The Cardinal Countdown: 47 Days Until Kickoff

#47 Reese Melton

Class: Sophomore

Ht/Wt: 6-2/224

Position: Linebacker

Hometown: Columbus, OH

Twitter: @Reese_Be_Melten

Thoughts: Reese is a walk-on out of Columbus (let’s not hold it against him if he grew up a Buckeye fan) who came to play for the Cards last year. Reese played both football and baseball (P/RF) in high school and is listed at linebacker on the current roster. I’d imagine Reese will get the majority of his reps on the practice squad while on campus but appreciate the contributions to the team.

You want a kid who can run through your chest or one that can strike you out with a backdoor sliddy?

Get you somebody who can do both

Sweet Tweet:

Reese doesn’t tweet much which is likely why he was just breaking even on the followers back on April 5th. Quick tip to Reese to pick up some followers, retweet this guy early and often. He’s dropping knowledge.

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#47 Austin Johnson

Class: Sophomore

Ht/Wt: 6-2/198

Position: Punter

Hometown: Louisville, KY (Product of DeSales High School)

Twitter: @todd_johnson16

Thoughts: Last season Austin and Mason King went to battle over the starting punter spot, which I thought was pretty cool, seeing two local kids fight it out to see who… would get to do very little work last year. You see, the Louisville offense was so productive that Mason, who won the job, only punted 55 times last season. Out of the Top 100 punters in 2016 only nine, yes nine, had fewer punts than him when playing the full season.

While Mason won the role in 2016, and I fully expect him to hang on to his spot, we all know every job is up for grabs every single week. Austin was a great athlete in high school who played quarterback, kicker, and punter on his DeSales squad the last two seasons he was there. A couple recruiting services even had him rated as a Top 10 punter nationally so you know he’ll continue to push Mason and be ready to go if his number gets called.

Sweet Tweet:

I’m with you Austin.