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The crown used to belong to the Miami Hurricanes, if you ask those in South Beach. Up north, they might say Penn State was the true king, despite the bevy of Nittany Lions who suffered injury-laden careers in the NFL.

But now, neither of those schools even have a case for being known as Linebacker University, so the quest to find the real LBU must begin elsewhere. In my study of the past ten draft classes, only four teams really proved worthy of consideration for the title.

LSU Tigers
Total Drafted – 8
Top 100 – 5
Top 50 – 1
1st Round – 0
Big Hits – Deion Jones, Kwon Alexander
Still Waiting – Duke Riley, Kendall Beckwith
Busts – Kevin Minter

Final verdict: It’s quality over quantity right now at LSU, especially when we talk about producing top 50 linebacker prospects. But the NFL is changing, and maybe teams are realizing they shouldn’t have slept on so many Tigers over the past few drafts.

Alabama Crimson Tide
Total Drafted – 8
Top 100 – 7
Top 50 – 6
1st Round – 5
Big Hits – C.J. Mosley, Dont’a Hightower, Reuben Foster
Still Waiting – Rashaan Evans, Reggie Ragland
Busts – Rolando McClain (character reasons)

Final verdict: When it comes to producing linebackers, Alabama has set the golden standard with first round picks three of the past five years and a top 50 pick in all but one of those classes.

Ohio State Buckeyes
Total Drafted – 9
Top 100 – 5
Top 50 – 3
1st Round – 2
Big Hits – Ryan Shazier, James Laurinaitis
Still Waiting – Jerome Baker, Raekwon McMillan
Busts – Darron Lee

Final verdict: Just not enough proven talent in the NFL right now to take the Buckeyes seriously. They need Baker and McMillan to have big years in Miami, while hoping Lee somehow elevates his game in year three.

UCLA Bruins
Total Drafted – 7
Top 100 – 4
Top 50 – 4
1st Round – 1
Big Hits – Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr, Myles Jack
Still Waiting – Kenny Young, Jayon Brown
Busts – Akeem Ayers

Final verdict: UCLA deserves way more credit than they get as a LBU candidate, but it is tough for them to take the crown with Alabama in the other corner.

So, who is LBU?

No team has produced as many quality linebackers as consistently and as dominantly as Alabama over the past ten years. They are poised to have their sixth first round linebacker in 11 drafts next April. That is insane.

But UCLA is a very close runner-up, and it’ll be interesting to see how their two day three ‘backers play this season with a chance for signifiant playing time on the table. Unfortunately none of UCLA’s current linebacker crop are on our radar for the 2019 NFL Draft, while the Crimson Tide will offer top prospects the next few years.

For fun, I ranked the top three linebackers at each school together to see where the advantage would fall. First and third place went to Alabama.

1. Reuben Foster, Alabama

2. Myles Jack, UCLA

3. C.J. Mosley, Alabama

4. Eric Kendricks, UCLA

5. Anthony Barr, UCLA

6. Dont’a Hightower, Alabama

The debate is over. The Alabama Crimson Tide are undisputedly LBU.

The Draft Network