Linebackers in 2008?

[bama579]

With recent developments regarding Zeke Knight and Prince Hall our situation at linebacker looks a bit shakey.

We can feel good about R McClain, but after that . . . ?

Will J Johns pick things up fast enough to be a contributor? A Watkins makes a move? Is C Reamer being moved; are his injuries prohibitive? What of Higginbotham and Kirschman? What is the deal with E Anders?

 

[Bama1970]

I look for Jerrell and Dont'a to get some serious looks this summer.

 

[spock*]

WANTED: Linebackers, DE apply here

Given the latest turn of events, Alabama now has one LB and one DE left on the team with any game experience (Assuming that Zeke Knight doesn't recover). Thank goodness Rolando McClain played as a true freshman.

So make a prediction before spring practice, rank the top 6 linebackers and 4 DEs at the end of spring practice.

Then what are your expectations of early contributors of the next freshman class, Jerrell Harris, Don'ta Hightower, Courtney Upshaw, Chris Jordan and Defensive Ends: Brandon Lewis, Undra Billingsley.

 

[rolltide8755]

With recent developments regarding Zeke Knight and Prince Hall our situation at linebacker looks a bit shakey.

We can feel good about R McClain, but after that . . . ?

Will J Johns pick things up fast enough to be a contributor? A Watkins makes a move? Is C Reamer being moved; are his injuries prohibitive? What of Higginbotham and Kirschman? What is the deal with E Anders?

look for c.williams and a.watkins to get serious reps. as for e anders he is never going to anything more than a special teams guy. he was fit for the shula D but not the saban D.

 

[rolltideas]

Re: WANTED: Linebackers, DE apply here

The LB spot will be secure very, very soon. You can probably add Chris Jordan into that mix (at least as a possibility). I expect to see some of the same growing pains RM faced last year with possible trouble recognizing certain types of offensive sets and where they need to be, but everything points to a quick learning curve and lots of physical talent with both Harris and Hightower. I have also only heard positives about Mr. Upshaw as well.

DE and DT is another story.

That said, these new guys are certainly the types of players who are going to put in their application for a shot at the job.

 

[LCN]

SLB - Questionable .
MLB - (A)Could move to Jack . (B)Suspended .
WLB - Vacant .
Jack - _blank:

Other than that , I'm real optomistic . :wink:

 

[bamabryan]

I look for Jarrell Harris to be a starter very early in 2008.

 

[rgw]

At the beginning of the year I though the LB corp would look like:

WILL: Zeke/Williams
SAM: Hall/Hightower
MIKE: McClain/???
JACK: 3-way battle to start between - Watkins/Fanney/Johns

Now Zeke is questionable, Hall (from what I've heard) has already withdrawn from school, and the Jack position is completely wide-open still. The only thing left standing at this point is McClain.

Williams should grow some more and play better this season...I think he has potential. Still, if Zeke is not ready to play...we could be leaning on Williams and Harris to stablize that position. Right now we have two ILB positions that at least need to be two-deep...and we only have one on campus. The Jack position could be a disappointment again this season if nobody steps up.

Best case scenario is that Zeke is healthy, Williams tries out Jack, Harris can spell Zeke, Hightower can start at Sam ILB, Jordan starts at LB and contributes at both Mike and Sam off the bench. How will that work though?

 

[Bama1970]

I'll sure be glad when we get all these depth/lack of experience issues behind us.

 

[CaliforniaTide]

I think that our lack of experience will be evident not just at the LB position but in a lot of positions on the team as a whole. We will be a young team next year in certain areas but also loaded with talent. Rolando played great as a freshman and I just hope whatever freshman we do play or start next season can play just as well.

 

[dontsabanhate]

hopefully jimmy johns will get some playing time in his final year at the capstone...

 

[tidefanblake]

I've heard Chavis Williams being mentioned a really talented young player that the staff is high on....but he may still be a little light...

Can't for the life of me figure out why Fanney hasn't made more noise at Jack...he has good size and is really quick--per the reports, must be something else.

Has Higginbotham put on any size? Cory Reamer could probably be an option somewhere, likely as Knight's backup, and/or platooning with someone like Jerrell Harris until he gets his feet under him (if Knight can't go).

 

[bamar]

i expect we will need to go to 4down linemen, and 3 linebackers. the one big weakness about linebackers coming out of high school, is their lack of experience covering passing routes, they dont see often in high school. the tight ends in college are a lot bigger, stronger, and faster than those generally in high school. i sure hope jordan is not switched to linebacker. he will be a big time rb.

 

[rolltide8755]

i expect we will need to go to 4down linemen, and 3 linebackers. the one big weakness about linebackers coming out of high school, is their lack of experience covering passing routes, they dont see often in high school. the tight ends in college are a lot bigger, stronger, and faster than those generally in high school. i sure hope jordan is not switched to linebacker. he will be a big time rb.

agreed

 

[tide06]

i expect we will need to go to 4down linemen, and 3 linebackers. the one big weakness about linebackers coming out of high school, is their lack of experience covering passing routes, they dont see often in high school. the tight ends in college are a lot bigger, stronger, and faster than those generally in high school. i sure hope jordan is not switched to linebacker. he will be a big time rb.

Have to agree as well.

Unless either Hall comes back or Hightower is ready to go from day one I don't see how you can stick Charlie Higgenbotham or Jimmy Johns in at ILB and expect to compete with Clemson.

If we shifted to a 4-3 I think we would look significantly better:

DE: Greenwood / Talbert
DT: Washington / Davis
DT: Motley / Chapman
DE: Deadrick / Dareus
OLB: Williams / Harris
MLB: McClain / Hightower
OLB: Fanney (Knight?) / Watkins

I believe that we could win 8-9 games with that front seven.

 

[tide06]

I've heard Chavis Williams being mentioned a really talented young player that the staff is high on....but he may still be a little light...

Can't for the life of me figure out why Fanney hasn't made more noise at Jack...he has good size and is really quick--per the reports, must be something else.

Has Higginbotham put on any size? Cory Reamer could probably be an option somewhere, likely as Knight's backup, and/or platooning with someone like Jerrell Harris until he gets his feet under him (if Knight can't go).

• Chavis Williams has great upside and we will see him compete for a starting spot this year.
• I don't think things have "clicked" yet for Fanney. He was out of position and didn't look comfortable when I saw him on the field last year. He still has some potential but I don't know if hes ready yet.
• Charlie Higgenbotham could be compared to Matt Collins from a year or two back. Great kid, helps with depth, but might be outclassed in terms of athletic ability by guys like Hightower, McClain and Harris.
• Cory Reamer is likely to contribute on special teams but I would be surprised to see him in the two deeps.
• Jerrell Harris has a very good chance at breaking the two deeps and soon. You never know what will happen come fall with these freshman, but he has serious talent and will certainly be given the opportunity to make an impact and soon.

 

[BAMA504]

I am pretty sure it will look like a 4-3 defense which it did much of last year as well.

I think you will see JJ, RM and JH out there and that to me is a great LB corps with a little bit of depth to boot they could be really good by mid-season and decent till then.

Not to worry folks CKS is a mastermind at LB's and they are in good hands, I am more worried about JPW more than any player on this team, he is the difference between a 10-2 season and a 6-6 or 7-5 season!!

 

[BleedCrimson7]

Well, anytime you lose 2 starting LB's unexpectedly in the off-season, that's going to hurt regardless of how much depth you have. McClain is obviously the anchor of the unit....and to be honest by the LSU game he could be lining up with three true freshman. Our incoming LB class with Harris, Hightower ad Upshaw is the best we've brought in since the 90's IMO. Hightower, much like McClain is just a physical freak, and probly ready to play ILB from day one just like Rolo was. I look for him to rotate with JJ the first 3-4 games, and then completely take over the role by midseason. I look for Harris to take one of the OLB spots early on as well with Fanney/Watkins/Williams all rotating at the Jack. Upshaw will provide quality depth....but after that most of our LB's aren't SEC quality players, if we're honest. Guys like Reamer, Kirschman, Higgenbotham, Hester, Anders, etc wouldn't have been recruited by the current staff. Hopefully one or two of those guys can elevate their game and become contributers. We should all pray for Knight's recovery....that may be the difference between another 7 win season and something better. This should be the last season we have any concerns with LB depth/talent for a long, long time.

 

[tide06]

I think Fanney will be the Jack.

The reason I say this is that he has a ton of size on both Watkins and Williams.

I think Chavis Williams could be a solid OLB on the other side, but I just don't know if he's ready to play with his hand on the ground yet.

 

[BEATtutorsee]

Unless some guys already on campus seriously turn it up we'll see several true freshman logging significant time at LB for us. On the one hand it's not so bad because they'll be very talented, but on the other hand they'll experience some significant growing pains unfortunately. I hope our offense really explodes this year because I have the feeling we're going to need to score a lot of points.