Louisville football recently announced the promotion of Mark Ivey and Steve Ellis to co-defensive coordinators for the Cardinals in 2026. Jeff Brohm held his first press conference since the Cardinals' massive Transfer Portal surge, which brought in 31 players.
Louisville’s offseason is ranked as high as No. 5 by On3 Sports in college football, putting the Cardinals ranked as high as No. 14 in ESPN’s way-too-early rankings. The Cards brought in five 4-star transfers this offseason, including their biggest offseason splash, Tre Richardson.
Louisville fans are excited to see Richardson team up with Ohio State transfer and Cardinals future QB1 Lincoln Kienholz, but Brohm provided a huge update that revealed Richardson is set to miss a significant amount of springtime.
Related: 10 biggest Transfer Portal commitments for Louisville football this offseason
Louisville football 4-star transfer 'out for a while'
On Tuesday afternoon, Brohm announced that Richardson had surgery on his foot and that the 4-star transfer is set to miss the next handful of months.
“Right now, he (Richardson) had surgery on his foot, he is going to be out for a while,” Brohm stated on Tuesday. “Some things he had to get healed up. So, probably not until May or June will he be 100 percent, but he will be ready to go. He can heal up, and we look forward to getting him on the field.”
With Richardson set to miss the next four or five months after his foot surgery, this potentially means the Vanderbilt transfer could be on the sidelines for the Cardinals' annual Spring Game. Louisville held its Spring Game last year on April 11, and according to Brohm, Richardson’s timeline has him returning and being back to 100 percent in May or June.
On the bright side, Brohm sounded confident this won’t affect him for the Cardinals' regular season, as he stated, “but he will be ready to go.” This isn’t an injury the Cards want to rush as he is a huge addition this offseason and is expected to be a key piece for Louisville’s highly explosive offense.
Richardson is the Cardinals' biggest offseason addition, as he is a consensus 4-star transfer and ranked as a unanimous top-80 player in the portal. The Vanderbilt transfer commits to Louisville, ranked as high as No. 66 overall and No. 15 among wide receivers in the Transfer Portal.
He will be elite speed and the Cardinals' WR1, with Lawayne McCoy also transferring from Florida State as a 4-star transfer. Richardson was Vanderbilt’s best wide receiver last year for Hesiman candidate Diego Pavia, bringing in a team-high 806 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns on 46 catches.
So, this is a spring setback for the Cardinals and the fans as they potentially won't have their star transfer on the field in the spring and for the Spring Game, but the silver lining is that he will be back and 100 percent over the summer and for fall camp ahead of Louisville’s massive Week 1 showdown against Ole Miss.