2009 College Football Unit Rankings: Linebackers

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Each and every year writers are guilty of labeling teams as “one of the best” at something, or “one of the five deepest” at a position, but very few writers take the time to figure out who really has the best section of a defense, or an offense. I myself am guilty and said it a minimum of 30 billion times per conference in the recent conference previews.

But today we will actually look to see which teams really do have the top units in college. You will get the top-5 from each of the positional units, a few teams that just missed the short list, and a couple of small school teams that don’t get the love they deserve.

The defensive side of the ball is a very hard thing to because of the diversity and the pain of statistics. Most of the teams on these lists are decided by talent, experience, depth, success, and potential, more than the true stats can tell. Oklahoma is statistically not a great team on defense, but the team has one of the best units in college. It’s simple to know that the SEC is a defensive league that does nothing but bleed talent, but it is much harder to look past the stats, and to see who really is the best.

While the defensive line is theoretically the most important side of the defense, the LB position is the best. Linebackers are smart players that combine almost every skill needed to play in football, and the best linebackers become the best defense leaders. The linebacker attacks the passer, stops the rusher, neutralizes the short pass game and the middle attack, and in some occasions will go deep to defend. The linebacker is also essential for directing assisting all around the field, and must be able to do anything.

The Smaller School Units

Tulsa — The Golden Hurricane bring back a trio of LB talent in Tanner Antle, George Clinkscale, and Mike Bryan. The team is not the most impressive at LB, but there is good depth, and a ton of leadership for the team that will be looking to take the C-USA West.

Utah — Once again, why do we call them a small school team? Two of the Ute starters are back in Stevenson Sylvestor (10-1 odds the Raiders draft him for his name), and Mike Wright. The team continues to achieve great things, and has a ton of potential in a team that had only one senior last year.

Troy — Bear Woods and Boris Lee are two great star players, and Lee might be drafted next year out of Troy. The team which favors to win the Sun Belt this season has decent enough depth on the team with a ton of potential at LB

Best of the rest

1. Texas — The long horns are a sexy team that seems to be able to pump out a ton of talent from its defense. Sergio Kindle drops down to try and become the next Brian Orakpo, despite the fact that he won’t likely have the talent that Kindle had a year ago. WLB Roddrick Muckelroy should have a great year, and there is a ton of young potential throughout the team that will likely become a group of stars.

2. Boston College — You almost have to feel bad for the Eagles. Not only did stud LB Mark Herzlich get diagnosed with cancer, but the other star LB on the team Mike McLaughlin tore his Achilles tendon in spring. Both players are expected to return but are unlikely to dominate to their fullest. If they can then the team might be worthy of this spot (or better), but it’d be asking quite a bit.

3. Georgia — Rennie Curran is one of the best players in the SEC, and is definitely a 1st round talent for the 2010 draft. Curran is the leading returning in tackles (115) and sacks (3) on the team. MLB Akeem Dent looks ready to have a decent year, but might lose the spot to returning Marcus Washington. There is also a high hope that Michael Dowtin and freshman Mike Gillard will develop into SEC studs this season.

THE LIST

5. Penn State Nittany Lions

Linebacker U might be ranked a tad lower than most would consider the team, but the Nittany Lions might have to prove a few things before they can go higher on the list. The team returns only four starters to the team, one of which started only because star LB Sean Lee hurt his knee. If Sean Lee rebounds well from injury, he will join Navorro Bowman and Michael Mauti as starters. The team has a ton of young depth including Mauti, but it’s hard to tell how they will truly play. And even if the team’s LB core is better than credited, they may struggle with the other losses on defense. The linebackers might be forced to drop back or help certain parts of the team that lacks experience.

4. Iowa Hawkeyes

The Hawkeyes are a team that is not known for recruiting top talent. The team does not often create top defensive draft talent like the rest of the schools, despite often having one of the 25 best defenses in college. The Hawks always attack well and are able to dominate without having the “draft stars.” But this season for the Hawks looks to be a great one on defense as they are one of the few teams returning a lot of players on defense in the Big-10.

Pat Angerer is not only the returning tackler (107) for the Hawks, but he is the leading interception (5) getter. Angerer is a beast of a player that is expected to blossom into a 1st day draft pick. A.J. Edds is another great linebacker that looks ready to blossom after getting Big 10 honorable mentioning. And Jeremiah Hunter is a 6’2’ beast of a player that most expect to show up well on the team this season. Juniors Jacody Coleman and Jeff Tarpinian along with sophomore Tyler Nielsen will begin to get more snaps for the Hawks as they prepare for the future.

3. Alabama Crimson Tide

The Tide are a hit or miss team at LB this season, but have the talent and depth to be absolutely awesome. The linebackers helped the tide finish third in overall defense, including a second place spot in rush defense in 2009. Rolando McClain is already a 1st team all SEC talent, and will be looking to improve on that to become a national nightmare. McClain starts his third year for the Tide and will likely be a 1st round draft pick in 2010 or 2011. Sophomore Dont’a Hightower will take the other ILB spot for the team and will be surrounded on the outside by Cody Reamer and Brandon Fanney. If that wasn’t enough, the team has a ton of very young depth on the team in freshman Nico Johnson and sophomores Jerrell Harris and Chris Jordan. Overall the team has the deepest and scariest 3-4 defense in college.

1B. Oklahoma Sooners

That’s how close the race for the best LB core may come. Oklahoma doesn’t have as much depth or true talent as Florida, but they still get a tie (we’ll call them 1B because of it) because of the phenom LB sophomore Travis Lewis. Lewis is the Eric Berry of line backing, and will be in his college this season. Lewis collected 144 tackles (70 of which were solo), three sacks, four interceptions (good for head of the team), and a forced fumble. Lewis also learned how to talk to the animals of the sea, and how to stop flying bullets fired towards him Matrix Style. Lewis is so good that there are rumors out there that he will declare for the draft after this year!

Lewis is joined by Keenan Clayton a converted safety who plays some random nickel potential, and by Ryan Reynolds at the Mike spot. There is plenty of talent throughout the team, and the average player isn’t as good as Florida’s, but if Lewis is able to improve upon what he did last year, there is no doubt in the world that it might not matter.

1. Florida Gators

Hopefully at this point in the college offseason the Gators being at the top of this does not surprise you. You also should know by now that the Gators have over two complete strings of players returning to the team. So even if the first string goes down, there is another team’s worth of starters ready to go. That’s just how disgusting Florida is.

The heart of the defense is 1st round LB Brandon Spikes who is the undisputed leader of the defense. Brandon Hicks looks to have more potential on the outside than A.J. Jones, but the two will do more than split time for the team. Ryan Stamper looks ready to strike for the Gators, but needs to look better for a team of this quality. Dustin Doe is a capable starter on most teams and will also split some plays for the team. While Spikes has a shoe-in place as starting MLB for the team, freshman Jon Bostic will likely get a few plays for Spikes, or at another spot. The team goes on and on with depth and they are more than ready for the season to start to prove it.