Who are the top linebackers in SEC history?

We’ve spent the last several weeks flipping through team-specific media guides, glancing over highlight film and nearly coming to blows at our home office determining this 25-member comprehensive list of the league’s best tacklers.

Editor’s note: The SDS staff weighed multiple factors during our SEC’s all-time linebackers rankings process including career statistics, individual awards, importance to their respective team and the era in which they played. Official statistics were pulled from team web sites or media guides.

5.) Woodrow Lowe, Alabama (1972-75)

Respected as college football’s top linebacker in the early 1970s, Lowe was the first-ever three-time All-American at Alabama before later becoming one of the San Diego Chargers’ most appreciated players in franchise history during an 11-year NFL career.

Lowe made an instant impact as a true freshman with 46 tackles in 1972 before a banner campaign the following season. A member of the Crimson Tide’s All-Decade team in the 1970s, Lowe still holds the record for single-season tackles in program history with 134 in 1973. Alabama lost just five times in 48 games during his career and Lowe’s teams won four consecutive SEC titles with a national championship coming in 1973.

Lowe missed only one game as a formidable NFL linebacker in San Diego, a fifth-round steal during the 1976 draft. His 21 career interceptions ranks seventh all-time in franchise history.

Career numbers:

315 tackles, 17 TFL, 6 INT

Individual superlatives:

All-American (1973-75); All-SEC (1973-75)

NFL Draft:

No. 131 overall (fifth round) in 1976

Defining moments:

N/A

4.) Lee Roy Jordan, Alabama (1960-62)

One of many legends during the Bear Bryant era in Tuscaloosa, Jordan starred as an undersized linebacker and center on three successful teams, compiling a 29-2-2 record over his career with two All-SEC honors and an All-American nod as a senior in 1962.

Alabama’s defenses were dominant during his time, allowing just 64 points total during the 1961 and 1962 seasons. After Jordan won a consensus national championship with an unbeaten season as a junior, Bryant called his defensive captain ‘one of the hardest-working players’ he had ever coached.

Jordan was voted Alabama’s Player of the Decade for the 1960s and finished fourth in Heisman voting in 1962.

A first-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 1963, Jordan was the franchise’s first rookie start at weakside linebacker. Jordan ranks second on the franchise’s all-time solo tackles (743) in 14 seasons with the Cowboys. He played in three Super Bowls and was a five-time Pro Bowl selection.

Career numbers:

N/A

Individual superlatives:

All-American (1962); All-SEC (1961-62); SEC Lineman of the Year (1962); Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (1980); College Football Hall of Fame (1983)

NFL Draft:

No. 6 overall in 1963

Defining moments:

Jordan made 30 tackles against Oklahoma during an Orange Bowl victory to conclude his career at Alabama.

3.) Cornelius Bennett, Alabama (1983-86)

One of only two Alabama defenders ever to be named a three-time All-American (Woodrow Lowe’s the other), Bennett became a dominant linebacker first before blossoming into a feared rusher off the edge over his final two seasons.

As a senior in 1986, Bennett put up arguably the greatest comprehensive single-season for a linebacker in SEC history based on individual accolades. Not only was he named to his third All-American squad, Bennett took home the SEC’s player of the year honor and won the Lombardi Award following an incredible campaign. He finished seventh in Heisman voting that season.

Bennett went on to win two AFC defensive player of the year awards at the next level and played in five Super Bowls. In 206 career games over 14 NFL seasons, Bennett accumulated 1,190 tackles and 71.5 sacks. He remains Alabama’s highest draft pick for a defensive player (No. 2 overall).

Career numbers:

287 tackles, 21.5 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries

Individual superlatives:

All-American (1984-86); All-SEC (1984-86); SEC Player of the Year (1986); Lombardi Award (1986); College Football Hall of Fame (2005)

NFL Draft:

No. 2 overall in 1987

Defining moments:

One of several sacks during the 1986 season, Bennett’s tackle of Notre Dame quarterback Steve Beuerlein became the subject of a famous painting by Daniel Moore.

2.) Wilber Marshall, Florida (1980-83)

The SEC’s first three-time all-league first teamer, Marshall was one of college football’s fiercest linebackers in history, racking up two consensus All-American honors at Florida thanks to a school-record 58 tackles behind of scrimmage.

Named The Gainesville Sun’s ‘Defensive Player of the Century’, Marshall collected 343 career tackles and his 23 sacks were a program-record at the time. A two-time Lombardi finalist, Marshall helped the Gators finish 9-2-1 as a standout senior in 1983, their best mark in 14 years. He played with the old-school mentality indicative of hard-nosed tacklers in the 1980s, guys who never came out of the game despite bone-jarring hits every series.

Later a three-time All-Pro in the NFL, Marshall won two Super Bowls (one each with the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins). He was named the NFC’s defensive player of the year in 1992.

Career numbers:

343 tackles, 58 TFL, 23 sacks

Individual superlatives:

All-American (1982-83); All-SEC (1981-83); National Defensive Player of the Year (1983); College Football Hall of Fame; Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame

NFL Draft:

No. 11 overall in 1984

Defining moments:

Marshall collected many memorable tackles in Gainesville, but his ‘Hit Heard ‘Round The World’ was a play that catapulted him into the national spotlight as a star defender in 1985. Marshall’s full speed sack of quarterback of Detroit Lions quarterback Joe Ferguson lives in infamy, a helmet to helmet crash that would’ve been flagged for targeting in today’s game. “I can still see the lick Marshall put on Ferguson,” said Bears coach Mike Ditka after the game. “My God, I thought he’d killed him.”

1.) Derrick Thomas, Alabama (1985-88)

The Crimson Tide’s greatest defensive player in program history, Thomas is the SEC’s all-time leader in sacks and set a college football single-season record with 27 during a brilliant All-American senior season in 1988. The Butkus Award winner was unstoppable off the edge, managing 52 sacks in his career including 45 over his final two all-league seasons.

A captain over his final two seasons, Thomas finished 10th in Heisman voting in 1988 and recently became the 24th Alabama player or coach to be selected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

RELATED: Derrick Thomas is SEC’s only LB in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Equally impressive at the next level as one of the Kansas City Chiefs’ all-time best, Thomas followed up a defensive rookie of the year award in 1989 with a healthy decade of stellar play, making nine Pro Bowls and registering 126.5 career sacks (including an NFL record seven in one game).

Thomas also forced 45 fumbles, had 19 fumble recoveries, scored four touchdowns on fumble returns and added three safeties. Nine years after his death, Thomas was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his fifth year of eligibility.

Career numbers:

204 tackles, 68 TFL, 52 sacks, 10 forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries

Individual superlatives:

All-American (1988); All-SEC (1987-88); Butkus (1988); Pro Football Hall of Fame (2009); College Football Hall of Fame

NFL Draft:

No. 4 overall in 1989

Defining moments:

During a matchup of nationally-ranked heavyweights in 1988, Alabama outlasted Penn State, 8-3, thanks to three sacks, a safety and nine quarterback hurries from its best defensive player.