After bad year, Brohm dealing with hard knocks

Brian Brohm wouldn't have surprised anyone if he had declared for the NFL draft last year. The University of Louisville quarterback had capped a standout junior season (3,049 passing yards and 16 touchdowns) by throwing for 311 yards and earning MVP honors in the Cardinals' 24-13 victory over Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl.

Fifth-ranked Louisville finished 12-1, and when coach Bobby Petrino elected to take the Atlanta Falcons head coaching job it appeared that Brohm might follow him out the door.

Brohm, though, elected to stick around for his senior season, leading to early speculation that he would be a top-five pick in the 2008 draft. ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper placed Brohm at No. 1 of the 25 prospects he listed atop his list of draft-eligible players in June.

Anyone who follows football knows that's a position Brohm no longer holds.

Although the 6-3, 227-pound quarterback threw for 4,024 yards (308-for-473) with 30 touchdowns and 12 interceptions this past season, he seems to have fallen behind Boston College's Matt Ryan, Delaware's Joe Flacco and Michigan's Chad Henne in discussions about top quarterback prospects.

Among the knocks on Brohm, according to Pro Football Weekly's draft preview, is that he is a "marginal athlete with a pop-gun arm" who "struggles to throw with zest or accuracy on the run" and "is not a vocal leader at a position that requires much commanding."

It certainly didn't help matters that the Cardinals followed their standout season by going 6-6 under new coach Steve Kragthorpe.

Brohm, who many expect to drop to the second round, put a positive spin on his experience while addressing the media at the NFL scouting combine in February: "My season didn't go as well as expected, but I feel like I learned a lot from that," Brohm said. "It was very valuable. ... I've been on successful teams my whole career. I never had to go through a tough season like that, so just going through those struggles is something that, at one point in time, whether you like it or not, it's going to happen in the NFL. Just being able to deal with that and know how to deal with it in the correct way will help me out in the future."