Up Close with PSR
Louisville Quarterback
Brian Brohm

A 2006 Heisman Trophy candidate, University of Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm is coming off a knee injury that sidelined him for the final two games of 2005. Brohm was one of the top high school quarterbacks in the country in 2003, and the Kentucky native surprised many when he chose to stay home and attend Louisville. In just two seasons-only 10 starts-he has thrown for 3,702 yards and 25 touchdowns. PSR's George Von Benko got some insight from the preseason All-Big East QB.

PSR: Coming off the injury what was your role in the spring?

BB: I went through a few drills; routes and skelly, getting back into reading defenses, reading coverages and just working on that part of my game.

PSR: How difficult was the rehab process?

BB: It was pretty difficult, probably going through any rehab is. The scar tissue in the knee, the first part of the rehab was the most difficult and it got easier as it went on. They were trying to be real positive when I went in there. They thought it would take anywhere between six and nine months to get back at full strength. They said after the surgery that it went real well and they thought I'd do good, so that gave me the confidence. They really didn't know how long it takes -- they said it varies between the different people, so they just said six to nine months. I knew it would be a long, tough process, and it was.

PSR: How are you physically as fall camp approaches?

BB: I'm out here running with the guys and the knee feels great right now. I'm pretty close to being 100 percent. The rehab was pretty tough in the beginning. Right now, I'm feeling pretty good and I'm just happy to be out here working out again. Probably for about a month now I've been waking up pain free. Before then, I'd wake up and be stiff, had to move around a little bit, get warmed up, but right now I wake up and I can't tell the difference between either knee.

Right now, I'm doing everything - running and cutting and throwing off the bootleg and rollouts, things I wasn't doing in the spring. And I'm back to practicing handoffs to the running backs. I can do it all right now… I have a few things left to do to get a little bit stronger, but right now I'm pretty much normal.

PSR: Having never gone through a major injury, how difficult was it for you last season?

BB: The hardest part was going down to the (Gator) bowl game, something you work the whole season for, and not being able to play in that game. That week down there in Jacksonville was probably the toughest week to go through mentally. I tried not to feel sorry for myself. I've tried to focus on getting better, focus on getting back to where I was, focus on next season and being able to play.

PSR: Louisville is one of the Big East favorites this year, but you did suffer some graduation losses at wide receiver. When you look at your wide receivers corps what do you see?

BB: I think we have a lot of talent at wide receiver. We have speed. We have size. I think we're going to have a lot of competition for those receiver spots. I think we're going to be really deep at receiver and be able to play a lot of guys this year.

PSR: Talk about the offensive line and how confident you are in the new guys.

BB: I think it will be interesting to watch the competition that will be taking place on the offensive line. Some of the younger guys will have to step up. We have a lot of great young linemen that will be competing. There's a lot of them there competing for the job and you'll see that its difficult to replace guys like Jason Spitz and Travis Leffew, who were here for so long, but I think we have some guys that will compete for it and step in and take over those spots.

PSR: What did you guys learn in year one of the Big East?

BB: Just that you have to be ready for every game. This league is a physical league and every game is going to present a challenge week in and week out. We knew that going into the season, but really we hadn't experienced that before, so just being ready every week to go out there and compete and get ready to play at the highest level we can play at.

PSR: Last year was a little disappointing for the Cards considering all the preseason hype. How do you view this upcoming season?

BB: Definitely, the opportunity is there for some big things to happen this season. But if we start looking ahead, then that opportunity is going to go away pretty fast. Right now, we have to stay on the straight and narrow and keep the blinders on and prepare for Kentucky.