Alaka, Walker, Chevis, and Wade need to grow up in a hurry

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Washington is the only one to keep his starting job next year.

Chevis is DL now.

Had a few days to think about it and figure this is a good place to start. Warning: this is long. Don't read if you are still melting.

Our LB play hasn't been atrocious. No where near as bad as last year honestly. Not even close. Disappointing is fair though. At this point there is zero doubt we've either absolutely failed in evaluations or development in spots. Combined with injuries, this has left us with a former walk-on playing key minutes at 2 positions. My feel is that our evals from the '13 class were just awful.

I know everyone loves to blame someone so who's fault is that? Wally? Snyder? Sumlin? The way the system works, someone nominates a guy and the position coach, coordinator, and Sumlin sign off before a guy is offered. One thing to consider is that a number of those guys were offered and committed long before our '12 season took off. And guys like Chevis, Wade, and Sanders were all EEs so not easy to replace.

As far as development, Hilliard, Washington and Mastro (yes Mastro) have shown nice improvement over where they were last year. Each one has had an injury and Mastro's was worse than we've let on. We simply have no options and a 75% Mastro is better than what we have behind. In hindsight, we probably should have sat him the last few weeks but Bass is the only other person that can legitimately play MLB right now (Hilliard was prepped for it).

Linebacker is technical. You have to do many things against your instincts. It's what Claiborne seriously struggled with last year and at times we got abused because of it. MLB and SAM in particular are cerebral positions. WLB is much easier as you have a gap and a coverage area (or man).

SAM has edge responsibility, man responsibility (usually TE) and plays on the LOS. It's a beast of a position because you need both the length to play in pass, the size to handle SEC TEs blocking you on the edge, and the quickness to both hold the edge and blitz at times. Shaan Washington will be very good here. So will Alaka but he needs to develop both mentally and physically. I think longer term we're fine. For this year, Baggs is adequate though not good. It's not changing unless Hilliard comes back and we can move Wash back here.

MLB is the single hardest position. It's the same everywhere. LSU has a 5-star MLB that is barely playing behind a guy that physically is more limited than Bass. The MLB often does not have a gap assignment and their job is to make sure every gap is covered pre-snap, mirror the RB behind the LOS (staying out of traffic), and drop into pass coverage. Mastro's problems are the reverse of Claiborne's last year. Claiborne would attack but RBs would cut back to another hole and he would take himself out of plays. Mastro waits too long to keep that from happening. It's limited the huge gaping holes but leads to fewer TFLs.

Knowing when to attack and when to mirror is hard and takes experience and knowing everything going on around you. You can attack if it's the only hole. And you should attack if someone else gets a hand on the back and be that second man. If there is a cutback lane you need to mirror. Experience is the only way to get better. That can come in the film room, practice field, or game. Each has their value. But there are very few defenses that are good that have inexperienced MLBs. And whether it makes you irritable or not, that's the spot we're in. I haven't seen enough of Walker to know, but the coaches feel like they hit on both LBs this year. In today's game with such diversity to offenses, the MLB is just a hard, hard position to play. Losing Richmond from the '12 class, mis-eval in '13, Claiborne washing out and Hilliard hurt leaves us where we are. We can bitch (and I get it) but the coaches can't do that - they have to put the guy out there that gives us the best chance even if you don't like it.

WLB is comparatively easier. You generally have a gap assignment and a coverage responsibility and so you are looking for that instinctual linebacker. They can shoot that gap when they read it. Or blitz, etc. I wondered if the coaches would move Walker here when Hilliard got hurt but it's a catch-22. If they do, he's missing reps at MLB and as long as Bass can play both, you can focus Walker on where we're going to need him long term. Washington has been good. Bass honestly is adequate at WLB but his physical limitations hurt him at MLB.

Anyway, this is what we have. Those 4 are going to play. The 2 freshmen may slowly work into the rotation. We're probably taking 5 LBs this year and we need them.

Could we spin down any of the larger DBs to linebacker such as Jonathan Wiggins?

The only reason I bring up Wiggins is that he's a similar size now to what Shaan Washington was when he first came in (Washington was 6'3 210 out of high school, Wiggins is 6'3 213 now)

Thanks for the info tmc.

You don't have to answer this, but what is your affiliation with the program? Are you on the staff? Do you currently coach?

Don't ask and just bask in the information

Y'all are hilarious. I simply know a few people is all