Cards' No. 2 might be more a 1-A
By Brian Bennett
bbennett@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
August 15, 2007
The situation seems almost too good to be true.
Two college quarterbacks play for the same team, separated by only one year. Each has won games as a starter and is projected as a possible first-round NFL draft pick. And yet not a whiff of controversy exists over which one should be playing from fans, the media or even the quarterbacks themselves.
That's the enviable position the University of Louisville enjoys. Senior Brian Brohm is the Cardinals' clear starter, a Heisman Trophy candidate and burgeoning school legend. Meanwhile, junior Hunter Cantwell might just be No. 1 in America at being No. 2.
Last week Rivals.com named Cantwell the best backup quarterback in college football. True, that's kind of like being called the best Supreme next to Diana Ross. But Cantwell's willingness to accept his role, along with his talent, makes him the perfect in-case-of-emergency signal-caller.
"I feel really comfortable going out and playing, and obviously in the past I've had to play," he said. "But we're at our best when Brian is the quarterback."
Cantwell, a former walk-on from Paducah, Ky., went 3-1 as a starter the past two years when Brohm was injured. All four of those starts came away from Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, including a Gator Bowl loss to Virginia Tech two years ago.
When Brohm went down with a sprained thumb last year, Cantwell helped the Cards pull away from Miami in the second half, throwing a 45-yard touchdown pass on his first attempt. Then he beat two teams that went on to make bowl games.
He was 18 of 26 for 173 yards and a touchdown in a 24-6 victory at Kansas State, and he followed that with 340 passing yards and three scores in a 44-17 win over Middle Tennessee State in Nashville.
"We know that with him we can win ballgames," said quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator Jeff Brohm, Brian's brother. "He's got to be ready at the drop of a hat, and he's had to come in and play both years. He's done a great job of preparing for that."
Cantwell is generally considered to have a stronger arm than Brian Brohm, but he lacked his teammate's game-management skills. Last year then-coach Bobby Petrino started Brohm against Cincinnati despite his mending thumb because he trusted Brohm's decision-making more than Cantwell's.
That's an area Cantwell has worked to improve by watching a lot of film of himself in action.
"It's hard to practice that because a lot of it has to do with the time clock, plays coming in and out of the huddle and the noise of the crowd," he said. "You just kind of have to be in the flow of the game. But I'm trying to do a better job of managing the game and doing it at a faster tempo and not letting the outside variables affect me."
Jeff Brohm said Cantwell has taken "a huge step mentally" since last season. In the past the coaches simplified their offensive packages when Cantwell had to play, allowing him to focus on throwing deep balls. Now, the elder Brohm said, Cantwell better understands how to read coverages and can execute the entire playbook.
Cantwell remains deferential to Brian Brohm and says he learns all the time from the senior.
"Brian does things on the field that sometimes you don't even think about," he said. "He'll throw a touchdown pass because he saw what the safety was going to do pre-snap, and I'll be like, 'I would have never seen that.' Things like that you pick up on and start to incorporate into your game. Being behind him and learning from him is a great situation for me."
That's good, because first-year coach Steve Kragthorpe said that, barring an injury to Brohm or a blowout, "Hunter will be on the sideline next to me."
His time probably will come next year, although he could face competition from current redshirt freshman Tyler Wolfe and true freshman Matt Simms. Cantwell remembers the days when NCAA Division I-AA schools told him he wasn't good enough to play, so he doesn't take anything for granted.
"Is Hunter thinking about his senior year?" said his father, Tom Cantwell. "No. I seriously believe, like always, that he's just thinking about the next practice, working each day on getting better and helping to make Louisville a better team. He's got tunnel vision in that regard."
Others have a much wider vision for him. Scouts love his pro-made 6-foot-5, 230-pound frame and cannon arm. Some ambitious NFL draft Web sites already are tabbing him as a top-five pick in 2009. NFLDraftScout.com pegs him as the No. 1 quarterback in the class of 2009. Todd McShay of ESPN.com and Scouts Inc. lists him as the fifth-best pro quarterback prospect among current juniors.
Cantwell mostly just shrugs at such talk, saying, "It's all based on potential, and I'm not there yet."
"We've talked about it, but he can't understand why he's ranked that high when he hasn't started a full season," Tom Cantwell said. "Don't misread him. He's very confident in what he can do. He's just not wired to think that way."
Luckily for U of L, he is wired to be perhaps the best backup quarterback in the country.
Brian Bennett can be reached at (502) 582-7177.
CANTWELL DOES IT WELL
Hunter Cantwell, albeit in limited playing time, produced some passing statistics that rivaled those of the nation's top quarterbacks last season. In fact, he would have ranked fourth in NCAA Division I-A in passing efficiency if he had played enough to qualify. Here's how he compared with some big names:
| Player, team |
Yds/comp. |
Yds./att. |
Pass. eff. |
| Hunter Cantwell, Louisville |
15.56 |
10 |
166.1 |
| Brian Brohm, Louisville |
15.32 |
9.74 |
159.1 |
| Colt Brennan, Hawaii |
13.67 |
9.93 |
186 |
| Jamarcus Russell, LSU |
13.49 |
9.15 |
167 |
| Andre' Woodson, Kentucky |
13.31 |
8.39 |
154.5 |
| Chris Leak, Florida |
12.68 |
8.06 |
144.9 |
| Troy Smith, Ohio State |
12.52 |
8.17 |
161.9 |
| John David Booty, USC |
12.44 |
7.68 |
144 |
| Brady Quinn, Notre Dame |
11.85 |
7.34 |
146.7 |
| Colt McCoy, Texas |
11.84 |
8.08 |
161.8 |
