LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As we inch closer to the start of the 2025 college football season, Louisville Cardinals On SI will break down each individual position on the Cardinals’ roster. Next in our positional breakdown series, we take at look at the safeties.
Free Safety
- D’Angelo Hutchinson (6-3, 200, Sr.)
- Corey Gordon Jr. (6-2, 195, R-Jr.)
- Joseph Jefferson II (6-0, 190, R-Jr.)
- *Anderson Mitchell (6-2, 180, R-Fr.)
Strong Safety
- JoJo Evans (6-1, 200, R-Sr.)
- Blake Ruffin (6-3, 205, R-Sr.)
- Daeh McCullough (6-2, 195, R-So.)
- Micah Rice (6-2, 195, Fr.)
*walk-on
Entering the 2024 season, while Louisville’s group of safeties were not as highly thought of as their cornerback counterparts, it was still viewed as a strong position group overall. It featured a handful of returning veterans, and was infused with good transfer talent that offseason.
As we mentioned in the previous position breakdown, the corners certainly deserve the bulk of the blame for Louisville’s poor showing in pass coverage last season. Not to mention that defensive line and linebackers didn’t help things out at times early on. But while the safety spot for the Cards was not nearly as disappointing, they weren’t perfect either.
In their first six games against FBS opponents, UofL allowed 258.0 passing yards per game, and finished the season with the 100th-ranked passing defense overall. But for the sake of fairness, the secondary did look much better down the stretch, allowing just 216 passing yards in the final five games of the regular season.
Louisville doesn’t lose nearly as much at safety as they do at cornerback, which saw nearly the entire position flipped on its head. But they did see a couple noteworthy contributors move on, as both M.J. Griffin and Tamarion McDonald graduated. Devin Neal also did a midseason opt-out and transfer as well.
But while they lose their starting tandem on the back end, the safety spot for the Cardinals is actually in a much better spot than they are at cornerback.
The headliner in the safety room, and perhaps one of the top players overall on the entire defense, is FIU transfer JoJo Evans. A First-Team All-Conference USA defender last season, he led the Panthers in pass breakups with seven and was third in tackles with 93, with both marks ranking seventh in C-USA. He also snagged a team-best two interceptions, logged three tackles for loss and forced one fumble.
Evans brings to the table a well-balanced mix of defensive capabilities. He’s one of the better tacklers on the team, as evidenced by his lone season at FIU, and demonstrated some great abilities sitting in pass coverage during this past spring for the Cardinals. In fact, of the 95 FBS safeties with at least 750 defensive snaps played last season, he was one of three with a Pro Football Focus run defense grade of at least 83.0, a tackling grade of at least 84.5, and a coverage grade of at least 71.0.
While Evans will be patrolling the box at the starting strong safety spot, Louisville are already pretty familiar with who will their starting free safety in D’Angelo Hutchinson. After seeing minimal run in his first two seasons as a Cardinal, he had a breakout 2024 as the go-to safety off the bench, logging 52 tackles (29 solo, two for loss) and three pass breakups.
Hutchinson is still a bit of a work in progress as a consistent tackler, and was a little streaky in coverage at times last year, but at the same time he also flashed some high end potential as a high safety. He also followed that up with a good overall showing in spring ball. If he can parlay that momentum into fall camp, he has a great chance to take another step forward in his efficiency.
Evans and Hutchinson might be the starters, but it wouldn’t surprising to see Louisville utilize a three-man rotation at safety with Baylor transfer Corey Gordon Jr. He was one the top defensive backs for a Bears team who had a bounce-back season, logging 34 tackles (25 solo), two for loss, two pass breakups, and a team-best three interceptions.
Gordon will certainly have to continue refining some of his coverage skills, but he did have a handful of plays here in the open spring practices. Additionally, he’s already a very good asset against the run, and has been since he made the jump to college.
Beyond this trio, there are a couple players who have a good chance to insert themselves into the primary rotation on the back end.
During most of spring ball, the player who was most consistently in the two deep with the other three is Daeh McCullough. He’s seen minimal run over his first two years in college, spending his freshman campaign at Oklahoma before transferring to Louisville, logging just one tackle last season. That being said, the former top-300 prospect flashed some impressive plays in coverage early in spring ball, and could be in line to take a step forward in fall camp and this season overall.
Another potential option to get the final spot in the two deep is Joseph Jefferson II, who transferred from Purdue in the spring window. He’s someone who Brohm recruited to the Boilermakers out of high school, and is coming off of a season where he finished with 31 tackles (two for loss). However, he doesn’t have a ton of overall in-game experience despite entering his fourth year in college, and his role this season will be fully determined in fall camp. In fact, due to his position versatility, he could work his way into the mix at STAR.
Someone who absolutely has the potential to earn a big role this season is Blake Ruffin, who is a Louisville native and FCS transfer who started his career at Eastern Illinois. In 2023, he snagged a league-best four interceptions, while logging 63 tackles (four for loss), a sack, a forced fumble and four pass breakups. He not only brought home First-Team All-Big South-OVC honors, but was also named a Second-Team AP FCS All-American.
That being said, health and availability is his biggest concern. He didn’t play at all for the Cardinals last season due to an undisclosed injury, and was banged up for most of spring ball. Not to mention that he missed all of 2022 at EIU due to a torn ACL. If he can stay on the field, he has a chance to be a difference maker.
Rounding out the safety room is true freshman Micah Rice and walk-on Anderson Mitchell. Rice won’t be asked to do a whole lot this season which will allow him to develop, but he was one of the top prospects in the state of Kentucky, and has some good size and athletic intangibles to him. A promising long-term future could be in store for him.
Overall, the safety spot for Louisville does have some promise and potential to it. It’s anchored by a very well-rounded player in Evans, Hutchinson and Gordon give the position some good top-end production, and a few guys behind them are capable of taking a step forward to build out the room. With the questions there are at cornerback, it could be imperative for the Cardinals’ safeties to have a good 2025 if their secondary is to have a bounce back season.
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(Photo of D’Angelo Hutchinson: Bob Kupbens – Imagn Images)
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