Cards Scouting Report

[bullwark]

Destiny Doubled

Michael Bush and Brian Brohm are determined to give U of L fans something to 'remember for a long, long time.'

By Eric Crawford

ecrawford@courier-journal.com

Courier-Journal columnist

They are, for better or worse, pasted all over each other's football scrapbooks. They have rewritten large chunks of several record books. They even authored their own memorable chapter in Kentucky's football history with their final high school meeting.

Now University of Louisville senior running back Michael Bush and junior quarterback Brian Brohm are hoping to put together a blockbuster conclusion to their run as college teammates.

 

"People have been anticipating this for quite a while," Brohm said. "… Hopefully, we can come out here in that last go-round and accomplish the goals that we came to accomplish."

"I think it would be special," Bush said. "If we can do what we want to do this season, it will be something people here will remember for a long, long time."

But to do it, the Louisville natives -- linked by history, team and now even a Heisman Trophy marketing slogan, the "Derby City Duo" -- will have to tackle some individual obstacles.

A look back

First, turn back the pages -- past the Heisman campaigns, before the superlative high school careers, even before the rumblings about two youngsters playing beyond their years.

Mike Bush Sr. said that the first time he handed his 3-year-old son a football, "he took off and ran with it."

The first time Oscar Brohm handed his youngest son a ball, he threw it. But older brother Greg added this caveat: "We did make sure the ball was in his right hand, and we did **** his arm back behind his head."

The last time either could be seen without the football in his hands was eighth grade, when both had to play offensive line because league rules said they were too big to carry the ball. The entire Muhammad Ali youth league cheered when Bush tipped the scales too far at his weigh-in. Brohm, stripped of the ball in the Catholic League, tried the Optimist League, but after he threw five touchdown passes in his only game, league officials sidelined him.

In his first high school game at Male, Bush played six positions and scored two touchdowns. In his debut at Trinity, Brohm completed 12 of 16 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown.

The flashbulbs froze the moment when they shared the 2002 Paul Hornung Award as the state's top high school player, and the tape of their epic state championship confrontation that year was an instant classic. The pair combined for 1,188 yards of offense and 15 touchdowns in what widely is considered the greatest high school game ever played in Kentucky.

After Brohm and the Shamrocks won 59-56, the first person he sought out was Bush, tapping him on the shoulder and saying, "Great game. Hell of a career."

"It just seems like, since high school started, we've always been running into each other, competing or winning the same awards," Bush said. "We're used to it by now. I think we've made each other better maybe. We both just want to be the best."

Running to the spotlight

When you're a college football player whose last name is Bush, name recognition isn't hard to come by. But Michael Bush knows he's not the kind of household name he would be if he were playing for a traditional football power.

"That's just how it is," he said. "But what has helped me is that people are playing this NCAA '07 video game, and they're playing with me in that game (it's actually an unnamed player in a No. 19 U of L jersey) and sending me fan mail saying they're going to root for me this season. So I'm turning into a household name, and that's nice."

Asked whether he's better than his video double, he laughed and said: "I'm not going to say. There's some things on the video game that I wish I could do in real life."

But if defenses have learned anything about Bush over the past three years, it's that he's no fun to deal with in real like. After he ran for 125 yards in a victory at Cincinnati two years ago, Bearcats quarterback Gino Guidugli said he overheard defensive players saying that trying to tackle Bush "was like trying to catch a bag of bricks."

He's going into this season in the best shape of his career, according to U of L coach Bobby Petrino. After concentrating on playing quarterback as a freshman, his biggest job since has been learning to be a true running back.

"He came back (instead of opting for the NFL draft), and he came back with the goal of having a great season and elevating his draft status and being a big part of our football team," Petrino said. "It's real important to him that we finish his four years very strong."

Bush is ranked among the top five backs by most preseason publications. ESPN analyst Mel Kiper rates him the top senior running back and puts him at No. 9 overall on his "Big Board" of draft prospects.

He's listed as the No. 8 Heisman Trophy candidate by wagerweb.com. In his preseason magazine, Phil Steele said that if Bush played for a traditional power, he'd be No. 1.

On U of L's media day, reporters tried to pin down Bush on his goals for the season.

"I know y'all are trying to get me to say 30 touchdowns," he said. "I'll let you say it. I've got my goals. I've got some things I want to do. But I think everybody will just have to wait and see."

Earlier, at the Big East Conference media day, he let the real numbers slip: "I'd say that's 30 touchdowns and 1,500 yards. Without missing two games, I might have done that last year."

Nor is Bush shy about where he'd eventually like to end up. He looked up toward the honored jerseys in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and said: "My goal is to have my jersey hanging up there. When I came here this was a basketball school. I'd like it to be a football school when I leave."

To make that happen, he'll need to do something special this season. He said he has talked with former Male basketball teammate and U of L star Larry O'Bannon about what it was like to help his hometown team to a Final Four. Bush said he thinks the BCS experience would be even bigger.

"I bet it would be like the atmosphere with the 1986 (basketball) championship team," he said. "Maybe not quite to that, but close. I think it would be a great thing for this city, and I think we've got the ability to make it happen."

Battling back

It's the first day of U of L's preseason practice, and heads are shaking. Brohm has thrown two high passes in skeleton drills.

"I probably got a little mad at him in the seven-on-seven, and he got mad at himself, and Jeff (Brohm, Brian's brother and the Cardinals' quarterbacks coach) was even beyond himself upset because he missed a couple of throws," Petrino said. "He missed some high ones that could have been caught, and if the receiver makes the catch you don't worry about it probably as much."

What fewer people noticed, but what made Petrino smile, happened a little bit later, when Brohm was facing a live defense for the first time. When he dropped back in the pocket, he looked comfortable, eyes downfield, throws on the money.

It took a lot of work to get to that point. The injury he suffered in a victory over Syracuse last Nov. 26, a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, was the first significant one of his career. Even deciding on the surgery took nearly a week of talks with doctors and late nights on the Internet for Oscar Brohm. The family finally consented to a new "double-bundle" procedure using a cadaver ligament.

Brian was told the rehab would be grueling, and it was.

Oscar Brohm said that one day he went into the training room and saw trainers stretching and twisting the knee, with Brian on the table biting into a towel as hard as he could.

"It was tough to watch," the elder Brohm said.

His son was maniacal about his rehabilitation, according to coaches, trainers and family. He set ambitious goals and met them. He wanted to be able to walk without a crutch at the Gator Bowl. He didn't want fans or teammates or TV cameras to see him hobbled, and they didn't.

He was determined to be able to throw in spring practices. He wanted his teammates to know he was on his way back. He shocked coaches with the amount of work he could do.

In the off-season he went from seven-day-a-week workouts to six, but he never skimped and never -- ever -- missed.

"During spring break I just wanted to get with him for one day and just hang out and bond, father-son stuff, but he wouldn't miss a workout," Oscar said. "We finally did it the last Friday of spring break, but only after he finished his workout."

Brohm is a natural -- the son of one U of L quarterback and brother of another. The other brother, Greg, was a wideout for the Cardinals. Greg recalls times when he'd wonder where Brian was, then find him leafing through Jeff's clippings from high school or college. He'd sit and watch football games at age 3 or 4. He was playing flag football by the first grade -- and his team was the only one in the league with a passing offense.

Sometimes he looks so automatic that it's easy to forget what's behind his game.

"He's a determined guy," said Greg Brohm, now U of L's director of football operations. "You don't see it because he has this great demeanor on the field where nothing affects him. You don't always see how much he loves it, how much he wants it. But it's there."

There's speculation that this could be Brohm's final collegiate season, too, but he swats away talk on entering the draft early.

"This is the beginning of my junior year," he said. "I'm definitely planning on being here for another year after this one. I really can't think about that. I've got a long way to go before that will even cross anyone's mind."

Finishing strong

Bush has started only 15 games at U of L and didn't even intend to be a running back when he enrolled, but he's only 825 yards from becoming the leading rusher in school history. Brohm, with a 68.4 percent career completion rate, is on pace to break the NCAA record.

What more can they do?

Think about this: Bush chose U of L over Ohio State, which is No. 1 in The Associated Press' preseason poll. Brohm turned down Notre Dame, which is No. 2. Together they hope to put the Cards in that company by season's end.

"I think we know we could maybe have gotten more national publicity if we'd gone somewhere else," Bush said. "But we came here to kind of bring that national publicity here. Now we've got a chance to do it, but we have to get out on the field and make it happen."

It's nothing they haven't been doing for a long time.

Bush's career rushing numbers

     

Year G Att. Yds TD Avg.

2003 13 81 503 6 6.2

2004 12 132 734 7 5.6

2005 10 205 1,143 23 5.6

totals 35 418 2,386 36 5.7

In the all-time U of L record book, Bush is second in touchdowns, ninth in rushing attempts and eighth in rushing yards.

Bush also has 49 career receptions for 649 yards. Brohm's career passing numbers

     

Year G Att. Comp. Int Yds TD

2004 11 98 66 2 819 6

2005 10 301 207 5 2,883 19

Totals 21 399 273 7 3,702 25

Brohm ranked second in NCAA Division I-A in passing efficiency last season, completing 68.8

percent of his passes.

[bullwark]

Kickoffs will be key again for Cardinals

After all, they got to do it 77 times last season

By Brian Bennett

bbennett@courier-journal.com

The Courier-Journal

It would be easy to look at the numbers or remember a few key sequences and determine that the University of Louisville football team struggled to cover kickoffs last season.

The Cardinals, after all, finished 84th of 117 NCAA Division I-A teams in kickoff-return yards allowed. They also gave up two touchdowns, including one rally-killing return to start the second half in the blowout loss at South Florida.

 

But new special-teams coach Tom McMahon has watched the film of last year's kickoff coverage unit, and he came away with a different point of view.

"I've got to tell you, flat-out, I think they did a great job of covering kicks last year," he said. "No one kicks the ball off as much as we do here. If you have 85 kickoffs, you're going to give up some yardage on some of those."

Actually, U of L kicked off 77 times last year. Only Texas teed it up more, but the Longhorns' 80 kicks came in 13 games, while the Cardinals played 12.

Still, outside of place-kicker Art Carmody, special teams rarely were anything special for the Cardinals. McMahon hopes to change that, and he has some very clear ideas of how he wants things done.

Start with -- as all games do -- the kickoff. McMahon would prefer his players not have to worry too much about coverage, because he'd like the kicker to drill the ball through the back of the end zone. If that doesn't happen, he wants at least a four-second hang time on the kick.

"Kickoff coverage is up to the kicker," he said. "The No. 1 thing we have to have is somebody who gives us a chance to cover. If we have 10 kickoffs, we shouldn't have to cover five. The other five should all have great hang time."

McMahon's overarching philosophy is to gain a first down on every special-teams play: stop the return team 10 yards behind its average starting point, and gain an extra 10 yards when fielding kickoffs and punts.

Along those lines, he gives specific instruction to his punters: Aim for a 42-yard average, but most important, locate the ball properly and get that four-second hang time.

"Too often you want a guy kicking 50 or 60 yards," McMahon said. "But if you start trying to do that, you're going to start shanking it. I just want somebody who is consistent and who knows where he's going to put the ball."

Junior Todd Flannery, who averaged 41 yards per punt last season, is being pushed in practice by Corey Goesttche. Flannery probably also will handle kickoffs.

There are no question marks at place-kicker. Last year Carmody made 14 of 16 field-goal attempts, including his last 13. He's 6 for 6 in his career from beyond 40 yards.

Elsewhere, battles continue to rage for runback duties. Kickoff-return options include Harry Douglas, Rod Council, George Stripling, Trent Guy, Sergio Spencer and Latarrius Thomas. The punt-return competition is among Patrick Carter, Spencer, Guy and freshman Anthony Allen.

"My whole goal is to help the offense with field position," said Carter, who returned punts at Georgia Tech before transferring. "If I don't score, I want to get back to the 50 so we're three plays away from field-goal range."

This is McMahon's first year at U of L, but he's no stranger to head coach Bobby Petrino and offensive coordinator Paul Petrino.

McMahon played at Carroll College under Bobby Petrino Sr. and was a teammate of Paul's. McMahon went on to coach at Utah State, first as a graduate assistant under John L. Smith. The Petrino brothers were assistants at Utah State when McMahon began there.

"I always wanted to work with coach Petrino," he said. "This was a great opportunity."

McMahon has impressed the players with his enthusiasm, and they're ready to put his plans into action.

"He's real energetic and has got a lot of good schemes for us," Carmody said. "I think special teams are going to be a force this year."