Let’s put it this way… I bet this is a question none of you have asked yourselves yet: What linebacker units might rival Georgia’s as the best in the SEC this season?
The thing is, he doesn’t make a half-bad case for it.
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“We remember the Sugar Bowl, I think it my junior year of high school, we let Alabama beat us twice,” Brinson said of a team that also lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. “We’re not letting Alabama beat us twice. In the Sugar Bowl in 2018, they… thought they should have been in the playoffs and lost to Texas.” -- AB-H, 12/27/23
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Get The Picture · Bloviation for the Dawgnation
Get The Picture 
As far as pass coverage goes, unfortunately we have no peer.
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I have a sneaking suspicion we will see guys like Kimbrough and Rankin pop up more in spot duty. As good as Amarlo is, he was used and abused last season. The ‘simplification’ should allow for much more rotation among the LB’s. At least that’s what my Kool Aid is telling me…
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Those guys, plus Carter, O’Neal, Bostick, Bellamy, all have a chance to play. Some here, including me, were looking for some snaps last year. Some of these guys looked really good in the HS film I saw. Watch out for Bostick. O’Neal and Kimbrough stood out, too, IIRC.
We’ll see what Pruitt can do with them. But there’s little chance now they will be wasted. And that’s good news for the defense and the team.
~~~
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I just got a Marshal stiffy.
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Our guys got alot of tackles because they were on the field all the time. The middles cannot cover crossing patterns and our outside guys, while good pass rushers, also make fundamental mistakes like not setting the edge. Based on last year, I don’t think we have the best LB core in the SEC. And any article that does not have Bama mentioned in the top 5 has no credibility in my opinion. My hope is that the new coaches can coach up our guys and make them into a crew that really can be considered one of the best in the SEC.
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This, linebackers making a bunch of tackles can simply be due to the fact that they didn’t sub out and the defense couldn’t get off the field. There was nothing in the South Carolina, LSU, or Auburn games that made me go “Man! these linebackers on both sides are really imposing their will today”. I also remember a lot of Wilson’s tackles being a bear hug on a the ball carrier then falling backwards to tack on three or four yards after contact.
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Very true. Michael Felder (@InTheBleachers) was talking about proper tackling technique on Twitter the other day, and I jokingly sent him a message that we had seen great results at UGA by just hitting the carrier with your should really hard. He laughed and responded that yeah we were great at that and the Drag Method of tackling last year (hold on and get dragged a few yards). Definitely saw way to much of that last year.
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dangit, should say hitting the carrier with your “shoulder” really hard.
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It’s your opinion that “Saban” is a better predictor for a unit’s performance than analyzing the actual players that will be on the field? Interesting.
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No. The Tide has had great linebackers every year. No reason to think they are not going to be any good this year. The number of tackles is not necessarily the best way to judge LB performance. Our guys had plenty of time to make tackles cause they were on the field longer than most. We could not get off the field on 3rd down. So they were on the field with the chance to make tackles. And, we did NO substitution of the MLB so they had many more chances. There were weaknesses in their play that were exposed many times last year. I hope the new staff will be able to correct some of that. I hope they play in 2014 like an elite unit. Just saying that a list of the best units on defense that does not include the Tide is stupid. How have they finished the last 4 years in all defensive stats? They have been 1 or 2 each year, and I expect the LB had something to do with it and I don’t expect them to fall total defensive stats behind the other teams mentioned.
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I noticed the exact same thing with Wilson’s tackles–making the tackle but giving up 4 yards. Dawgs need to be hitting them in the hole and knocking them backwards!
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I love that someone lays out some reason why the linebackers might be a bright spot this upcoming season and the comments are all “This guy is stupid we are going to suck.”
nice job fellas.
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I thought the same thing. Gotta love Georgia fans.
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Defense was a weak spot for the team last year. Richt, by all accounts, made a masterful move by bringing in Pruitt to make the necessary changes. Grantham is a top defensive mind but didn’t get it done last two years. I do not see anyone saying the linebackers cannot be great. Rather, commenters are pointing out what needs to change for them to be great.
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Exactly. If Point A is where we were last year, and Point B is being the best unit in the conference, I think we can all agree that there’s a pretty long distance to be traveled between Point A and Point B. Nothing wrong with pointing that out. But that’s not saying they will suck in 2014.
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Our LB’s often looked like rodeo cowboys dragging down a calf after 3 or 4 yards and a pile of dust.
Not exactly the Odell Thurman or Kendrell Bell school of Linebacking.
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In this case, Laney makes the all-too-common mistake of grading players by stats. Pretty typical of writers. I’ve pointed out the futility of that practice before.
I doubt Ramik Wilson is the best LB on his team, much less the best in the SEC. He might not even be the best ILB we have. The shortcomings of Ramik, Herrera, Jenkins, and maybe a few others are well known here.
IMO, there is no way our LB talent is where it needs to be, or even close to being the best in the SEC. But we do have a chance, now, to be the best LB corps we can be. And that might be pretty good, because now they have a chance to develop. I do think it will be good enough.
But I don’t recognize the group Laney writes about. Not yet anyway.
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Evidently, the author failed to watch any game film. Just read the stat lines…
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This line by the author blew his credibility right out of the window.
“Led by Ramik Wilson, the leading tackler in the SEC last year who I projected as the best individual linebacker in the SEC for 2014.”
Wilson wasn’t even the 5th best linebacker in the SEC last year. He won’t be all that and a bag of chips until he learns to stop tackling people up around the ear hole. Comprende?
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Florida has some talent there.
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