Louisville football safety Devin Neal is leaving the team

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Louisville football program has lost a crucial part of its secondary at an inopportune time.

Safety Devin Neal has left the team, the program announced less than an hour before the game against SMU. He is expected to enter the transfer portal.

This will make Louisville's already thin secondary a little thinner. Star corner Quincy Riley missed last week's game at Notre Dame and is a game-time decision today against the Mustangs. Corners Corey Thornton and Tahveon Nicholson have also been hit hard in recent weeks.

Neal transferred from Baylor before the 2023 season and made an immediate impact. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound safety played in all 14 games with 13 starters and led the team in interceptions with four, was second in tackles with 74 and also finished the game with 3.0 tackles for loss , six pass breakups and a fumble recovery. He received Third-Team All-ACC honors.

The Lexington, Kentucky native was expected to be another significant player for Louisville's secondary, but up to that point he had appeared off the bench in all four of Louisville's games. He recorded nine tackles (five solo) before leaving the Cardinals.

Neal was an important part of Baylor's safety rotation in 2022. The 5-foot-10, 200-pound safety played in 11 games with seven starts this season and recorded 41 total tackles (31 solo), 2.0 tackles for loss , a sack, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. The only game he did not play in was Baylor's regular season finale at Texas.

During his three seasons with the Bears, Neal accumulated 67 total tackles (50 solo), 3.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks, two picks, two forced fumbles and one pass breakup. When he played his high school ball at Frederick Douglass, he was ranked as the No. 9 prospect in the state of Kentucky 247Sport.

Kickoff against SMU is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. EST.

(Devin Neal Photo: Sam Upshaw Jr. – Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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