Louisville Football Helmet 2014 ACC Kickoff Photo by Mark Blankenbaker Fitted

Safety On/Safety Off

Mark BlankenbakerAugust 4, 2014

The University of Louisville was provided with a good news/bad news Sunday in regards to its most delicate starting roster position: Safeties.

The Good News: James Sample arrived on campus and told InsideTheVille’s Mike Hughes that he is cleared for practice when the Cards open camp on Tuesday. Sample is a former U.S. Army All-American and 4-star safety who signed with the Washington Huskies in the 2011 Signing Class. James has two years of eligibility remaining at Louisville and is expected to compete for a starting role.

Bolt: Top JUCO transfer James Sample arrives at Louisville; Report at http://t.co/dbyjEiB4zV (VIP) http://t.co/3ewMwcSaeg via @247Sports

— Mike Hughes (@ITVHughes) August 4, 2014

The Bad News: One of the Cards most promising prospects (2nd best signee of 2014 according to 247sports.com) Michael Johnson has enrolled and begun practicing with new JUCO ASA Miami who will begin competition in 2015.

Louisville bounce back Michael Johnson (Ex Champagnat star) will be starring at safety fa newly opened ASA Miami pic.twitter.com/d7g1itxaAf

— Juco Football Frenzy (@JUCOFFrenzy) July 29, 2014

The Result at Safety: We will begin rolling out position previews after the 1st week of camp, so standby for a full report. But as it stands the Safety position has A LOT of possible solutions, the Cards really just need to find the best one.

One possible solution, one would assume would be a worse case scenario in moving Cornerback Terrell Floyd to Safety. Floyd would be an extremely solid safety, but his skill set and coverage ability is more suited to playing the cornerback position.

Gerod Holliman is assumed to be at least one starting safety, and Jermaine Reve would certainly be penciled in as well if not for injury. Reve should be back at some point during 2014 and we’ll see if the Cards elect to use or sit him for 2014 when he is cleared.

Outside of James Sample, Louisville fans should familiarize themselves with Terrence Ross who would have contributed on special teams as a true freshman before suffering an injury that forced a redshirt. Jarrod Barnes did a nice job in the Spring as did Chucky Williams and it would be interesting to see who the staff started if the season started today.

Also at safety Kevin Houchins has a lot of ability and true freshman De’Eric Culver can probably make the transition from corner to safety if needed.