Linebackers

GTCrew

GTCrew

Patrick Henry
Joined
Jul 25, 2002
Messages
49,873
Where do we stand right now? No question who starts in the middle, but what about the other slots?

My wild guess is that Chambers works his way into a starting outside role. I think that he will be a good one for us.

I wouldn't be surprised if Guyton plays some as a backup, and gets a lot of ST time.
 
it appears that Reis has gotten one of the spots..

but he seems to be undersized, but we will have to wait and see. The good thing is our dline will cause blocking problems which will hopefully free up our LB's.
 
Gerris Wilkinson (MLB), Chris Reis (SLB) and KaMichael Hall (WLB) ended spring as the first team linebackers.

I believe Travis Chambers always said coaches wanted him to play middle linebacker.
 
I like our depth at LB. We should have plenty of fresh bodies flying to the ball. My bet is that Tenuta is chomping at the bit to see how this defense does.
 
I share your concern somewhat....

about Reis's size, but sometimes I think we put too much stock in that. Look at Wimbush. Also, last year we were all worried to death that our defensive line was outweighed by Auburn's offensive line by 40 pounds per man. Didn't matter one whit.

I agree that all things being equal I'd like a bigger guy than a smaller one...but usually other things aren't equal. Miami has proven that speed kills.

I may be wrong...but it really doesn't worry me.

I'm more concerned about how much Reggie has improved.
 
Re: I share your concern somewhat....

[ QUOTE ]
about Reis's size, but sometimes I think we put too much stock in that. Look at Wimbush. Also, last year we were all worried to death that our defensive line was outweighed by Auburn's offensive line by 40 pounds per man. Didn't matter one whit.

I agree that all things being equal I'd like a bigger guy than a smaller one...but usually other things aren't equal. Miami has proven that speed kills.

I may be wrong...but it really doesn't worry me.

I'm more concerned about how much Reggie has improved.

[/ QUOTE ]

Reis scares the hell out of me with his size. Wimbush was outside where it's acceptable to have a smaller LB. Auburn couldn't do anything b/c we had (2) of the best LBs in the nation making the plays. Lastly, you're right Miami has always proven that "speed kills", but they have DBs that are the same size(sometimes bigger) with as good or better speed then our LBs. This is the big difference between competing and excelling on the college level. I like the direction CCG has us going but we have depth issues on both sides of the ball.
 
Re: I share your concern somewhat....

like winbush, reis is also on the outside. i think the incoming class will go a long way to taking care of that depth problem on the defensive side of the ball. this incoming class will only be chan's 2nd full year of recruiting . next year with his 3rd full class that won't be an issue.
 
I think Chambers is our MLB of the future.

But I think he has a shot at playing obvious running downs right now on the outside.

He doesn't seem to be crazy big or crazy fast but his numbers speak for themselves.

I am looking forward to seeing Reis out there more often, but I just think if Chambers can put on a little muscle without losing a step in the offseason, the opportunity for some early PT is there.

If D. Smith was a freshman this year he would push K Hall and Reis into a competition/platoon on the other side. Is Chambers in that ballpark? Are any of the other guys?
 
Re: I think Chambers is our MLB of the future.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems we almost always have a freshman step up at LB when we have a position over. I remember E Henderson and Porter back in the 80s, seems like Roof played as a frosh, D Smith, Fox? ...who else? I don't know who, but my gut tells me one of the new guys will be big for us next year.
 
Re: I think Chambers is our MLB of the future.

Gary Guyton will be a monster at SLB before the end of the season. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blue.gif
 
Re: I think Chambers is our MLB of the future.

We have too many chances to succeed at LB. A minimum of one new guy will step up "if needed."

What I mean by that is that we have undersized DL and big DB freshmen plus incoming LB freshmen that all are outstanding athletes.

We have 'at least' 4 true freshmen to choose from if Reis and Hall don't cut it. A minimum of one could make the transistion from DE, DB, or LB itself.

Moore runs a 4.6, Wheeler a 4.6, Hall a 4.5, Anyansi a 4.6, and Reis a 4.6. Here are the new guys - all faster, most bigger, and all recruited by the national powerhouses and/or traditional LB factories (and UGA).

All joking aside, I don't care about stars, but the following 4 guys had offers including FSU, UF, Oklahoma, UGA, LSU, Colorado, South Carolina, and Auburn - when these schools think you can play defense for them, you are showing somebody something.

So -

Williams (6'3" 200, 4.55 speed DB)
Guyton (6'2" 220, 4.4 LB)
Chambers(6'0" 215, 4.5 LB)
Robertson (6'5" 205, 4.5 speed DE)

All these weights and strengths will improve by the season - especially Robertson.

These are just the freshmen - and we have Anyansi, Wheeler, Hall, and Moore. We know Reis will play well and will be a playmaker - although we don't know for sure that he will do it at Linebacker.

I see Anyansi and Hall as people who can hold their own, but not match the standard we need as the 'first' 2 LB's. I said last year, and was blasted for it, that neither of these are what we hoped. They still can hold their own if Wilkinson has a near equal at one of the other positions. We have TOO much talent at DB and DL not to succeed if we can get just two very good LB's. We already know we have 1 and hope we already have 2.

Add just one with the freshmen. It doesn't matter if a guy is a freshman or will be the DL or Safety of the future if he can cut it at LB and we don't have what we need. We know Chan will use all the options he has to.

I'm not even saying any of the 4 will cut it - but I am saying there's no way not one will.

So add one with the freshman class and call it conservative.

At a minimum, we should have 2 or 3 instead of 1 or 2 by week 3 or 4.

We will have a better defense this year than last. Mark my words. We won't have a Smith Or Fox at LB, but we will put it down across the board better than we have in quite a while.

Unless we have a terrible injury bug, we should have a BIG TIME defense by the time UGA comes calling.
 
Re: I think Chambers is our MLB of the future.

I like your optimism, TechFowl, and I'd love to tell you how right you were come next January. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I agree.

It will be interesting to see who comes out on top by Sept 4.

I am convinced that Tenuta can get the job done with the talent we have available. If we can get/stay healthy at CB we will be very, very good. When we moved Brezina it showed that we are stacked on the DLine. We have quality and depth. Safety might be the strongest position on the team in terms of starters.

IIRC Tenuta's D at UNC was built around excellent linemen and CBs. We had a D built around great LBs and Tenuta adjusted his schemes to the personnel very well IMHO. It is possible that Tenuta finally has the players in place to run his D at a very high level. This is a very exciting possibility.
 
Hall

[ QUOTE ]
I see Anyansi and Hall as people who can hold their own, but not match the standard we need as the 'first' 2 LB's.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree about Anyansi, but Gailey frequently commented last year on how much he liked Hall. Has something changed? Seems like he just needs experience, but the same is true of Scott, Richard, etc.
 
Re: Hall

Scott grew into his job and made an impact by spring. Hall actually went the other way when given first team try outs.

All people grow at different speeds, so KS doing one thing means nothing about KH. All I mean by that is that KS is not in the same catagory as KH any more - which is potential realized vs. potential still being potential only. Both are complementary, but only one gets you on the field, while the other may still.

Could be that he needs more time - could be that he will never have it. I wouldn't even guess about which is the case. The guy does have a lot of good attributes to build on.

From conversations with those that know - including certain same people and coaches who were high on him last year - he's a good ball player, but not a superstar.

No issues with any factor he can control. He's working hard, being tough minded, and showing the right work ethic and all the things that don't have anything to do with talent. He's a lot like Anyansi. Better athlete than ball player - but still pretty good.

Maybe he'll change minds later in the season. He does have the straight ahead speed and size we want. I'm unsure about his lateral speed, change of direction ability, quickness, and recognition skills - but if any of those are the issues (I don't know) all are factors that 'might' be improved over time.

I like everything I know about him and Anyansi. I view them as good, and with potential, but the biggest change in productivity happens from the first year on, and each has had their shots. We have talented guys coming in that 'statisticly' stack up better.

Chris Reis 'statisticly' doesn't stack up against a lot of players, but I'd take him over MOST guys with higher high school accolades, so who knows.

We can only hope for what pans out, and be reasonable about what has or has not already.

It takes a lot to be a Smith or a Fox. Ather Brown is a guy that would start on a lot of GOOD teams. The guy can play. He contributed - not just saw PT - contributed - as a freshman. Anyansi and Hall could still be good. They just didn't make the most of their opportunities so far.

Neither took the job away from Ather, which means neither will likely be the first two LB's. We need 2 big timers. I'd love to have 3. We need 2 at least, plus a guy that can hold his own while we give him help through schemes and stunts. Hall or Anyansi could step into the third role and excel. I don't see them being game changing #1 guys.

It's no slight to them, just like Ather has my complete respect. I think Ather was underrated. There are only a few Fox's and Smith's to come through a program year to year, and AB's effort and productivity was overshadowed by a couple of guys that would over shadow most good LB's.

We have to be good across the board to replace complete excellence at two positions last year. We will accomplish that. If we get another bad man to complement Wilkinson, we beat that - and if we get 2 more, then Katie Bar The Door once those 2 guys get a season of experience (i.e. UGA and Bowl time.)

It won't all happen early in the year. I'd expect a rocky start and a strong finish. 'Maybe' we beat Clemson and Miami and still finish strong, but I doubt we start that well.

Late season should be when we really start hurting people's feelings ('preferably' in state feelings). The only thing I see that could keep that from happening would be injuries, of course, or if our players we lose confidence in what could be around the corner from a 'possible' tough start.
 
Re: Hall

I read a report on CCG's speech in Savannah last night and CCG reportedly said that his starting LB's would be Wilkerson, Hall and Moore. This is contrary to what I had been led to believe but Chan runs the team so i'm not going to criticize. This report is posted on the Hive. It caught me by surprise.
 
Techfowl...question

Been enjoying your thoughtful posts about the state of our linebacking corps. I'm most excited to see what develops between now and fall.

Since you spoke of Hall, Moore, Anyansi, etc....remember that awful game in '01 where we lost to Clemson largely because we lost D. Smith and Dantzler ran up the middle every chance he got. Smith was replaced that day by Matthew Etheridge if memory serves. Would you compare Hall, Moore, Anyansi, etc to HIM? Or are they further along that Etheridge was at that point. As I recall, Etheridge didn't have all that much game experience before that game.

I'll just hang up and listen. Enjoy the show.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blue.gif
 
Ethridge was a walk on that played private school

ball in Macon before that IIRC.

Didn't he play some safety in real games for us also?

Anyway, while he was a talented athlete and football player, he was not really a BCS caliber LB. He was too small to play MLB but we literally had nobody else.

I thought Moore had 'disappointed' and was the one Reis replaced. The plot thickens....
 
Re: Hall

Thanks for the reply. I felt like last year's defensive recruiting class would have been complete if GT had signed the LB that I recall ended up at A&M. Brick Haley's departure hurt us there.

On the other hand, the staff thinks that Guyton is a lot better than his press clippings/star ratings indicate.

Some folks think it's a foregone conclusion that this D will be better. I agree with you that some young guys will take their lumps early, and hopefully improve as the year goes on.

Last year, it went the other way. GT averaged giving up 31 points per game over the last 4 games, and that schedule included UNC and Duke. Since Smith and Fox are gone, I enter this year with a lot more concern about the defense than other folks seem to have.
 
This team is begging for LB playmakers which means Reis will have a hard time being kept out.
Also I think too many guys think Wilkerson will
automatically be very competent just because he played last yr.He is playing a new and very demanding position.I think he will struggle also.
Chambers will be a good chance for playing time it seems.He may be small but I read he has a some SERIOUS weightlifting records.maybe he is like D Smith,once he touches you,you've had it.
It will be VERY interesting to see if our DL can dominate enough to keep the LBs from having to make all the plays at times..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top