Brown: Tyler Shough can take Louisville offense to next level — if he can stay healthy

Watching quarterback Tyler Shough’s debut in Louisville’s 62-0 win over Austin Peay brought both exhilaration and anxiety Saturday at L&N Stadium.

He brings so much potential for the Cardinals' offense to score on every drive or any play. There’s also the angst the Texas Tech transfer brings, given his history with injuries, that makes every hit he takes an indictment on if he’ll be healthy long enough to deliver on his promise.

Shough only played the first half, but showed just how different the Cards will be offensively in Year 2 under head coach Jeff Brohm.

"He's been consistent and steady all spring, all summer, all fall camp, so he played pretty much the way I thought he would," Brohm said. "... We've got to keep him durable and healthy. But I anticipate him playing well, and as we can continue to build a team and create some balance and give him numerous choices, I think he can play even better."

Shough may quietly end up being the best quarterback in the ACC. Miami's Cam Ward will have a say and possibly Boston College's Thomas Castellanos or Kyle McCord at Syracuse. But the way Florida State's D.J. Uiagalelei, N.C. State's Grayson McCall and SMU's Preston Stone started off last week didn't bring any confidence for those two. Neither did watching Clemson's Cade Klubnik, albeit against Georgia's defense.

U of L ran the ball more than it threw last season — a first for a Brohm-coached team since his last season at Western Kentucky in 2016. That’s likely to change this season with Shough under center.

He directed scoring drives on six of seven possessions he was on the field. He completed 18 of 24 passes for 232 yards with four touchdowns, the latter tying Browning Nagle for most touchdown passes in a U of L debut.

The way Brohm shows his confidence in Shough comes in the amount of freedom he allows. Shough said he won't check out of a called play, "just to check it," but Brohm gives him the latitude to do so.

"I feel like it's kind of full reign, within reason," Shough said.

Of Shough's incompletions, four came when he either threw the ball away to avoid a sack or it was bobbled or dropped by his intended receiver. In other words, he was on target for all but two passes and both of those were deep routes. He overthrew Ja’Corey Brooks on one and he didn’t lead Jadon Thompson on another.

That’s pretty sharp for a guy who hadn’t played in nearly a year. The last time Shough took snaps in the regular season, he broke his leg on Sept. 23 last year in Texas Tech’s 20-13 loss at West Virginia.

And that was after a broken collarbone shortened his season in 2022. And after that same collarbone was broken in 2021 and limited him to just four games.

Shough's history was with him whenever he encountered pressure on Saturday. All of L&N Stadium had to grimace or clench teeth just about every time he got hit against the Governors. To his credit, though, Shough says he doesn’t think about injuries.

"It's always nice when you get out there and you can take a lick and get your bell rung or get hit," Shough said. "It kind of wakes you up a little bit."

When he stayed in the pocket long enough to deliver a 33-yard touchdown pass to Thompson in the second quarter, some spectators may have been scared a split second when a player remained down on the field.

Turns out it wasn’t Shough, but at first glance all that could be seen were cleats in the backfield. When he took his first sack of the season that ended a two-minute drill and led to U of L's first punt, there had to be more than a few eyes locked on how he would look when he got up.

Standing in to give his receivers added time to get open may be the extent of what Brohm asks Shough to do that will get him hit. Brohm said he won't have Shough carrying the ball on designed runs like he did on a regular basis during his time at Texas Tech. It led to him being susceptible to injury.

"We want to keep him upright, and we want him to be able to get the ball out quickly to our guys," Brohm said.

The anxiety is minuscule compared to the imagination of what a Shough-led offense can accomplish for Louisville.

His 21-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Redman was a perfect example. Shough could have played it safe and dumped the ball off in the flat to a running back. Instead, he knew Redman had single coverage on a wheel route and he delivered the ball to the corner of the end zone where only Redman could catch it.

It was one of five passes of 20 or more yards Shough completed. And unlike last year, U of L's explosive plays didn’t come on individual players taking short passes for big gains.

Brohm, a former quarterback who is probably tougher on the position than any other, gave Shough the ultimate compliment after his performance.

"I like watching him play," Brohm said.

Shough delivered the ball deep. And if he can stay healthy, he just might deliver the Cards back to the ACC title game.

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville football: Tyler Shough in Jeff Brohm offense brings promise