. They’ve worked really hard.
Three of the four have been with us the entire time and really want to win and they want to make this year very successful and are committed to getting that done, and I think they’ll lead by example first, and then when they need to be vocal they’ll do that.
Of course, Miller is a quarterback that we brought in that we feel great about. He’s got a ton of experience. He’s played a lot of football. He wants to go out with a bang and have a great last year, and we want to help him do that. All four young men are representing our football team. They understand it’ll take everyone on the roster to get it done and everyone will play a role, but these guys will set the tone.
Q. Coach, you’ve been dubbed by many as the quarterback whisperer of college football. What is it about your coaching style that allows you to mold guys into such quality talent?
JEFF BROHM: Well, I think that playing the position was important. I’ve been able to do that a little bit. Coaching the position for a long time, being around a lot of great players and coaches along the way. Really, football has been my life ever since I was a young boy. So you just learn things along the way.
I think in order to win at a high level, a lot of things have to take place, but you have to have great quarterback play, and it’s important that that’s a big component of winning football games.
For us, we have a process. We want guys that want to work hard and want to be a leader and play at a high level. Every one of them has different talents, and I think we’re able to adapt maybe as well as anybody to what they do well and have a system that allows us to succeed at the things that they’re really good at.
But all these players, in my opinion, and young men on teams, they work really hard now, and if you’re willing to put in the work with them and invest in them, you’re going to get great dividends out of them, and they’re going to have great success.
For us, building the roster with a quarterback doesn’t have to do everything. You have a good running game, you’ve got a good play action game, you’ve got a good defense, got a good offensive line. All those things matter to great quarterback play, and we hope for Miller to have a great year, and we are definitely optimistic that with the weapons that we have and the team we have that he will excel and play extremely well for us.
Q. Coach, with both your byes being done by mid October, what are some things you’re going to do to keep your team fresh for the last seven games?
JEFF BROHM: I think every head coach is different in their philosophy. For us, we’re probably just naturally more cautious than others. We definitely understand the length of the season, the toll it takes on the body, and we adjust, really, our training throughout the year, but definitely in fall camp to make sure that while we get in a ton of good work, we get to the first game healthy.
It’s important that our best players are healthy and that they’re healthy as long as we can keep them that way, and if we happen to lose a few, we’ve got to be able to respond and the others have to step up. But we want to do our part as coaches and have a plan. We just don’t coach a certain way and if we’ve got a lot of injuries one year and less the others, not adjust. We’re going to adjust, and we’re going to make sure that everything is being done to get our guys healthy, to keep them healthy throughout the entire year. Obviously there will be a few things here and there that will happen, but I think we’re very strategic in planning and making sure that practices are set up to get the work in but to get to the game healthy.
Q. Coach, obviously playing at Louisville from ’89 to ’93 at the quarterback position, you know what the culture was like back then and you know the culture that you have now. What are some of those parallels that you wanted to include from your time there, what you felt was most valuable about being at Louisville as a student-athlete? And what are some of those pieces that you brought into your own program here at Louisville?
JEFF BROHM: Well, there are a lot of things. I think I was fortunate enough to play at the University of Louisville when Howard Schnellenberger was our coach. I believe in a lot of things that he’s believed in and taught. One of them was we took on all challenges, we played all tough teams we could. We believed in a tough schedule. We knew that that was going to make us better in the long run.
We also probably knew that players wanted to play those games, coaches wanted to coach them and fans wanted to see it. So that’s our scheduling philosophy; as much as we can, we’re going to try to play as many good teams as we can every year. We’ve tried to schedule teams here in the past and haven’t been as successful getting it done to keep improving our schedule, but it’s important, in my opinion, that you play the best to be the best.
Our guys enjoy doing that, and it’s important that our guys work hard every week and not take one team lightly. But it is fun when you play quality football teams and you put it all out there on the field and you find a way to win and you win some special games.
Beating Notre Dame at home two years ago, beating Clemson this past year, were good wins for our program, and we’ve just got to continue to build on that and find ways to win as many as we can and see if we can get to the prize at the end.
Q. You played SMU their first year in the ACC last year. The film you had was mostly against AAC teams. With a full slate of ACC season underneath them, how does that change your preparation or how you maybe assess the film and things like that going into facing them in year two, kind of similar with Cal and Stanford, as well?
JEFF BROHM: Well, SMU stepped in and they did a great job. My hat’s off to them. They played some really good football. They came in ready to go. I thought their coaches coached extremely well. They put a great plan together and they found a way to get to the ACC Championship game, so credit to them.
Of course, all of us are trying to get there, as well. You study them as much as you can and you find ways to improve and what can we do to find a way to win the game.
But those guys did a great job, and they brought a lot of value to the league. I think they’ll be really good as well this year. Of course, Cal and Stanford are great programs, as well. We lost to Stanford last year out there. All those teams are capable of playing really good football and they’ve got really good coaches, good players. They’re great programs with a lot of history.
I think this is a competitive league from top to bottom, and you’ve got to come ready to play. Those three teams have done a good job of coming into this league ready to go.
Q. Kind of a philosophical recruiting question: When you’re recruiting a quarterback out of high school, you’re like, come on in, develop and you’ve got a chance to play, but when you’re going after a quarterback in the portal, most of those top guys have played, they’ve started, they want to come somewhere they can start. Is there a different recruiting method that you have to do as a coach? Do you have to make promises? How does that work when you’re recruiting someone out of the portal as opposed to high school?
JEFF BROHM: Well, it’s a great question. I know for us, I can’t speak for others, but I think it’s important to paint a picture for all your recruits coming in, especially transfers, but even freshmen, of how you think this is going to play out, and give them an exact plan of what they want to hear as far as getting on the field. How can we help you get better? When do we see that taking place? Can we help you get to the next level? What are the ways of doing that?
In the end, it’s going to take them putting in the time and effort to do it, so there’s not a perfect science. They might be able to exceed that or maybe they don’t get to that point.
But we put a plan together, and you’ve got to communicate with recruits now and make sure that you sell the vision that you have to help them achieve their goals, and you’ve got to be specific. So we’re very specific in what we talk about, how we can do it, what we’ve done in the past, and we go into great detail about presenting that plan to them and their family members, or whoever is a part of the process, because it’s very important and it really means a lot to us as coaches that if we sell something to a prospect or someone coming in to play, that we deliver. It means a lot to us, and we don’t want to let anyone down, and we want to make sure that even the next ones that come forward, that we have some proven products and some proven things that have happened to show them, hey, when we say something, this isn’t to try to get you to come play for us. This is to come through on what we feel like we can do for you and to deliver and to make sure they achieve their goals.
Q. Chris, question regarding your new quarterback. What have you seen from him since he’s arrived and how you guys have developed a relationship leading up to fall camp?
CHRIS BELL: I have seen so much from Miller. Coming in as a new guy, he kind of took the quarterback role on really good. He’s been a leader. He has led by example, and he has led by being vocal.
He likes to throw the ball. He likes to get the ball out there, and that’s what I like about him. A quarterback that likes to throw the ball, that’s what you need in this offense.
Q. This offense in and of itself and its entirety, what do you love the most about it and how it challenges you?
CHRIS BELL: I love that it’s like an NFL style offense. I love it’s an explosive offense. I love that Coach Brohm likes to get the ball in the receivers’ hands and let us make plays. I love how he likes to throw it out, air it out. That’s what I love about this offense.
Q. In this Louisville offense, you were a consistent presence on the outside en route to the best season of your career. How do you approach your role and ensure you’re able to succeed consistently in whatever they ask you to do?
CHRIS BELL: I just try to stay consistent, be a playmaker. I work hard in the off-season. I’m a leader by example, so I overly push myself. So when the time comes and it’s game time, I can make plays for this offense to get us in position to win.
Q. Chris, this team was 7-2 last year when you had over 50 yards, total yards from scrimmage in a game in terms of receiving, or receiving and rushing. How are you able to so positively impact winning, and what about that allowed you to still not be that, quote-unquote, diva type receiver that’s like, “Hey, I need the ball. We’re winning when I’m getting it,” even though statistically it does work out that that happens?
CHRIS BELL: I’m a very humble guy and I come from that. It is hard when, you know, don’t get the ball or don’t touch the ball, but I try to stay levelheaded and try to do anything to help the team win, whether it’s make the block, whether it’s just try to get the 1st down. I do anything to help my team win.
Q. You have a physical edge about you. Where does that toughness come from?
CHRIS BELL: I feel like that toughness comes from where I’m from; Yazoo City, Mississippi. Not a lot of people know nothing about it, and I’m kind of, like, one of the only guys that made it out beside Fletcher Cox. I feel like just how I grew up in my lifestyle, that’s where my toughness comes from.
Q. How do you use that to set the tone for you for a game?
CHRIS BELL: I just think about me when I was a young child and how I grew up, how I don’t want to go back there. It brings that dog out of me. It brings that fire out of me.
Q. You have Super Bowl MVP as a position coach now. How have things been going with Deion Branch?
CHRIS BELL: It’s been going pretty good. Me and Deion, we had a bond since I got in here since when he was our coach for the Fenway Bowl my sophomore year. We just been building that connection and just having that relationship. He always told me, stay levelheaded, keep the right mindset. He’s been telling me that since my freshman year, and now look at me. I’ve got a chance to have a great season this year.
Q. Miller, talk about just the transition from the West Coast now going to the East Coast. Outside of football, what has been the biggest transition?
MILLER MOSS: Yeah, definitely. Good question. I think, obviously, being from California, being from LA, I’ve lived there my entire life. I think there comes a time when it’s time to experience something else, and I’ve been very grateful to have the opportunity to do that.
I don’t think Louisville gets enough credit as a national city. It wasn’t like I moved somewhere and there wasn’t anything there. It’s got great food, the Derby, and then, obviously, the city and the team and the program welcomed me with open arms. I’ve been super grateful to have the experience that I’ve had so far, and looking forward to a great year.
Q. When it comes to this offensive scheme, how has your adjustment been with it, whether it be over the spring or over the summer? And as you’re now heading into fall camp, what are you most excited about, whether it’s playing in it or what you’re going to be able to do within it to attack opposing defenses?
MILLER MOSS: Yeah, I think the biggest adjustment for me is just the pure volume that Coach Brohm carries within the offense. I think it speaks to his depth as a coordinator and his ability to tailor the offense around a bunch of different skill sets.
I think going into camp, what I’m most excited about when it comes to the offense is just exercising mastery. I think when you begin to learn an offense, obviously there’s hearing the play call, going out there and saying, okay, this is my job, this is what I have to do. But I think as you continue to master the elements of the offense, you get the play call, this is what we want versus this play. If we don’t get this, this is what we’re checking to.
I think you can kind of ascend the levels of mastery within a system, and I’m looking forward to continuing to do that.
Q. When it came right down to it, why did you transfer? What was your personal reasons? What stood out about Louisville? Why did you want it?
MILLER MOSS: I think there were very specific things that I was looking for in a school and an opportunity, and I think Coach Brohm and the University of Louisville, which, obviously, includes the program, offered a ton of that.
I think the opportunity to win and compete at a high level was certainly a part of that, and I think we absolutely have that opportunity this year. I think the ability to develop within a pro-style offense, like Chris touched on previously, was important to me. And I think just being around good and decent human beings. I think that can kind of get lost on us a lot in terms of the era of NIL and transferring and all that kind of stuff, but in sitting with Coach Brohm and meeting Chris and coming on my visit, I wanted to be surrounded by good and decent human beings that cared about the right things and cared about one another, and I think I’ve absolutely found that within the program.
Q. Miller, we talk about Brian Brohm as a quarterback whisperer and all that, but I would take it a step further and say he’s a quarterback whisperer supreme, and that most first-year transfer quarterbacks have their struggles, have their problems, but Coach Brohm has turned multiple guys who didn’t have great perceptions around them coming in into guys that are viewed much more favorably coming out with Tyler Shough being one of the first quarterbacks off the board last year. Was that development in the previous one-year quarterbacks part of what made this decision easy for you to jump to Louisville?
MILLER MOSS: Yeah, I think it was certainly an attractive part of it. Obviously different coaches try to sell you on different things, but when there’s consistent proof of your ability to do something, that kind of transcends any words you hear in a meeting. I think it gives you more confidence in what they’re saying. In terms of perception and stuff like that, I’m not overly concerned with that. My main focus is doing everything I can to help our team win games.
Q. I believe my memory serves me correctly, 2023 Holiday Bowl, you had six touchdowns against Louisville for a record in that bowl game. What’s it going to be like being on the other side and helping the Cardinals?
MILLER MOSS: Yeah, it’s kind of a random coincidence or full circle moment, whatever you want to call it. That was, obviously, my first time playing significant snaps in college football, and it was a great experience. Don’t get caught up in that too much. Fans will come up and say stuff to me. I’ll just let them know that we’re going to make up for it this year. Like I said, looking forward to a great season.
Q. T.J., in terms of your position versatility and all the different things that you do, how has your off-season regimen kind of tailored itself to ways that you want to improve your game? Have you tried to bulk up and improve your pass rushing or slim down and improve your coverage? What specific part have you worked on and how has your body correlated with that?
T.J. QUINN: I feel like as a linebacker, in our defense, they allow us to do many different things, and come off the edge, play from the middle. And just as far as trying to get my game better this year, I’ve just been doing everything, just watching film with my coaches and seeing what I need to improve on.
Yeah, I’ve just been trying to get in shape this off-season so I’ll be able to stay on the field and do everything my team needs me to do.
Q. When you look at the personal growth and evolution of your game, what are some of those things? I know you just talked about bulking up a little bit, but some of the other things that maybe we don’t see when it comes to film study and some of the other layers to who you are as a person on and off the field, what are some of those developmental pieces for you?
T.J. QUINN: Yeah, I’d just say from a developmental standpoint, I came into college as a safety, so I got moved my freshman year to linebacker and that’s, obviously, a big step, changing positions in college.
Just going from year to year, I just go back and watch the film just to see what I can improve on year to year because, obviously, I want to do my best to help my team, help my defense be the best defense that we can be.
Q. Last year Louisville wins nine football games, but lost four one-possession games, total of 24 points in those losses. How do you put those losses behind you knowing that you were so close?
T.J. QUINN: You know, from a team standpoint, our coaches, we always preach that we take it game by game. We might lose a game by seven points, six points, but we watch the film that next day, and then by the time that Monday comes, we’ve got to move on to our next opponent. So I just feel like doing that just helps us move past wins or losses.
Q. How was your dad able to help you through the process of switching positions while in college, because he did the same, right?
T.J. QUINN: Yes. My dad, he came into college as a safety and then they moved him to running back. I think probably two years later, that’s when he went back to safety. He just mentioned to me, you’ve just got to stay in your playbook, stay in the film room and watch others around you so you can get better as a player and as a person, and I just be like, throughout my whole college experience, he’s just been beside me helping me out.
Q. Just a question about the position you play and the leader you are on the defense. Are you wearing the helmet communication, and how does that operate, and is it easier to communicate that to your defense?
T.J. QUINN: Yes, I have been wearing the helmet communication. We just practice it, and during practice how we want to go about things week to week. In the game, we just do different things to help me out so I can help my defense out.
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