Louisville Football: What to Watch for in Louisville’s Annual Spring Game

What to expect from Puma Pass and the Louisville offense

For the first time in a few years, Louisville football is going to have a new face under center. This new face, barring a giant twist, is going to be Jawon “Puma” Pass. Standing in at 6 foot 4, Puma certainly looks the part of an ACC quarterback, but the spring game will be the start of deciding whether or not he can play the part.

Pass saw limited game action last year, albeit understandably so with the greatest Louisville football player of all time ahead of him on the depth chart. It’ll be very interesting to see how Puma reacts to having the reigns of the offense and whether or not he will perform under the pressure of being the starting quarterback.

In the action that he did get last year, he performed rather well, completing 70 percent of his passes to go along with 3 touchdowns. I’m very excited to see Bobby open up the offense a little bit, and let Puma play to his strengths, instead of asking him to duplicate Lamar’s style of play.

That brings me to another interesting tidbit: what is the offense itself going to look like this year? While Puma Pass was classified as a dual threat out of high school, he is by no means as explosive or elusive in the open field as Lamar Jackson was. Knowing this, it’ll be interesting to see what sets and formations Bobby has gotten rid of, and what sets and formations he has added that play to the strengths of Puma Pass.

I’d expect to see Bobby get back to his traditional offense, with Puma Pass under center and maybe some play action passing to go along with it. In order for the play action to work, Louisville has to establish some kind of a run game. This run game is going to look very different than the past couple years, simply because that’s what the personnel dictates.

I’d expect to see more of a downhill run game, and not as much read option out of the shotgun. Bobby Petrino has always been great at designing an offense around the strengths of his quarterbacks, and I expect this year to be no different.

More than anything, I’m excited to see Puma develop into his own as a quarterback, and see what kind of player he can become now that he is out of Lamar’s shadow. If he can be half as great as the last guy to be under center for the Cards, then I think Louisville will be in good hands.

When Puma Pass and his team go to the bench, Louisville fans will get their first look at Malik Cunningham, a redshirt quarterback who fits the same mold of Lamar Jackson (he’s not Lamar Jackson, just a head’s up).

Cunningham is a traditional dual-threat QB out of Montgomery, Alabama, who committed to the Cards over programs like Georgia, Georgia Tech and LSU. Cunningham has yet to take a snap under center for the Cards, so there really is no idea what to expect from the 6’1, 198 pound quarterback.

It’s unlikely that Cunningham gets consideration for the starting job with Puma Pass on the roster. But getting “live snaps” in the spring game will only help him moving forward in case of injury to the Louisville starter.

While there are questions in the Louisville backfield at running back, and a lot of competition going on at the wide receiver position, one area that is as strong as it’s ever been is the offensive line.

Even with Louisville losing three year starter Geron Christian to the NFL, the offense returns four other starters including star tackle Mekhi Becton. Also back will be Lukyas McNeil who spurned the NFL to return to the Cards, as well as Kenny Thomas, Cole Bentley and Robbie Bell.

The offensive coaching staff have raved about the performance of the returnees, talking about them as if they could be the most unit the Cards have had their in years.

Offensive Line coach Mike Summers provided an update on his group’s performance after practice last week saying,

"“The guys that are returning for us, Lukayus (McNeil) and Kenny (Thomas) and Mekhi (Becton), have been very consistent and have shown up every day, and have really taken a step forward and developed,” Summers told the Courier Journal after last week’s scrimmage."

Louisville’s offense should provide fans with a lot of optimism heading into a big-time match up with defending National Champions Alabama.