Jermaine Johnson enters the portal. Didn't see that one coming

This is dumb, he played alot smh

If you've followed some of the chatter, this is the position group that likely has the biggest question marks with regards to who returns. The heavy rotation and the absolutely dogged focus on gap integrity instead of letting guys loose a bit has a good bit of that room more than a little frustrated. The hope at this point is that we don't lose either of Nolan or Adam Anderson.

Honestly, I thought JJ might try to head to the draft, so had a feeling he was gone anyway.

The coaches are going to have to figure out a way to maximize the value of your top performers whether that's rotating more early so that they're fresher later and you can let them loose, or something else... As of right now, if I were an elite OLB with no particular school loyalty, I'd be looking elsewhere with regards to maximizing my draft value (see: Barrett Carter/Korey Foreman both likely heading to Clemson - 38 team sacks).

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Who's his competition?

I bet that’ll tell us more of why this is happening.

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FWIW, without naming specific player(s), the frustration in the OLB room has been a known quantity for a while. I truly don't believe this is strictly a competition thing. Now, perhaps he didn't feel confident that he'd be able to *increase* his playing time beyond what he already had and that was a component, but more than anything, the frustration has been on *how* OLBs have been used rather than time on field as far as I've been able to tell.

It's a depth issue and we have a wealth of it at that position. It's hard to keep them all happy.

I'm genuinely confused. I would understand if Anderson or Smith transferred, but Johnson sees a bulk of the load. I guess he just wants to be out there every snap. I thought he was going to the draft anyway.

Luckily we are loaded at the position but this doesn't make me confident that the LB room is being managed properly

EDIT: Looks like it might be a family issue. He lives in MN so he will likely transfer to U of Minn. So it might not be something we are doing wrong per se. Or Azeez is coming back

I doubt Azeez, Lorenzo, Davin Bellamy, Deandre Walker think there is an issue

Head scratcher. Maybe wants to finish up close to home?

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Who's his competition?

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Ahead of him is Azeez.

Azeez has better film than Lorenzo Carter, imo. Probably not better at the combine.

Johnson is closer in the mode of azeez as anyone else.
He is a clear#2 right now. I would have expected him to enter the draft.

I dont see competition as the issue as much as our 4 man fronts. We run a heavier package than other 3-4 coaches (grantham, pruitt, etc). That puts only 1 OLB on the field in our primary defense. And gap integrity keeps a run first focus on 1st down even against a more pass heavy OC opponent.

I think Lanning evolved more in 2019 to go with heavier bodies in our 4 man fronts. I hadnt noticed it as much under Tucker.

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will say we didn’t rotate carter and Bellamy. Or walker after them. Or Azeez once he took hold. I’m wondering if he rotated with smith so much because neither took charge enough in coach’s eyes.

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Lanning is different personnel than tucker.

Tucker more often had both OLBs in 4 man fronts.
Lanning only uses 1 (extra DL).
This is in our primary defensive alignment against most 11 or 12 personnel opponents.

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EDIT: Looks like it might be a family issue. He lives in MN so he will likely transfer to U of Minn. So it might not be something we are doing wrong per se. Or Azeez is coming back

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"“He wants to be able to use his talents,” his father said. “Jermaine is a Dawg. He would have loved nothing more than to leave as a Dawg going to the league, but you can’t get to the league without film and the constant rotation for no reason, that’s not going to do it.”"

Quote from his dad: LINK /