As always, the red block represents a year of eligibility remaining and the black block represents a redshirt year available.

I think the linebacker group is in pretty good shape overall and maybe, second to receiver, is the position that has the most returning proven talent with some young players included. There’s a good mix here. You could start a group of Brooks, Allen and Jones and be pretty good overall I think and then add in Picone, Stringer, Jeffers, Johnson and anyone else for good measure.  That’s a pretty decent first and second team, better than what Gibbs and Spavital have had to deal with since they’ve arrived. This position seems solidified.

I really want to see what happens with Johnson, he was such a highly regarded player coming out of high school, he’s still got three good years to do something and I keep thinking that he can be terrific in that safety / linebacker role, but that just hasn’t happened yet.