Louisville football: The 50 greatest Cardinals of all time

Part of what got the Bobby Petrino era off to a hot start was landing a slew of hometown heroes who were absolutely dominant right away for Louisville football.

As a recruit, quarterback Brian Brohm was one of the biggest gets in school history. His play backed up his high-profile commitment right away.

The Brohm family was a household name in Louisville for years. His father Oscar and his brother Jeff are both Louisville legends in their own right, but the youngest Brohm was by far the most impressive.

As a quarterback at Louisville Trinity, Brohm was 39-5 for his career, passed for nearly 11,000 yards in three yards and accounted for 119 touchdowns. Such stats are nearly unheard of in high school football, particularly in Kentucky.

Brohm was highly decorated, winning three Kentucky football state championships and being named MVP in each game. He was the USA Today Offensive Player of the Year in 2003. Though he was also selected in the 49th round of the MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies, Brohm chose to stick to football and committed to the Cards over Notre Dame, Alabama and many others.

Though he never started a game in his freshman season, Brohm was named the Conference USA freshman of the year. He backed up Stefan LeFors, but entered every game for a drive or two, passing for 819 yards and six touchdowns.

Brohm’s next three years were some of the best in school history. He led the Cardinals to their first-ever BCS bowl victory and a conference championship in a historically good Big East and was a top name in Heisman Trophy voting.

Only starting for three years, Brohm still recorded the second-most passing yards for a Cardinal in his career, the second-most passing yards in a season and the second-most and sixth-most passing yards in a game.

Brohm has since moved on to coaching under his older brother Jeff. He is currently the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the Purdue Boilermakers.