U of L's Brohm passes recovery milestone; Petrino is impressed
-By Eric Crawford, The Courier-Journal-

Coach says QB will report to camp at 100 percent

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University of Louisville football coach Bobby Petrino said junior quarterback Brian Brohm passed a milestone in recovery from ligament surgery on his right knee Wednesday when he threw on the run for the first time in summer workouts.

“As of today, he doesn’t have any more pain,” Petrino told a crowd at the Cardinal Caravan at Captian’s Quarters Riverside Grill in Louisville. “He went out today and started throwing on the run, which is another major step for him. It was kind of a stepping stone this week, and he has a few more to meet, but all anticipation is that by August 3 when we report to camp, he’ll be 100 percent to take all the reps he needs in practice.”

Petrino said Brohm’s recovery is ahead of schedule and that the way he has attacked the knee injury impressed coaches and trainers with his work ethic.

“He accomplished a lot more in spring than I ever thought he would,” Petrino said of Brohm. “He threw all our route periods, he threw 7-on-7. We even invented a few drills for him so he could see some blitzes without linemen there. He got a lot accomplished. But he’s probably one of the hardest workers on our team.

“It’s a hard injury. I remember walking in the training room one day and he’s laying on his back, and one trainer had jumped up and was laying on his knee, just trying to straighten it out. He was in a tremendous amount of pain, then they’d wait 30 seconds and do it again. But I’ve watched him progress, and he’s doing great.”

The Cardinals were ranked No. 3 nationally in preseason ratings released by Phil Steele’s College Football Preview, their highest ranking yet in national publications. Most others have them ranked between No. 8 and No. 20, but Petrino said that every year, his coaches and players seem to pay less attention to them.

“That’s how we want it,” Petrino said. “We want the players to be used to it, so it’s not something they look at a lot. We want them thinking about winning football games.”

Senior Amobi Okoye said that has been his experience.

“I know when I was a freshman, we got a kick out of looking at the magazines and the rankings and hearing the hype,” he said. “But now everybody has been through it, and we know how college football works, and we know that you win games in the weight room and on the field and by doing the work. So the rankings aren’t too big a deal for us.”

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