Louisville football has a high ceiling for the 2026 season, and a large part of that is the Cardinals' offseason. Louisville went out and had a dominant Transfer Portal run, finding a way to keep Isaac Brown, AJ Green, and Antonio Watts after all three announced they planned to enter the portal. Then they added some explosive weapons at wide receiver and some depth in the trenches.
However, Louisville’s most urgent offseason priority was clearly upgrading the quarterback position. The Cardinals lost Miller Moss to eligibility, and his three backups all hit the Transfer Portal, leaving Jeff Brohm to go get his next QB1 from the portal for the fourth straight season.
The Cards went out and grabbed Lincoln Kienholz, the Ohio State transfer, and while many fans believe he has a high ceiling, ESPN’s Bill Connelly just gave him the disrespect that will fire him up to prove the doubters wrong.
Related: 10 biggest Transfer Portal commitments for Louisville football this offseason
ESPN just gave Louisville QB Lincoln Kienholz the ultimate bulletin-board material
Connelly recently ranked all 68 Power 4 college football teams' quarterbacks before spring football starts, and while Kienholz doesn’t have the resume to be high on the list, the ESPN analyst ranked Kienholz No. 53 out of 68, which is incredibly disrespectful to the former 4-star recruit.
"Kienholz was a garbage-time delight at Ohio State last season, but if he holds off freshman Briggs Cherry and West Georgia transfer Davin Wydner for the starting job, he'll earn the first real snaps of his career. He's a mobile guy with at least short-range accuracy. There are some fun weapons in Jeff Brohm's latest enormous transfer haul, but we'll see what kind of upside Kienholz can bring to the table."Bill Connelly
Kienholz hasn’t started a game in his college career, but the Ohio State transfer is a former blue-chip recruit who ranked as high as No. 172 in the nation and No. 11 among quarterbacks in the 2023 recruiting class. He dominated in high school, throwing for 9,100 yards and 104 touchdowns, including his final seasons, where he threw for 3,422 yards and 46 touchdowns.
The 6-foot-2, 214-pound quarterback was competing for QB1 last season with Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin, and after he lost the battle, he was the backup, where he completed 11-of-14 passes for 139 yards and one touchdown. He also showed off his ability to run as he ran 11 times for 66 yards and found the endzone twice with his legs.
Brohm has been dubbed the quarterback whisperer, having developed Jack Plummer and Tyler Shough into NFL quarterbacks after both threw for 3,000 yards at Louisville. Kienholz ranked in the bottom 16 feels disrespectful, but it will only light a fuse in the former 4-star recruit, who will make a statement in 2026.
Related: 4 Louisville transfers with the most to prove in spring practice for Jeff Brohm
For all the latest news and updates on Louisville football's 2025 season and recruiting, stay tuned.