A Look at Next Year: Linebackers

Been busy traveling around the Midwest, so posts will be more limited over the next 10 days.

Here I take a look at the linebacker situation for next year.  The bottom line is that Spartans are all set at linebacker for next year.  In fact, the Spartans should have one of the strongest linebacking units in the Big Ten and perhaps the country. 

49            TyQuan Hammock   LB            6-0           230          SO           Fort Wayne, Ind. - Bishop Luers

8              Lawrence Thomas   LB            6-3           275          FR            Detroit, Mich. - Renaissance

10            Chris Norman          LB            6-1           227          JR            Detroit, Mich. - Renaissance

42            Ty Hamilton            LB            6-0           230          RS FR      Fenton, Mich. - Fenton

41            Kyler Elsworth         LB            6-1           215          SO           Goodrich, Mich. - Goodrich

19            Danny Folino           LB            5-9           195          SO           Okemos, Mich. - East Lansing

43            Ed Davis                  LB          6-3           215          FR            Detroit, Mich. - Southeastern

40            Max Bullough          LB            6-3           245          SO           Traverse City, Mich. - St. Francis

48            Pat Rhomberg         LB            6-0           218          FR            Columbus, Ohio - Bishop Watterson

28            Denicos Allen          LB            5-10         220          SO           Hamilton, Ohio - Hamilton

47            Jeremy Gainer        LB            6-1           228          SO           Detroit, Mich. - Clarenceville

50            Steve Gardiner        LB            6-1           222          JR            Dublin, Ohio - Coffman

34            Taiwan Jones          LB            6-3           234          FR            New Baltimore, Mich. - Anchor Bay

45            Darien Harris          LB            6-0           206          FR            Silver Spring, Md. - DeMatha Catholic

As we can see in the list above, the Spartans have all their starters coming back.  And this is no mediocre group of starters.  Max Bullough and Denicos Allen will be back as juniors and I expect them to be two of the top linebackers in the Big Ten.  These guys are already stars, but they should be even better next year.  Chris Norman will be back as a senior.  He played well at times this year, but he really has yet to live up to his full potential.  He came in as a 4-star recruit and this year he was slowed down by injuries.  I’m hoping he becomes a breakout player in 2012.  If he does take that next step towards stardom, the Spartans could have one of the best linebacking units in the whole country.

The depth at linebacker is also outstanding.  The Spartans have several young players who look certain to become stars.  For starters, they have 5-star freshman Lawrence Thomas, who is as big as a defensive end but has the speed to play linebacker.  He could eventually move to defensive end, but the early signs are that the Spartans want to keep him at linebacker.  Another high-rated recruit is freshman Ed Davis.  He was a 4-star recruit who has shown good speed and explosiveness.  Sophomore Kyler Elsworth was once a walk-on, but he has played well enough to earn a scholarship and some playing time (when Norman was injured).  The Spartan coaches like Elsworth, so I expect big things out of him in the next few years.  Other guys with playing experience include TyQuan Hammock, Taiwan Jones, and Steve Gardiner. 

Finally, the Spartans are also bringing in some well-regarded recruits next year.  They are bringing in Bullough’s brother, Riley Bullough, and 4-star recruit Jamal Lyles, who is considered an athletic freak that could also play defensive end.  The Spartans are also in the running for David Perkins, who they consider to be a bigger version of Denicos Allen.  Lyles and Allen are so athletically outstanding that it would be no surprise to see them earn some playing time next year.  Riley Bullough comes from a football family and so he may have enough understanding of the game to also earn some playing time next year – remember that his brother, Max Bullough, played as a freshman.

So the takeaway is that the Spartans are loaded at linebacker -- so loaded, in fact, that they could be one of the best linebacking units in the country.  The only problem I could foresee with this unit is with injuries, but even then, the Spartans would need to lose like 3 guys in order to suffer a significant decline.