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MaybeACoordinator

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How much elite linebacker play do you remember at UT?

I am getting old, and all I can recall is Derrick Johnson.

It's important for a defense to have good linebackers. Are we not recruiting the right ones? Are HS coaches sticking them at RB? Does 7-on-7 render them useless?

Our absence of LB creation is every bit as howlingly bad as that of OT.

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1 hour ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

How much elite linebacker play do you remember at UT?

I am getting old, and all I can recall is Derrick Johnson.

It's important for a defense to have good linebackers. Are we not recruiting the right ones? Are HS coaches sticking them at RB? Does 7-on-7 render them useless?

Our absence of LB creation is every bit as howlingly bad as that of OT.

When Hicks wasn’t injured, he was a beast. Muckelroy was solid. Keenan Robinson was pretty good. Shame Malik wasn’t all that tough, he could’ve been great. Does Drew Kelson count?

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Top Texas LB signees since rankings started:

  1. Sergio Kindle - c/o 2006
  2. Jordan Hicks - c/o 2010
  3. Malik Jefferson - c/o 2015
  4. Steve Edmon - c/o 2011
  5. Derrick Johnson - c/o 2001
  6. Keenan Robinson - c/o 2007
  7. Jeffrey McCulloch - c/o 2016
  8. De'Gabriel Floyd - c/o 2019
  9. Erick Fowler - c/o 2016
  10. Anthony Wheeler - c/o 2015

And now I'm depressed.

Edited by Eggo
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Id say 2010-11 was a salty pairing with Acho and Keenan Robinson finished #1 defense both years in the Big 12. Might be the best paring of ILB I can remember. 

Healthy Hicks with Edmond wasnt bad in 2014.. finished #2

Malik and Gary was a solid combo for a year in 2017 finished #2 in total defense

Since then its been a train wreck. It hard to play defense without good LBs, despite TExas' effort to try 

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  • 2 months later...
My favorites since DJ have been Drew Kelson and Gary Johnson.
Why we didn’t have Kelson spying on Reggie Bush on the next-to-last play was negligent. Like Reggie was in to block for Leinart. JFC
Bro, have you forgotten the one healthy season with Jordan Hicks? I'd take him any day over GJ.
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12 minutes ago, ousux said:
On 11/11/2021 at 12:27 AM, ImissWallyPryor said:
My favorites since DJ have been Drew Kelson and Gary Johnson.
Why we didn’t have Kelson spying on Reggie Bush on the next-to-last play was negligent. Like Reggie was in to block for Leinart. JFC

Bro, have you forgotten the one healthy season with Jordan Hicks? I'd take him any day over GJ.

GJ hated QBs and RBs. Probably still does. 

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13 minutes ago, ousux said:
On 11/10/2021 at 11:27 PM, ImissWallyPryor said:
My favorites since DJ have been Drew Kelson and Gary Johnson.
Why we didn’t have Kelson spying on Reggie Bush on the next-to-last play was negligent. Like Reggie was in to block for Leinart. JFC

Bro, have you forgotten the one healthy season with Jordan Hicks? I'd take him any day over GJ.

I'd kill for Hicks and GJ at linebacker. We should have looked hard for JUCO linebackers. And we should have fired Choate.

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There aren't many in Texas and we don't go after many top LBs in any year...

2021: Terrance Cook, Morice Blackwell - according to 247 were two of the only three 4* LBs in Texas and we got them... #1 rated LB in Texas went to Bama. (EDIT: add DJ Harris (4*) as an Edge  / OLB...)

2020: Prince Dorbah (#7 OLB, 4*) - should see the field at some point? Gettin that Wing money, tho.

2019: DeGabriel Floyd (#3 ILB, 4*) (Not from Texas, btw) - Medical retirement... could have been a baller. Gbenda (#11 ILB, 4*) just needs to get bigger and keep playing.

2018: Dele (#5 ILB, 4*). Byron Vaughns (3* OLB) and MuthaHustla transferred to Utah State to play DE (fairly well, at that)

2017: we don't neeeeeeeeed no linebackers... 

2016: McCulloch (#5 OLB, 4*) was tackling machine in HS we used him to do shit like cover the flat or hold up an OT. Erik Fowler was #7 OLB. I don't remember what he did.

2015: Jefferson (#1 LB in the nation, 5*)  - misused and miscoached... probably should have been OLB all the time and just chase QBs... played ILB and got bitched at for not taking on OGs and OTs when he was a freshman (or ever).

 

 

Edited by Snacks
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4 hours ago, JFKFC said:

Considering our freshman class & transfers, can anyone give me a quality guess at our starting LBs for the fall of 2022?

I haven't kept up with all the recruitnic stuff. Have we gotten any transfers?  Or are we relying on freshman and the shit sandwich we had last year?

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1 hour ago, bschoolprof said:

I haven't kept up with all the recruitnic stuff. Have we gotten any transfers?  Or are we relying on freshman and the shit sandwich we had last year?

Only LB I think we have added is a 3* freshman. No transfer LBs. Maybe some of the edge rush guys we signed can play LB. Maybe I can walk on and karate kick Kansas running backs. It could only be an improvement. 

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4 hours ago, ousux said:
4 hours ago, JFKFC said:
GJ hated QBs and RBs. Probably still does. 

He didnt hate them often enough to help us win more games. But to be fair, I'd take the defenses he was part of over the 2021 version any day as well.

Ehh the one year he did play a lot, was the year we had the most wins in the last 11 years. But I’ll always be a GJ stan  

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18 hours ago, Snacks said:

There aren't many in Texas and we don't go after many top LBs in any year...

2021: Terrance Cook, Morice Blackwell - according to 247 were two of the only three 4* LBs in Texas and we got them... #1 rated LB in Texas went to Bama. (EDIT: add DJ Harris (4*) as an Edge  / OLB...)

2020: Prince Dorbah (#7 OLB, 4*) - should see the field at some point? Gettin that Wing money, tho.

2019: DeGabriel Floyd (#3 ILB, 4*) (Not from Texas, btw) - Medical retirement... could have been a baller. Gbenda (#11 ILB, 4*) just needs to get bigger and keep playing.

2018: Dele (#5 ILB, 4*). Byron Vaughns (3* OLB) and MuthaHustla transferred to Utah State to play DE (fairly well, at that)

2017: we don't neeeeeeeeed no linebackers... 

2016: McCulloch (#5 OLB, 4*) was tackling machine in HS we used him to do shit like cover the flat or hold up an OT. Erik Fowler was #7 OLB. I don't remember what he did.

2015: Jefferson (#1 LB in the nation, 5*)  - misused and miscoached... probably should have been OLB all the time and just chase QBs... played ILB and got bitched at for not taking on OGs and OTs when he was a freshman (or ever).

 

 

This list is a bit off. Dorbah is edge. Actually Vaughns, McCulloch, and Jefferson fall into that category also. This was the beginning of the end. Orlando stated he recruited LB based on his OLB position and pass rush ability. The irony being that he abandoned that position at Texas, so he recruited his LB type for a position he did not use. The other issue is people treat OLB/Edge and ILB as the same position. The ability to read and read fast is such a bigger part of ILB, than OLB. OLB is much closer to DE, than ILB 

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