SB Nation - Herman Lathers

Talking Points: the NCAA will make you anti-social

Joel — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:35:39 -0000

Lane Kiffin would like to remind the New York Times that this guy played every game this season.

As suspected, the NCAA investigation isn't just about two anonymous hostesses attending a high school game in South Carolina, it's also about Tennessee's use of social media, and like we said yesterday, if the current rules don't specifically address Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, then this could be more about the routine exploiting and closing of loopholes.

For his part, Lane Kiffin (not surprisingly) agrees with the whole "more success equals more complaints" notion:

I know that we've done a phenomenal job in recruiting. I know that it's very competitive around the country with the kids that we go after and within this conference. I think that anytime you're operating at the level we're operating at in recruiting, people are going to come after us.

People are going to question what we're doing, and as head coach it's my job to make sure that we're doing everything by the rules - and we are. We're excited about the direction we're going, and people will always try to take shots at us, they'll always try to bring us down, but it won't matter.

In any event, Kiffin's not in a hurry to come to any conclusions. Well, other than comparing this report from the NYT with the one they ran last year suggesting that Tennessee or Bryce Brown or Brian Butler had done something wrong when they hadn't:

What you've seen of me is I like to get all the information in, research what's going on, not jump to conclusions, and this is something that's had a lot of national run, been in a lot of media. I think what I compare it to in this situation is I go back to the Bryce Brown situation right before the season. That got a lot of national media attention, a lot of SportsCenter attention that the Tennessee staff maybe had some involvement in illegal recruiting of Bryce Brown, that Bryce Brown did some things illegal.

There was an investigation into that and it ended up with no wrongdoing. I look for this to be the exact same situation, a lot of stuff being said and in the end when the research is done and conclusions aren't being made, the same result will happen.

Kiffin's viewing the Chick-fil-A Bowl as another opportunity to make a splash in Georgia with recruits. Billboards, helicopters, and bowl games. What's next? By the way, did you know that the Vols' bowl game against Virginia Tech will be the only football game on TV at that time? And that the Chick-fil-A takes four places in ESPN's top 15 all-time highest bowl numbers?
A bit of good news. Eric Berry won the Thorpe Award last night. Chest bump to him. Chest bumps also to Aaron Douglas and Herman Lathers for being named to the coaches Freshman All-SEC team. Did you know that Douglas played his new position of right tackle for the last nine games of the season and allowed just 1.5 sacks in more than 700 plays and was second on the o-line with 58 pancakes?
A bit of bad news. Linebackers coach Lance Thompson is a strong candidate to join Charlie Strong's staff at Louisville. Argh. Glad for Charlie and all (both because he deserves it and because he'll no longer be at Florida), but . . . Lance, too!?
Going to really miss this guy. Eddie Gran got a sweet deal at Florida State, and Lane Kiffin had some great things to say about him (duplicate link) yesterday:

We’ll miss Eddie, he got a great opportunity. He wants to be a head coach, and to go be the assistant head coach there was an opportunity he really couldn’t pass up. We’re very excited for him. To kind of show what kind of guy Eddie is and our relationship with him, Eddie just left the office today. He’s been here the last three days even though he doesn’t work for us anymore, watching Virginia Tech for us and developing a plan for what he thinks we should do against them and writing it all down. He’s going to go over that with me, and it kind of describes what type of guy he is.

Add that guy next to Trooper Taylor's name on the list of guys I'd love to see return if we ever have a better opportunity for them on Rocky Top.

The basketball Vols are playing MTSU tonight at 7:00. We'll have the open thread, as always.
Swiperboy's got a new video, and he's getting some help from CBS Sports in promoting it and a related contest:

Tampa 2 and the X Factor

WarDamnZach — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:00:18 -0000

More photos » by Todd J. Van Emst - AP

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Todd92 stole my thunder with his reply in WEAs post yesterday. There was no chance that mine would as good or well written but the content was much the same. It was about how Coach Chizik is the X-Factor in the upcoming game against Tennessee. He studied the so called "Tampa 2" defense and Auburn used it very well in 2004, so well in fact that the Tigers went undefeated. Does anyone remember that year?

Monte’s defense this season has a stud in safety Eric Berry, and the Tigers had a stud at cornerback named Carlos Rodgers. Eric Berry has the speed and all around athletic ability to save the Vols rear ends should Chris Todd make the correct read and beat a corner deep. Carlos Rodgers was just a shutdown corner. He allowed the safety to help out the linebackers or opposite corner in coverage. What I am getting at is that the linebacker is the key player in the Tampa 2. What they do after the snap is the read that Chris Todd will have to make… quickly. Eric Berry is going to have to help out the linebackers when the drop into coverage. Especially now that they are down a starter in Nick Reveiz and his backup Herman Lathers as well. The Tampa 2 is based on deception in that the pass protection and run defense look very similar at the line of scrimmage. Can Chris Todd make the decisions quickly enough and make the big play?

Well if we look back over the first quarter of the season, the answer is yes. Chris has made very few bad decisions. As a matter of fact off the top of my head I can only think of two. The most obvious one was not seeing the linebacker falling into coverage and tossing the interception right to him during the West Virginia game. The other was a Todd version 1.0 wounded duck, off his back foot, into double coverage pass against Miss State. The good news is that that pass was deflected out of bounds. So we think that Todd is going to be okay… right?

On to the running game. Ben Tate, Onterio McCalebb, Eric Smith, Kodi Burns and Mario Fannin are going to be needed sorely. One or all of them is going to have to find a hole even when one might not be there and make a big play. The Tennessee Vols line is very good. They are big and who knows what the status will be of Byron Isom is going to be. I hope the big time junior plays because the Auburn backups John Sullen and Bart Eddins did not look to hot last week against Ball State.

Defensively, I think we will be ok in the secondary. Darren Bates is maturing, and I am not really worried about Jonathon Crompton making huge plays behind them. He could have a great day throwing in the flats though, that pass seems to be open all game long. Especially if it is a linebacker is the one in coverage. What is the deal with them? Eltoro Freeman is lost absolutely out there when it comes to coverage. He might turn out to be the next Karlos Dansby, but right now he is green. If I was Lane Kiffin, I would pick on him all night. Josh Bynes is not much better either. The only difference I see with him is that he has an idea of where he is supposed to go, but he is a step late.

Bottom line is this is going to be a hard fought battle. Our defense is going to have to get stops, and create some turnovers. Crompton is going to make mistakes; Auburn just has to capitalize on them.

We will see how well Coach Chizik has prepared the offense to handle Monte and the Vols. Coach Chizik knows the Tampa 2 very well… now can the players make the right decisions on the field. Coach Chizik is the X-Factor, if Chris Todd is prepared and we don’t turn the ball over every time the Tennessee punter comes on the field, Auburn wins.

War Damn Eagle

Talking Points: defending the defense, the defensible, and the defenseless

Joel — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:00:39 -0000

More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

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Mike Strange is defending Tennessee's defense, saying that it wasn't as bad as real-time made it feel.
Not to be outdone, Mike Griffith is defending both Bruce Pearl and Jonathan Crompton. On Bruce, Griffith notes that he's the same gregarious guy on ESPN as he is in a small, media-less room full of autistic kids or on the streets of some obscure European country trying to get folks to see his team play. Anyone who talks so well so much and has such a good time doing it is likely to end up with his foot in his mouth every once in awhile. On Crompton, Griffith takes a closer look at Crompton's passes against Ohio and finds several dropped passes and good throw-aways among the still-too-many errors.
Whoa. That story about Emmanuel Negedu "passing out" after a workout yesterday? He had to be revived with a defibrillator. Still no news on his overnight tests.
Straight from Mike Hamilton's tweeter, we won't know the time for next week's Georgia game until Monday, but it will be either "noonish" or 3:30.
Nick Reveiz's knee injury? A torn ACL. How are they going to replace him in the middle? Lane Kiffin said that if it was late in the season, they'd just plug in the backup, but with eight games remaining, they're considering a lot of different options. Yesterday, they put Savion Frazier -- who's been backing up Rico McCoy at weakside -- at the Mike. Redshirt freshman Herman Lathers -- who's been listed as Reveiz's backup -- is another option. Lathers didn't take on that role against Ohio when Reveiz went out because Lathers had a concussion, so true freshman Nigel Mitchell-Thornton filled the hole.

The Tennessee Volunteers Football Depth Chart is Out

Hooper — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:38:34 -0000

More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

He's been patiently waiting to find out who the other 21 would be. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

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The first real, comprehensive depth chart (pdf) of the Tennessee Volunteers was released yesterday, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press (h/t to Home Sweet Home of Gate21). As expected, freshmen players litter the field, including a listing or two that are surprising even to those following the practices.

OFFENSE

Quarterback

#1 - Jonathan Crompton This we knew, as it was announced on Monday.
#2 - Nick Stephens

Fullback

#1 - Kevin Cooper Cooper is a little shorter and stouter than Johnson, which should help in blocking situations. I don't know how the receiving comparison works out, but protection for the quarterback is probably a high priority until we know how well Crompton performs with the new offense against actual opponents.
#2 - Austin Johnson I'm a little surprised not to see Sam Edgmon given a nod, considering how well he seemed to be catching passes.

Tailback

#1 - Bryce Brown and Montario Hardesty The first surprise to me is the cop-out of listing co-#1s. Even if the very first play against Western Kentucky has both of these players in (and one fullback out), one of the two is still the #2 option for the staff. I still think that, at the moment, Hardesty is the "first-option tailback", but this might be a way to add some publicity for Bryce Brown.

Wide Receiver

#1 - Nu'Keese Richardson Nuke is the only true freshman to have unquestioned ownership of a #1 slot on the offense. Getting the nod over Warren is a testament to his work ethic and his ability to stay healthy through the preseason. I wonder, though, how much of this was influenced by the injury to Gerald Jones and the need to add a little more speed and maneuverability on the field.
#2 - Brandon Warren Stay healthy and practice hard, young man. Coaches don't evaluate training table etiquette when choosing starters.

Wide Receiver

#1 - Quintin Hancock In his senior year, Hancock has a golden opportunity to show Vol Nation that he's as good as he can look in practice. That he is the tall receiver on the field (and not Brandon Warren) is a statement about the premium that the coaching staff placed on practice time.
#2 - Marsalis Teague I wouldn't expect Teague to be far behind right now, with Hancock having the advantage of spring practice to learn more of the playbook. By the time Jones gets back, Teague may very well have moved up (back) to send on the depth chart here.

Tight End

#1 - Luke Stocker Stocker's the better receiver, and Cottam's the better blocker. This may be more informative of the staff's offensive tendencies than the actual comparison between the two.
#2 - Jeff Cottam I have to wonder: if he hadn't been injured all last year, where would Cottam be as a player right now?

Left Tackle

#1 - Chris Scott No surprise here.
#2 - Dallas Thomas The redshirt freshman is the heir apparent and should get some live fire time here and there throughout the season.

Left Guard

#1 - Vladimir Richard I like Vlad, he's a fun guy.
#2 - Cody Pope Another heir apparent, it's notable that Vlad is listed at 300 lb and Pope at 288. This offensive line is going to be much lighter and quicker than last year's, courtesy of a different zone blocking concept.

Center

#1 - Cody Sullins Who might have been #1 even if McNeil hadn't been injured.
#2 - Cory Sullins Learn quickly, young man. Please learn quickly.

Right Guard

#1 - Jacques McClendon where experience again made the difference. The right guard will be critical in the new running game, as he both assists the center in blocking and is the primary blocker to open up most cutback lanes on zone sweep plays. If you're inclined to watch line play, watch him.
#2 - William Brimfield Note, though, that the beef is apparent on the right side of the line. McClendon is 324 and Brimfield is 346. Run blockers, yes.

Right Tackle

#1 - Aaron Douglas and Jarrod Shaw Even more transparent than the co-number 1 running backs - we're not going to see two right tackles on the first play against Western Kentucky. I'm guessing that Douglas has more potential, but Shaw is more polished.

DEFENSE

(Note: I think that the defensive line terms of 'left' and 'right' refer to the left and right as the offense sees them, so the left end lines up against the offense's left tackle, and so on.)

Left End

#1 - Gerald Williams Raise your hand if you saw this coming at the beginning of spring camp, when GW was begging Kiffin to let him play linebacker. It's good to be unblockable.
#2 - Willie Bohannon and Ben Martin Sigh. Another co-listing. I'll stop that now, as you know my feelings.

Left Tackle

#1 - Wes Brown - at 257 pounds, he's one of the lighter starting tackles you'll ever see. This feels much like a pass-rushing tackle, similar to the way the New York Giants line up.
#2 - Andre Mathis - I think Mathis will be in for short-yardage situations.

Right Tackle

#1 - Montori Hughes and Dan Williams Talk of Dan Williams not being the exclusive starter did not begin for a while, and even when Hughes came on strong earlier in the fall camp, it was thought he'd be at left tackle. The staff really like what they see in this new kid, and so do I.

Right Guard

#1 - Chris Walker who has also had a really nice fall, though you don't tend to hear about it as much because of Williams and Hughes.
#2 - Steven Fowlkes The consensus on Fowlkes appear to be that he has a really, really high ceiling but is still developing. If he stays on course, then next year's presumed lineup of Gerald Williams, Hughes, and Fowlkes may be special.

Strongside Linebacker

#1 - LaMarcus Thompson This is not a surprise.
#2 - Greg King That Thompson was the obvious #1 is not a slight on King, though. You don't hear much of him, but it's always been very complimentary. I think he should be at full speed next year.

Middle Linebacker

#1 - Nick Reveiz Even less surprising. The staff loves this guy, and his attitude should be a real emotional boost for the whole defense.
#2 - Herman Lathers It's hard to find information on Lathers, both because the news coverage on linebackers has been almost nonexistent and because Shorty Reveiz has made a better story whenever they did bother mentioning these guys.

Weakside Linebacker

#1 - Rico McCoy Injury didn't keep him from losing his slot. Healthy, he's one of our best and I look forward to seeing him play.
#2 - Savion Frazier I'm curious how close Frazier came to taking the slot when McCoy was hurt. Unfortunately, the lack of news drama here suggests it wasn't as close as I'd hoped.

Left Cornerback

#1 - Anthony Anderson and Mike Edwards I think this really means that Anderson is the #1 for the first couple of games, but Edwards could take it so long as he keeps learning the system.

Right Cornerback

#1 - Art Evans No real surprise here. His name has come up quite a bit during practices, particularly for his interceptions.
#2 - Marsalous Johnson The depth is really nice in the secondary.

Strong Safety

#1 - Eric Berry
#2,436 - Darren Myles, Jr. and Prentiss Waggner Welcome to the competition for the guy that gets to replace Eric Berry next year. Don't worry; we won't be judging you according to Berry. Sure.

Free Safety

#1 - Janzen Jackson and Dennis Rogan I'm still a little surprised that Rogan gets moved around between corner and safety as much as he does. Jack of all trades, master of none? However it works out, I'd like him to have a more permanent home on the roster.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker

#1 - Daniel Lincoln
#2 - Chad Cunningham

Punter

#1 - Chad Cunningham His kicking strength is supposedly much better this year.
#2 - David Harrington
#3 - The Ghost of Colquitts Past

Kickoffs

#1 - Chad Cunningham
#2 - Daniel Lincoln

Punt Returner

#1 Nu'Keese Richardson I guess those worries about ball-catching weren't enough to sway the staff. Hopefully that means he's been catching better.
#2 - Dennis Rogan

Kick Returner

#1 - David Oku
#2 - Dennis Rogan

Deep Snapper

#1 - Morgan Cox
#2 - Nick Guess

Holder

Bram Cannon

The Big Orange Roundtable - Week Six Roundup

Will — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:00:10 -0000

Thanks again to all who participated this week...we review the questions and share some of the best answers from around the Vol blogs:

1. Which newcomer do you expect to play the most total snaps this fall?

We liked Montori Hughes on a thin defensive line, and Ghost at Third Saturday in Blogtober likes Hughes or redshirt LB Herman Lathers:

Hughes wowed coaches in the spring, looking — at times — like the best defensive player on the field after a year in prep school. Though he hasn’t been as dominant during the preseason, I was talking to some buddies the other day, about junior DT Victor Thomas, who was discussed a lot this past week. While it’s encouraging to hear Thomas getting some press and some praise from Kiffin, we all believe it’s a ploy by the Kiffster to motivate Hughes, a sure sign that he expects Hughes to play a lot this year. I think to start, Hughes will be the first DT off the bench for the Vols. So, I think it’ll be a close race between him and Lathers, but I’ll roll with Hughes … for now.

Home Sweet Home at Gate 21 liked what he saw from Marsalis Teague at the scrimmage two weeks ago.

The rest of the roundup after the jump...

2. Assuming we all believe Gerald Jones leads the team in receptions this season, who finishes second?

Losers With Socks likes Brandon Warren, and we agree, and so does Gate 21. Ghost, however, brings up an interesting option: Luke Stocker. All in all, it has to get better, as Home Sweet Home mentioned:

One final thought: Jones led UT with 30 catches last year and Lucas Taylor led the Vols in yards. Taylor caught 26 passes. Who was third? Arian Foster with 19. Josh Briscoe and Austin Rogers were the next wide receivers, with both catching 14. All that is to say again how ineffective the quarterbacks were last year. Hopefully the second and third leading receivers this year have more catches—which you think has to happen, right?

3. If Tim Tebow and Eric Berry are the two best players in the SEC, who's third?

It's bad news for the Vols when two different Alabama players are getting love here: we went with Terrence Cody, 3SIB with Rolando McClain. Gate 21 likes Brandon Spikes, and LWS likes Phil Steele's Heisman darkhorse.

4. Generally speaking, which fan base if your favorite/least favorite to interact with?

Home Sweet Home and I agree: we're fine with Auburn, but we don't like Georgia

I got incessantly and constantly barked at, which is fine but extremely annoying. But even more so, my friends and I got cursed at because we had orange on. They had no respect for me. I had sorority girls looking great in red and black dresses dropping the F-bomb at me completely unprovoked.

3SIB, to no surprise, has Alabama at the top of their list, and LWS agrees:

Alabama is both my favorite and least favorite. Favorite because they are the most gullible and least secure fanbase ever. Least favorite because they interrupt any serious dialogue about the future of our great program.

Thanks again to all who participated...two more weeks, boys. Two more weeks.

Tennessee defense teaching the offense to take a hit

Joel — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:55:20 -0000

More photos » by Wade Payne - ASSOCIATED PRESS

I said no tackling, Dad!

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It was supposed to be a "thud" practice, full speed in helmets, pads, and shorts but only up to the point of contact. Hit them, but don't take them to the ground.

Well, perhaps Ed Orgeron (who greets his players with a swim move instead of a hand shake, by the way) has been spiking the Gatorade with Red Bull again, because the defense simply couldn't help themselves:

"They really hustled but we shouldn't have been tackling," [Monte] Kiffin said. "You saw some people tackling. That wasn't fair to the offense." The veteran coordinator realized that his players were excited about the first day in limited pads but insisted that was no excuse for their overzealous behavior. "They were very anxious to put the shoulder pads on for the first time. They were very gung-ho," Kiffin said. "But we can't do that. We'll get somebody hurt doing that."

Lane Kiffin, Monte's son and Tennessee's head coach, gathered the defenders at one point to remind them that there was to be no tackling. The warning worked ... for a few minutes. Then the tackling resumed.

Freshman running back Bryce Brown got the brunt of it, taking a wicked hit from middle linebacker Herman Lathers first, which caused him to fumble, and suffering two more huge hits from Rico McCoy later. Yes, Brown fumbled twice. Yes, he went down hard. But according to Kiffin, they were the kind of hits that would cause some players to stay on the turf for awhile. Each time, however, Brown bounced back up and hustled back to the huddle, earning the respect of his teammates with each recovery.

Lane may have reminded the defense not to tackle, and Monte may be concerned that his guys are going to hurt someone, but Lane says that ultimately, it's a good thing:

So he needs that because he fumbled it today. If we practiced 80 percent, that would've been the opener (against Western Kentucky) right there, first time that he got hit.

Too true, that. I vaguely remember something from mid-season last year when the team implemented "thud" practices, which must have meant that they were practicing at some level even below that. I don't remember full speed tackling, though, and I wonder how many lessons that the offense could have learned in practice were instead learned in games in the red zone.

The obvious downside to this is risk of injury, so don't be surprised to see some of that. But some believe that the risk of injury is no greater at full speed than it is at something less than full speed. Whatever the case, it appears that we're about to find out.

Spring Position Battles: Linebackers

Hooper — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:32:35 -0000

Prior to the spring practices, Will and I continue our look through the UT roster to see how the various positions may look. Armed only with our rank amateur football sense, we give some thoughts and projections on the team as it may look under Lane Kiffin. Previous positions covered are:

Linebacker is one of the most intriguing positions on a football team to me. On any given play, a linebacker may have to shed the block of a hulking guard or provide coverage support against a fleet-footed receiver. The "Mike" is often the field general - the defensive counterpart to the quarterback - ensuring the defensive eleven are in position to make life as difficult as possible for the offense.

Further, the linebackers often have the meanest, nastiest dispositions on the field. The defensive line may have the dirtiest work, but it's the linebackers who routinely hunt down running backs and quarterbacks for a full-speed, maximum-energy collision. UT has had its share of such linebackers in the past; replay footage of alums like Al Wilson and Jarod Mayo remind us of just how great it is to be a Tennessee Vol.

Now THIS is Football! (courtesy UTSports.com)

(Watch 1:25-1:27 - one of the best football plays ever.)

It was in the last two years of the Manning era that I really started paying attention to Tennessee football (way out in Wyoming, remember), and my most vivid memories are still of the linebackers of that era. Watching the defense in 1998 was just like watching a steamroller on the field; you just knew that the offensive line couldn't hold them back. There was nothing dirty or thuggish about it - just some phenomenally great athletes pushing themselves to their limits. And winning.

The Departed

Adam Myers-White, Ellix Wilson, Nevin McKenzie, were all seniors last season and out of eligibility. Their names are familiar to you; all three linebackers played prominent roles in the Tennessee defense, particularly last season. One of the reasons the Tennessee D was such an effective unit last season was the mature, precise play of these three. I've had my complaints about the Mustang Package and its use of the linebackers in the past (See: UCLA), but any lack of effectiveness from the linebackers was definitely not because they made mistakes. The departure of these three will leave a huge hole to fill - and huge opportunities for other players to step up in the new era.

The Unknown

Brett Barnes - a Knoxville native - was also a senior last season. However, he redshirted in 2005 and has one year of eligibility left. I have not heard anything about him yet and do not know if he will be a part of the 2009 roster. A practice squad member for his entire career, he does not figure to be a part of the gameday roster in either case. Yet he has certainly had a better football career than me, and his commitment to the Vols is commendable.

Apart from the seniors, there are 12 linebackers listed on the UT roster (including the incoming players).

Rico McCoy will be one of the two linebacker seniors of next year's roster. One of four UT juniors who asked for a preliminary evaluation by the NFL, he decided to return for one more year with the Vols. This is an eminently great move for him and for the Vols; the consummate starter will get one year under the tutelage of Monte Kiffin and Lance Thompson, and should be an early "New Deal" success story by a staff that plugs NFL potential so much. To Rico, this year is his contract year: success will bring a high draft pick and a Vol Navy-esque boatload of cash.

Oh, and there's this:

Rico McCoy makes a Jeremy Young-sized crater

Yeah, THAT'S a Tennessee linebacker!

Gerald Williams is the other junior, though his UT time has been far more brief. Initially a DE recruit in 2007, Williams went the JUCO route for academic reasons. His academic problems continued, as he was practically a gameday decision by the NCAA last fall. Last season's team difficulties clearly frustrated Williams, as a couple of utterly boneheaded personal foul penalties can attest. If anybody needs to make a fast impression, it is Williams. He is a terrific athlete: quick, big, and mean. So long as his grades and his temperament hold up, he will find a lot of time on the field to make his case to the NFL scouts (and to give us more sweet linebacker highlights!)

Nick Reveiz is the shortest linebacker on the roster at 5'11". Normally, that height relegates you to bit duty on the practice squad or on special teams (well, for schools that don't place a priority on special teams, winkwink), but Reveiz managed to land quite a bit of playing time. He redshirted 2006, but played in all games since then. He is most known for being a "fireplug" - a short, stocky guy who just doesn't get pushed around. He's a sure tackler and his low center of gravity helps him hold his own against offensive linemen.

Savion Frazier is another name that isn't the most well-known on the roster, though he's had a decent share of the action. A true freshman player, he has seen a steadily increasing amount of action in his two years at UT. And to be honest, he's a guy that those of us outside the progam can't reliably give a prediction on. He was a four-star recruit as a running back, but was moved to linebacker due to the depth we've had at his position. I would like to know more about his mental makeup before giving any prediction on him: is he a wolf? Does he thrive in the pack mentality that linebackers are known for? The fall will tell.

LaMarcus Thompson will be a junior next fall, having redshirted the 2006 season. The Lithonia/Stone Mountain GA native is also a bit shorter than the average 'backer at 6'1" and has spent most of his time with the special teams. Much like Frazier, we simply have not seen a whole lot of Thompson, largely because of the stout list of accomplished linebackers on the roster. Like so many others, he has a second chance at a first impression

The Sophomores

As is the case with so many from Fulmer's era, evaluating last year's freshmen linebackers is an exceedingly difficult task. They simply weren't on the field regularly. This time, it's hard to blame Fulmer and Chavis - players like McCoy and Wilson clearly deserved their playing time.

Chris Donald Keep this name in your memory banks. A five-star West Tennessee recruit, Donald redshirted the 2007 season partly due to the deep roster at the time (remember that Mayo was present then). He's big and he's fast, and if his attitude matches his physical gifts, he'll be the kind of guy that Monte would love to send to "get after" the ball carrier. If you've read Meat Market, you know that Donald was a guy that Orgeron coveted while at Ole Miss (and is probably happy to have lost to Tennessee now). While projecting players out of this linebacking group is a turkey shoot at this point, I am slowly convincing myself that he'll be a starter in the fall.

Herman Lathers was a Louisiana all-state linebacker in 2007. He's best suited as a weakside linebacker with his lighter frame (210 lbs.), and is almost built like a run-support safety. A search for more information on Lathers doesn't reveal anything beyond his recruiting information - a theme that is becoming very common with the youngest returnees on the roster.

Josh Hawkins is another local product. Hailing from Loudon, Hawkins redshirted the 2007 season. His metrics are very similar to Lathers - about 6'1", 210ish. He is also better-suited to be an outside linebacker in a 4-3 but has little information for us to predict his future success.

Rodriguez Wilks may be one of the more interesting linebackers on the roster. He was originally recruited as a wide receiver, as his 6'1", sub-200 frame and 4.5ish speed seemed better suited for route running than for tangoing in the trenches. He has since grown to about 220 lbs, which is probably part cause and part effect of the move to linebacker. I have a feeling his mental makeup will determine his fate; if he has the aggressiveness of a linebacker in him, he'll probably stay on defense. If not, he may get moved back to wide receiver for a little more depth.

And now, the n00bs. (Linebackers just love being called n00bs. Try it sometime, all the while remembering that I am in no way liable for any ensuing events.)

Greg King is a guy that I'm excited for - in about a year. He's physically well-built for interior linebacker, with a 6'3" frame that can probably hold 240 lbs. without affecting his speed. The knock on him is his need to play with more discipline and sharper technique. Since he's coming in the fall, there's really not much time for him to develop those skills and snag a starting position quickly.

However, King is smart. He's a left-brained guy who's looking at things like computer engineering for his major, which tells me that he's very process-oriented. Give him a system and a path to success, and he'll follow it to its logical conclusion. As much as I like tenacity in linebackers, a mind like this is ideal for the Mike - somebody who can direct presnap traffic and set the stage for success. Additionally, if he has success, he can be a great asset for recruiting in his hometown of Memphis. I don't see him starting quickly, but I have a lot of hope for his tenure at UT.

Jerod Askew is a "hired gun", so to speak. He is a very compact, 6'0" 230-pounder with 4.5ish speed who lives for the full-speed, head-on collisions. A product of Divison 6 Oscar Smith high school in Viriginia, he has had some great tutelage and his technique is in better shape than King, which will probably get him on the field sooner than the Memphis native. I think he'll be the first incoming freshman to find significant playing time in the fall.

Nigel Mitchell-Thornton is the final linebacker in the new class, and was relatively unnoticed through most of the season. Another Stone Mountain native, Nigel is better-suited to run-stopping than pass defense at the moment. Some time working on agility and technique may go a long way, but I don't see a starting spot for him against Western Kentucky. Still, that's no shame, as few linebackers ever find a starting role on any team in their first year.

Summary

If I were to guess, I'd place McCoy, Williams and Donald as the three listed starters for the 2009 campaign. McCoy is a no-brainer. Williams is as physically talented as they come, though my pick is a little dicey when you consider his academic history. Donald will probably be the first who? WOW!!! player out of this bunch that you haven't heard a lot from last year. That's why I see him as the third 'backer on the field of three.

There is a lot of experience leaving the team, but there is probably even more potential behind them. I really like the outlook for linebackers, though it may take a few games for the potential to come into focus. Let's just hope that it focuses before Florida.

And now, for a little more eye candy:

Al Wilson and Leonard Little (via nathangb4)