Some of the SEC’s best linebackers in 2014 are back, including Florida’s Antonio Morrison, Alabama’s Reggie Ragland and Tennessee’s Curt Maggitt.
But a few SEC teams must replace premier players at the position. Here are the conference’s biggest losses at linebacker and the team’s likely options for the spots in 2015.
Martrell Spaight, Arkansas
Three-star OLB Derrick Graham has promised to cut the grass and fix potholes if it will help him nail down one of the vacant outside linebacker positions. But the true freshman will have to beat out Randy Ramsey and Dwayne Eugene, both of whom spent an entire year as backups.
The truth is the team will have a harder time replacing Spaight (128 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss) than it will DE Trey Flowers or DT Darius Philon. Spaight was strong enough at 6-foot, 236 pounds to take advantage of the team’s stout defensive line against the run.
The team sometimes played with two linebackers last season, as it did against Texas Tech for most of the game, and that’s one option. But the Razorbacks will need at least one, if not two, young linebackers to step up to account for Spaight’s departure.
Amarlo Herrera/Ramik Wilson, Georgia
It helps that the Bulldogs could have the best group of outside linebackers in the country, but the team still must replace 470 tackles in the last two seasons at inside linebacker.
Reggie Carter and Tim Kimbrough are in line to start as juniors, but there should be competition this spring. Jake Ganus, a senior transfer from UAB, is small (he initially played safety for the Blazers, who folded the football program this offseason). It’s unclear whether he can handle playing inside in the SEC, but he did make 16.5 tackles for loss last season.
Junior college transfer Chuks Amaechi (6-foot-3, 220 pounds) is versatile enough to play outside linebacker, but coach Mark Richt has said Amaechi will compete at inside linebacker.
A.J. Johnson, Tennessee
Ideally, the Vols would leverage spring practice to stage a competition between several candidates to supplant Johnson’s middle linebacker position. But health will at least partially eclipse that as a possibility.
Early enrollee Darrin Kirkland Jr. (torn pectoral) and big-bodied German Jakob Johnson (shoulder) are expected to miss spring practice, while Dillon Bates (shoulder) should be limited.
Rising junior Kenny Bynum started the TaxSlayer Bowl and could get the first opportunity this spring. Gavin Bryant, a redshirt member of the ’14 class, will have a chance to compete for playing time. But this should be between Bynum and Bates. The latter is 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, more of an outside linebacker’s build, but the team likes his intelligence and leadership and wants him to learn the middle linebacker position.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s football career may be over. Following three consecutive 100-tackle years at Tennessee, he’s facing sexual assault charges.
Kwon Alexander, LSU
The Tigers don’t have many options this year. The team didn’t sign any linebackers in the 2015 class, losing out on Leo Lewis, and enter the spring with just seven scholarship linebackers. (Three of those are seniors, and Kendell Beckwith may consider entering the NFL draft early after the ’15 season, potentially leaving LSU in an even more precarious spot at the position next year.)
Deion Jones and Ronnie Feist are the two likely candidates to inherit Alexander’s starting role. Feist seems best suited for a backup role, so Jones (27 tackles and 3.5 for loss in ’14) likely will get the first opportunity to earn a starting job.
Alexander led the team with 90 tackles and tied for second with 7.5 tackles for loss, so whomever starts at the position needs to be productive chasing down ball-carriers.
Trey DePriest/Xzavier Dickson, Alabama
The Crimson Tide’s pecking order is a bit more clear than some of the others, at least at inside linebacker.
Reuben Foster will slide next to Reggie Ragland in the middle of the Bama defense — assuming he doesn’t knock himself out in practice delivering one of his patented, legendary hits. The 6-foot-1, 244-pound Foster, a serious head-hunter, must play with greater consistency as he grows into a leadership role within the defense.
DePriest played with a torn meniscus all last season, but opposing offenses exploited him in coverage at times, and the injury affected his lateral movement. So as long as Ragland, an All-SEC player, stays healthy, the Tide should be at least as good at the position.
On the outside, the Tide would love to find an all-around player. Ryan Anderson may get the first opportunity to replace Dickson ahead of Rashaan Evans. Anderson finished second on the team with nine quarterback hurries last season and eight of his 25 tackles went for loss.
Dillon Lee is more of a run-stopper and likely will be a backup at one of the outside linebacker spots. Evans and Tim Williams, both underclassmen last season, show potential as pass rushers. The team will need as much of that as possible, as Dickson made a team-best nine sacks in ’14. He and Anderson were the only consistent pass-rush threats from the linebacker spot last fall.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
