Louisville football position preview: Safety
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While Louisville football’s cornerback room was one of the main culprits for a struggling secondary last fall, the safety room wasn’t exempt from poor play.
The Cardinals’ safeties made strides throughout last season despite not being as highly regarded as the corners. The group was solid, headlined by seniors Tamarion McDonald and M.J. Griffin, who were steady and at times kept the Cards’ secondary afloat.
McDonald and Griffin graduate, so attention shifts to a pair of transfers, but secondary coach and co-defensive coordinator Ron English still has some talent returning from the 2024 roster.
Among those returners is projected starter at free safety D’Angelo Hutchinson and redshirt sophomore reserve Daeh McCullough.
Starting with Hutchinson, the 6-foot-3 senior is one of the most experienced players in the room. Hutchinson has played in at least 10 games in each of his first three years in the Red and Black. Last season, he played in all 13 and made 52 tackles and two tackles for loss. Out of St. Petersburg, Florida, he was just a two-star prospect coming out of Northeast High School, and he has steadily climbed the depth chart and popped last fall. He also tallied three pass breakups. Hutchinson was great off the bench last season, and with his height/size, he can make athletic plays on the ball in coverage and has a chance to grow as a tackler.
McCullough has had moments, both good and bad, in practice, but was a highly-touted four-star safety out of high school, and Rivals had him as the No. 32 player in the country at his position and the No. 6 prospect out of Indiana. After redshirting his freshman season at Oklahoma, McCullough transferred to Louisville, but he only recorded one tackle in 2024.
Speed is McCullough’s calling card, but he’s pretty good in coverage, too. Tackling and playing aggressively in the run game and over the middle of the field are areas with room for growth.
Now for the transfers, two of the Cardinals’ most exciting transfer portal additions on defense were FIU’s JoJo Evans and Baylor’s Corey Gordon Jr. Both are expected to see a healthy amount of snaps this fall in the safety rotation, and the two also come in with experience.
Evans might be one of the most talented defensive backs on the roster. He was a first-team All-Conference USA member last season at Florida International and was third on the team in tackles with 93 — an eye-popping number for a safety, which was also eighth most in the conference. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound safety also had two interceptions in 2024.
The redshirt senior is a fantastic tackler and would be my pick to start at strong safety come August 30.
Baylor’s Corey Gordon is a lean 6-foot-2 and started two games for the Bears last season, but appeared in 12. Despite only making a pair of starts, Gordon was seventh on the team in tackles with 34 and picked off three passes. Now, as a redshirt junior, Gordon primarily played as the STAR, LB/S hybrid, but, because of his coverage skills, Louisville could have him back deep roaming. Gordon makes plays — which is something that was lacking from the secondary a season ago. In 2023, the Oklahoma City product had four pass breakups in four starts.
He very well could challenge Hutchinson for a starting spot at free safety.
Another name under the radar calls Louisville home and is a Trinity High School product. Blake Ruffin, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound redshirt senior, spent the first three seasons at Eastern Illinois. He started 11 games in 2023 at the FCS level before transferring and was named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press.
Now entering his final season of eligibility, Ruffin needs to be healthy if he’s to make a difference. He missed last season due to an injury and did not practice this spring.
Another wildcard is true freshman Micah Rice. The North Oldham product was listed as the No. 10 in-state prospect by On3 and has a chance to earn snaps this fall. As a three-star football player, Rice was also a track star in high school and set the conference record in the 400-meter dash at 48.30.
We see a lot of mixed skillsets in the Cards’ safety room this fall. They have speed, good ball skills, and Evans is one of the best tacklers at his position in the country. The ingredients are there for this position group to make a significant impact; it just might be up to the coaching staff to stir the pot. Someone has to separate themselves.
The bottom line
Louisville’s safety room is deep and experienced. The room possesses speed, high-level production at the lower level and some big hitters. I would expect Evans and Hutchinson to be the day-one starters, but we’ll likely see heavy emphasis on substitutions giving guys like McCullough and Gordon a chance to make plays. Without question, this Louisville defense must be better than it was a year ago if the Cards are to get back in the ACC Championship Game. The safety room, has the chance to be dynamic enough to do so, the staff just has to find the right combination.
Expected depth chart
Free Safety
- D’Angelo Hutchinson, 6-3, 200 lb, Sr.
- Corey Gordon, 6-2 195 lb, RS-Jr.
- Micah Rice, 6-2 195 lb, Fr.
Strong Safety
- JoJo Evans, 6-1 200 lb, RS-Sr.
- Daeh McCullough, 6-2, 195 lb, RS-Soph.
- Blake Ruffin, 6-3 205 lb, RS-Sr.
