WLB:
'13 players: For being the most experienced guy in our front 7, I had higher expectations of Jenkins. But he is who he is which is simply an attack dog. When asked to read and react, he is very mistake prone but when given an absolute mission (blitz, gap control, etc) he does it effectively. Last year we mostly subbed him out in passing situations for this reason but this year we didn't have that luxury and in no small part to his talents, every Aggie, even the casual football fan, is now quite familiar with the wheel route. He was definitely frustrating, but he also made some top notch plays at times as well.

What to expect in '14: the plan right now is to move Darion Claiborne to WLB in the spring. Claiborne is a more natural fit here and clearly has an extremely high football IQ. His experience this year should help us maintain at the position as a worst case. Brett Wade seemed lost in the spring and I've not heard his name much over the fall so I don't really know what to expect but he projects here. I think Baggs can be an effective backup in a pinch and Josh Walker will join as possibly the most physically talented LB on the roster from day one. If Claiborne shows progression, I think we'll actually see improvement even though we will be replacing a 3-year starter. We might take a step back on the blitz and possibly even a slight downgrade in run support, but a huge leap forward in pass defense.

MLB:
'13 players: The Baggs experiment was a disaster. Claiborne showed tremendous flashes at times but he also was physically overmatched, showed a tendency to lose gap control and technically is not very sound. His tremendous instincts overcame some of that but he got abused against a few teams, most notably Auburn. Mastrogiavanni emerged as the primary backup late in the season and easily had his best game vs Mizzou. His tendency to think too much and stand still makes him seem slow but he actually shows good burst when he finally gets going. He was below average in the Chicken Bowl but not a glaring weakness like the position was early on.

What to expect in '14: Mastro heads into the spring as the projected starter and the coaches are very pleased with his head for the game. He's actually learned the vast majority of the defense and was helping veterans get lined up against Duke. But he's got to process faster if he's going to keep the job. That should come in time but we don't have the luxury of letting him develop. He has the size that Claiborne and Baggs lack though so if he can do that, we might see a nice uptick. Chevis was absolutely lost for a long time but apparently the light came on in a big way for him the last few weeks of the season. It will be interesting to see how hard he pushes here. Sanders is someone to keep an eye on because he's a very good nickel linebacker but just too small to be an every down guy. If he can gain some good weight, he may challenge. AJ Hilliard may also get some play here if others fail. And a guy like Kenny Young could also make a real push if he commits. And if all else fails, you move Claiborne back and put someone else at WLB. So at this point, it may be too early to guess how it will go because there are so many names in the mix. It could be a catastrophe again or one of them may emerge. The positive outlook is that unlike this year, when in the spring Baggs got the job by default, there are actually multiple guys to choose from.

SLB:
'13 players: No nice way to say it. SLB was simply a horror show this year. We tried Tommy Sanders who has the quickness but did not prove to be a very good blitzer, lacked the size to deal with TEs in the run game, and struggled with reading play action. We tried Askew who lacks LB instincts or the physicality you need to defend the run. We even gave Mastro a brief, but equally disastrous run. We finally came to Donnie Baggs who lacks any real strengths but has the fewest weaknesses. At least, in very limited action, Shaan Washington showed flashes of being a playmaker. But honestly, SAM is the one position that no one emerged and showed real signs of life this season at any point and we ended up playing a lot more 425 than I think anyone wanted just to get the SLB off the field. In the end, the gap from Sean Porter was Grand Canyon-like.

What to expect in '14: Another hard position to read. Baggs was the least horrible but you really have to hope he's not the guy in '14. Hilliard and Washington should be the primary competition but Sanders or even Josh Walker or a guy like Kenny Young could get a look here if the shite show continues. We desperately need someone who is a capable blitzer to emerge because sending 6 and still not touching the QB is just pathetic. On the positive side, it can't possibly be any worse.

Linebacker Summary:
'13 players: It's not a year where we will look back fondly on our linebacker play. With a new coach at the position, questions abound, but we also have to remember that only 2 LBs from the '12 roster were on the '13 team. Before the season I said we might look back at that and say we should have seen it coming. Well, I guess we should have.

What to expect in '14: It's time for Hagen to show why he's here. He's got 8 scholarship players returning and many are very talented and will have had at least a full year to learn the scheme. There are questions at every position though so projecting how it shakes out is very difficult. And while I don't expect them all to be world beaters, if we can't find 3 from the lot that can be competent, something is wrong on the coaching end. Simply put - no excuses. If we don't see a large improvement from our LBs next year, we're going to have some defensive coaches on the hot seat.