There is usually a player or two shaded in red, but that was not the case with the linebacker position. Absolutely no transfers, so the feeling is that this group was performing at a level that the staff felt was acceptable. The starters have been Rodriguez and Roberts, but the talk of the spring was Curry, the sophomore from Lubbock. Based on a Chris Level comment made regarding the linebackers, Curry is very much pushing Roberts even though they are slated at different positions. And other than those 3 players, I believe that Horne is a scholarship player as is incoming freshman Golwas. Horne is shaded in blue because he is apparently out for the season, injured in the bowl game. Ramirez has obviously struggled with injuries so I’ll be interested to see where he is this year. That’s 5 total scholarship players and that seems a bit light in terms of depth and talent. I don’t know if the walk-on’s are ready to be players, but that’s a big jump (from not playing at all to having to start).

Back to the starters at hand, Rodriguez finished with 127 tackles for the year, nearly 10 tackles a game, while Roberts averaged a shade over 6 a game, which was good for 1 and 2 in terms of tackles last year. Curry, believe it or not, finished 7th on the team with 35, nearly 3 per game. My initial guess was that we get a bit more rotation with Curry and Horne, but with Horne out for the year, is this going to be a rotation of 3, maybe 4 with Rodriguez, Roberts, Curry and Ramirez?  Rodriguez can obviously carry the load and now I see that his return was maybe more important than almost any other position. Roberts and Curry will probably play a ton and then you wonder if Golwas gets any playing time as a true freshman, but it is probably imperative that Curry and Golwas gain a bit of experience because there’s not a ton of depth here.

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