The Cardinal Countdown: 13 Days Until Kickoff

#13 P.J. Blue

Class: RS Freshman

Ht/Wt: 6-3/200

Position: Safety

Hometown: Jemison, AL

Twitter: @Ocho_Blu8

Thoughts: In my opinion, (having seen Blue play exactly ZERO plays of college football thus far) the only thing that will stop P.J. Blue from becoming another NFL caliber safety by the time he hangs up his cleats for the Cards is...health. Blue checks every single box in terms of size, speed, and athleticism, and proved as much in the Spring by dominating in the "events" he competed during testing week. Blue had a 10'11" broad jump (easily the best on the team) and a 37.5" vertical leap (2nd on the team behind the freak vertical of Reggie). Back in the Spring Petrino actually singled out Puma and Blue as the two RS Freshman he expected to see take that next step in 2017 and start to become 4 star players mentality in addition to their 4 star athleticism. So how did Blue do in the other weight lifting events during testing? He didn't. Blue was nursing a shoulder injury at the time and the coaches were holding him out as a precautionary, which is fine, but then the summer came and after having apparently rehabbed the shoulder successfully Blue was nowhere to be found at the beginning of Fall camp, which is when Petrino informed us after practice that Blue had injured his knee and was not participating in drills. Ugghhh!

I've looked around for official confirmation but at this point (thankfully) it appears the prospect of Blue returning before the season ends is not 100% out of the question, although it would likely be late in the year when that happened (similar to Dae Williams). After moving from linebacker to safety out of high school I think a lot of us thought Blue may slide into that "star" position in the old Grantham defense, I believe his size and skill would have translated well (he has already added some weight since arriving on campus). Now with Sirmon running the show there is a “hybrid” position of sorts but I’ll have to see how it plays out in live action as it may just be more of a gloried nickel package that what we grew accustomed to the last three years.

Blue was the 4th highest rated recruit for the Cards last year and there is no doubt in my mind he can contribute to the success of the team moving forward with the likes of Puma and Dez by their careers end. There will be position battles, potential position changes, etc but his toughest competition will always be remaining healthy. Lets hope the shoulder and the knee are the end of it and he start the journey back this year, working towards becoming a starter in 2018.

Sweet Tweet:

#DreadHead #TakingOverForTru #ThatHasToBeHeavy

A lesser man would make a joke in relation to the movie ‘Predator’ but you guys know I’m much better than that. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have a flight to catch and I must quickly...GET TO DA CHOPPER!