How Louisville football's new defensive play-caller will tackle role

Mark Ivey  never set out to be  Louisville’s  defensive play-caller.

Actually, he never set out to be a defensive coach at all. Former  Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore  told him he would be one. Moore was going to hire Ivey, then a high school football coach, as either the offensive line coach or defensive assistant. Although Ivey requested to coach the O-line, Moore told him he would join the defense.

“I'm like, OK, that sounds good,” Ivey recalled.

Fast-forward to 2022, when Ivey opted to stay at Louisville and accepted  Jeff Brohm’s  offer to coach linebackers, despite having the most experience as a defensive line coach. Four years later, Ivey’s journey brought him back to coaching the defensive line at Louisville with an  added responsibility of play-calling .

Ivey has always been aggressive in his approach to football and demanded the same from his position group. But coaching linebackers for the past three seasons broadened his perspective, which he needed to take on the expanded role.

“When I was just D-line, I'm looking at the O-line — how do we attack them and all that kind of stuff — which is still going to be great for me to figure and see that in each week,” Ivey said. “You've got to look at the whole thing now. Not just what helps us up front, but what helps us from the front all the way to the back end. What gives us the best chance.”

He added that there will be five coaches helping with the defensive line on game days, freeing him up to “focus on trying to give our unit the best possible call to hopefully line up and play quick football.”

The work of learning to call plays began in January. Ivey, Brohm and the rest of the defensive staff reviewed and evaluated each call from  last season’s games , determining what was worth keeping, tweaking or tossing. Those calls were then tested during the spring before the group conducted another round of reviews and evaluations over the summer.

“You don't want to change too much because you've got guys that have learned a way to do something,” Ivey said. "But if it wasn't correct, you want to get something better for them because our goal is to give them the best opportunity to be lined up, play fast, play with confidence and be productive.”

Ivey’s high intensity approach appealed to  North Carolina  transfer  Tyler Thompson , who is one of the  highest graded returning edge rushers  in the ACC. Despite having seven sacks, 7½ tackles for loss and 26 total tackles last season, the former Tar Heel admitted he didn't always play with a sense of urgency. Ivey is helping to bring that out of him.

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Kentucky transfer  Jerod Smith  agreed, noting Ivey’s intensity has been a motivating factor in getting the line to where it needs to be heading into the season. And as a projected starting edge rusher, Smith welcomes more aggressive play-calling.

“It allows for more one-on-ones, or just more confusion,” he said. “So we really like that, and we really like to take advantage of that whenever we can.”

No matter where he has coached, Ivey has given his players the best opportunity to succeed because of his emphasis on being aggressive and getting to the ball. During Ivey’s time with the linebackers, T.J. Quinn was the team’s leading tackler for three straight years. Prior to switching positions, Ivey led a defensive line group that dominated in the ACC and was instrumental in tying Louisville’s record in sacks (50) in 2022.

Thompson is eyeing the sacks record and mentioned breaking it as a goal for the Cardinals this year. They have enough depth along the defensive line and the right coach calling the shots to get it done. Ivey still plans to be aggressive, but in moderation in his first season as UofL's defensive play-caller.

“You can't just be a lunatic and unload the gun all day long because eventually somebody’s going to scheme you on that,” Ivey said. “So picking and choosing when to do it, how to do it, and then how to have your counter calls to go with that, will make them work very well.”

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Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at  [email protected]  and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: How Louisville football's new defensive play-caller will tackle role

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