Louisville football boasts legacy of standout quarterbacks. Will Miller Moss be next?

Posted by author February 20, 2025 Football

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Louisville has a history of successful quarterbacks, with six of its last 13 starters being drafted into the NFL.
The Cardinals’ head coach, Jeff Brohm, emphasizes the importance of having a strong quarterback and providing them with the necessary support to succeed.
Miller Moss, a transfer from USC, is the latest quarterback to join Louisville, hoping to continue the program’s legacy of success at the position.

Stefan LeFors didn’t have many college offers coming out of high school in Louisiana.

LeFors was mainly recruited as a defensive back; Louisville football was the only program that offered him a scholarship as a quarterback. LeFors came to Louisville in 2001 and played behind Dave Ragone, who didn’t have much knowledge about Louisville, either, when he signed with the Cardinals in 1999. U of L sold Ragone on being a pass-heavy program with a new stadium in the works.

“Chris Redman was my host, and he was selling me on the same stuff and just kind of made the decision to go there,” said Ragone, now the Los Angeles Rams’ quarterbacks coach. “I was considering Purdue. I was considering some MAC schools, Pitt, and at the end of the day, just kind of fell into the right opportunity, the right fit to pick Louisville.”

Louisville has had standout quarterbacks sporadically, with Johnny Unitas blazing the trail. But the Cardinals have had more consistent success for nearly the past three decades, creating a reputation of being a quarterback school.

Of the 13 starting quarterbacks that Louisville has had in the past 25 years, six have been NFL draft picks, tying Florida State for second most of current ACC teams behind Stanford (7). Three more Cardinals signal callers were signed as undrafted free agents. Ragone was selected in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft. LeFors, now a high school football coach in Louisiana, was taken in the fourth round two years later. Additionally, both of Louisville’s retired jerseys — Unitas and Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson — played quarterback in college.

Louisville coach Jeff Brohm has contributed to the Cardinals’ legacy of successful quarterbacks as a player and coach. He has continued the trend by signing USC transfer Miller Moss, who is ready to add to the tradition.

“That is a position that I don’t think that we ever want to take for granted,” Brohm said. “We want to be the best that we can at the quarterback position and put good players around him to help him look good. I think Tyler (Shough) can have a great career at the next level, and I think Miller can have a great year this year and do some great things for us.”

Having the right coach and being in the right system has been key in creating a quarterback-friendly culture at Louisville. Of the school’s six coaches in the past 25 years, five had an offensive background and/or were a college quarterback.

“When the head coach is an offensive guy, or the head coach is a guy that calls the plays, the team is going to be set up for that quarterback to have success,” Brohm said. “When the head coach is maybe a defensive coach, not that he can’t do a great job — he can — but I don’t know if it’s going to be consistently important for the offense to have great success and to put up numbers and the quarterback to be fantastic. I think they’re gonna be concerned about just winning the game, which is important, too.

“We take a lot of pride in trying to make sure the quarterback position has success, looks good, does great things while we’re winning. We do think that the more success they have, hopefully it helps us have more wins.”

In 1998, John L. Smith, who played quarterback and linebacker at Weber State, came to Louisville with a high-powered offensive mind. Redman went from averaging 298.4 passing yards per game as a sophomore with Ron Cooper to 408.9 in Smith’s first year.

Redman, a standout quarterback at Male who now coaches at Christian Academy, became Louisville’s all-time leader in passing yards (12,541) and became a third-round selection in the 2000 NFL Draft. He was the perfect person from whom Ragone could learn.

“I learned how to sit there and stay in the pocket and make some throws, just his accuracy and the way he played the game and how he led,” Ragone said. “We’re different in a lot of regards in terms of how we go about playing the position, but I just had an admiration for just how he went and conducted his business.”

Ragone, a three-time Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year, led the Cardinals to the program’s first 11-win season in 2001. Just as Redman passed the torch to Ragone, Ragone did the same with LeFors.

“It’s impressive when you see a true freshman walk in right out of high school and make an immediate impact. That’s impressive, but I was not that guy,” LeFors said. “Physically, I had to develop and then mentally and all those good things. I needed that time. And then when coach (Bobby) Petrino got there, it was the right system at the right time for me, and he put me in positions to succeed and do well.”

LeFors ended his collegiate career by leading Louisville to its second 11-win season in Petrino’s second season. The cycle continued with Brian Brohm, who is the program’s second-highest-ranked recruit, per 247Sports. The pro-style quarterback helped Louisville set a wins record (12) as a junior in 2006 before becoming a second-round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Hunter Cantwell, an undrafted free agent in 2009 who is Christian Academy’s head football coach, and Adam Froman followed Brian Brohm. Teddy Bridgewater and Jackson, who helped usher in the rise of mobile quarterbacks, brought U of L’s QBs back to national prominence in the 2010s. Both were first-round picks in their respective drafts.

Despite each quarterback having their own style, Ragone and LeFors noted a competitive nature as a shared quality among the signal callers.

“Obviously, you’ve got to be able to throw the ball,” LeFors said. “You’ve got to be able to break down the defense and kind of know what’s going to happen before it happens. When you get to that level, you’re expected to be able to do all of those things. To me, it’s what you bring to the table from a leadership standpoint and just that refuse-to-lose mentality and finding a way to get it done.”