I think the linebackers are in pretty good shape, lots of experience and quite a bit of youth as well.
RELATED: The Defensive Backs | The Defensive Line | The Linebackers | The Offensive Line | The Receivers | The Running Backs | The Quarterbacks
Scholarship-Eligibility Quotient: 2.62 All Players | 2.75 Scholarship Players
For an explanation of the Scholarship-Eligibility Quotient, see here.
Pretty good mix overall I think. You’d think that Jordyn Brooks will start, but maybe the biggest question is who are going to be the hybrid guys? Remember that the three down linemen are all in the 300-285 range, while the outside linebacker is usually a rush-end of some sort. If I had to guess, my thought is that Jeffers is that hybrid rusher with Brooks and Stringer the starting linebackers. If I had to guess, the hybrid linebacker/safety is probably going to come from the safety pool, but who knows.
And it was pretty significant to get two linebackers in each of the two classes. There could be room for more, but I think there are more pressing areas.
Position | Player | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Linebackers | Jordyn Brooks SR (6-2/245) | |||||
Christian Taylor SR (6-2/220) | ||||||
Riko Jeffers JR (6-2/245) | ||||||
Brayden Stringer JR (6-2/225) | ||||||
Ja’Quay Pough JR (6-1/220) | ||||||
Taven Christopher JR (6-2/185) | ||||||
Jacob Schuster SO (5-11/210) | ||||||
Michael Nelson SO (5-11/205) | ||||||
Aaron Calcote SO (6-0/230) | ||||||
Patrick Curley RS FR (6-2/215) | ||||||
Xavier Benson RS FR (6-3/200) | ||||||
Case Gatlin FR (6-4/230) | ||||||
Tyrique Matthews (5-11/205) | ||||||
Bryce Robinson FR (6-0/235) | ||||||
TOTALS | 13 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 0 |