Spring Practice 2018 Position Preview: Linebackers

Indiana will have a wide open competition this spring for who will be at linebacker Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

After a few seasons of absolute certainty at linebacker, the Indiana Hoosiers are mostly starting over at the position. One of the best defensive players to ever play in Bloomington, Tegray Scales, will be playing on Sundays and the athletic Chris Covington will likely be joining him. The Hoosiers are not without talent but experience will be in short supply and questions abound. There’s no doubt this is one of the more intriguing positions entering the offseason.

In an effort to be completely transparent, I will let you know that I wanted to have a projection but there’s just no sense in making a wild guess based on no information. I’ll make a projection on how I believe the depth chart will look at kick off of the first game during the “position battle” article but for now, we’ll just take a look at each player in the group. There is going to be whole lot of fluidity and there are way more questions than answers at this position.

We’ll begin this preview by taking a look at the returning “veterans”. No one on the depth chart has much actual playing experience but these players have at least been through the program and know what to expect from a Big Ten schedule.

-Kiante Walton – 6’2”/225 – RS-SR –

Walton is a converted safety that has battled injuries during his time at IU. The Georgia native appeared in only eight games last season after transitioning to linebacker but the Hoosiers were loaded at the position so he was a depth piece behind Scales and Covington. He’ll have a chance this spring to prove he’s ready to step up and see the field for significant snaps as a senior. Walton is fast and has good coverage skills for a linebacker but can he be stout enough against the run and physical enough when pressuring the line of scrimmage? Again, this spring is a huge opportunity for him to prove he’s ready to shine as a senior.

-Reakwon Jones – 6’2”/230 – RS-JR –

Jones appeared in ten games during the 2017 season and had three tackles in IU’s win over Charleston Southern. Jones is an athletic player that has been unable to really find a place during his time in Bloomington. That being said, the physical tools are present for him to be an effective linebacker and he’s no longer behind “no doubt” starters at the position. Spring practice will go a long way towards telling us how close Jones is to locking down one of the starting positions or if he’ll be a player that never quite finds his way onto the field for consistent snaps.

-Michael McGinnis – 6’2”/230 – RS-SR –

After a very productive pair of seasons at ASA College, McGinnis transferred to IU and was immediately eligible as a JUCO transfer. He had two seasons remaining and was expected to be a key piece of depth that would give Scales and Covington some rest during games so they’d be fresh to help IU finish close games in the Big Ten. Unfortunately, that depth never really developed and the Hoosiers again heavily relied on their starters. McGinnis didn’t really look the part in his limited snaps but there’s hope that 2018 will be a different story. He’s now been through a season of D1 football and he has the size and nose for the ball that will give him a chance to be successful. I expect McGinnis to have a much more successful season as a senior than he did as a junior. I don’t think he’ll start but I do think he’ll contribute in some valuable ways.

Next up, the two players coming off of redshirt freshman seasons. Both of these players will have a real shot to contribute and one of them could end up a favorite to start if he develops well during the spring.

-Mo Burnam – 6’2”/235 – RS-FR –

One of the biggest linebackers on the team, Burnam is a bit of a mystery entering the 2018 season. He came to IU as one of the more well-regarded prospects in the 2017 class and he was a three-sport letter winner (football, basketball and track and field) in high school. We didn’t hear all that much buzz about him during the season so there’s no way to know for sure how he was doing on the scout team. Ideally, Burnam steps up during the spring and emerges as a starting linebacker. He showed the talent in high school to become a high-end Big Ten linebacker. However, anyone expressing a lot of confidence in that immediately happening would be taking a real shot in the dark.

-Thomas Allen – 6’3”/230 – RS-FR –

Fair or not, the first thing that will come to mind when Thomas Allen gets brought up is “coach’s son”. Thomas Allen is Tom Allen’s son but he’s not on scholarship simply because he shares holiday meals with the man in charge. No, Allen was a highly-productive linebacker at Tampa’s Plant High School and he was offered by a number of FBS programs. He was a two-time scout player of the week (Penn State and Purdue) and is the ideal size for a linebacker in IU’s 4-2-5 scheme. I would be quite surprised to see him earn a starting role but I do think he’ll be a contributor in 2018.

Next up, the true freshmen that will be joining the Hoosiers for the 2018 season. IU’s coaching staff knew they needed an infusion of bodies and talent at the position following the departure of Covington, Scales and Dameon Willis and they got it.

-Cam Jones – 6’2”/210 – FR (Not in for Spring) –

Jones is one of the most highly-regarded prospects in IU’s stellar 2018 recruiting class. He comes to Bloomington after a terrific high school career in Cordova, Tennessee and chose IU after a lengthy recruiting battle that saw him snag offers from Tennessee, Mississippi State, Louisville, Missouri and several others. He was prolific on both sides of the ball and even returned punts for his high school squad but the Hoosiers will be using him at linebacker. He had 82 tackles, including 14.5 tackles for loss and his speed and athleticism, combined with the right level of nastiness as a hitter, makes him an ideal player to step in at linebacker. If he adjusts well to IU’s weight training program under David Ballou and to the speed of the college game, he just might be a freshman starter in Chris Covington’s spot.

-Aaron Casey – 6’1”/209 – FR (Not in for Spring) –

Click the picture to print the coupon

Another potential impact freshman is Aaron Casey, a native of Georgia and a well-regarded player that chose IU over West Virginia, Rutgers and Iowa State. As a big safety in high school, he had 120 tackles and five interceptions in his senior season. Casey has the frame to add weight to his frame and if IU can get him to something like 225 pounds before his freshman season begins, he has the talent to see the field early on. In fact, he told Matt Weaver (peegs.com) after signing with the Hoosiers that William Inge (his primary recruiter) that the IU staff expected Casey to see the field early during his career in Bloomington. A future duo of Casey and Jones is an exciting thought and the future might arrive very soon.

-Micah McFadden – 6’1”/220 – FR (Not in for Spring) –

After snagging three commitments from Plant High School in Tampa, including linebacker Thomas Allen, IU and head coach Tom Allen kept the pipeline flowing and went back to Plant for some depth at a position of need. McFadden played mostly defensive line and fullback and he was considered a “tweener”. However, he was also productive and Allen sees potential for McFadden at linebacker. He’s athletic and his high school coach has said that he just tends to make winning plays so with some weight development and good coaching, it’s reasonable to expect McFadden to be able to develop into a contributor on special teams and at linebacker. I expect him to redshirt in 2018.

Finally, we’ll look at two players that are wild cards in this equation. We are not 100 percent sure which position these two guys will end up playing but either (or both) of them could end up factoring in at linebacker. On the chance that does happen, I wanted to be sure we included them here.

-James Miller – 6’1”/225 – FR (Not in for Spring)–

A National Signing Day addition, Miller chose the Hoosiers over the Florida State Seminoles and he is yet another talented newcomer from the state of Florida. Miller has tons of potential and he looks physically ready to contribute as soon as he arrives on campus this summer. IU did not necessarily “need” another linebacker in this class but they absolutely could not pass on the chance to add a guy of Miller’s quality and I think he’ll be one of a few true freshman that will see the field for this defense in 2018.

-Marcelino Ball – 6’0”/210 – RS-SO –

I fully expect Marcelino Ball to be the starting Husky for IU after his return from an injury that cost him the majority of the 2017 season. Not having him on the field was a big blow to IU’s defense and his physicality was sorely missed in a few key games. However, what if the coaching staff feels great about the potential and talent of guys like Bryant Fitzgerald and Devon “Monster” Matthews? What if they think they are more than capable of excelling in 2018 and holding down the position? That would open up Marcelino Ball to move to linebacker. Ball would probably need to add 10-15 pounds to be big enough to consistently play in the middle of the field but if he did, you could stick him next to a bigger guy like Mo Burnam and have an athletic and quick duo. I’m not suggesting this is likely but it’s not a crazy impossibility either.

-Stevie Scott – 6’1”/240 – FR (Not in for Spring)–

Coaches on both sides of the ball are battling for the services of the bruising incoming freshman from New York. Scott flipped his commitment from Rutgers to IU and my gut tells me he’ll end up starting his career at running back as his size and running style could make an ideal addition to Morgan Ellison and the speed of Ronnie Walker. That being said, Tom Allen brought up the thought of Scott playing defense and if he did, it would almost certainly be at linebacker. He is already big enough to do so and he has experience playing the position at Christian Brothers Academy. If the staff thinks he could be a star at the position and they feel fine about the running back depth with or without him, this might be a move they make.

There are far more question marks than answers at the linebacker position. After a few years of certainty, this position is probably the biggest question mark on the squad. The potential is clearly there for IU to be special at linebacker in the future with Cam Jones, Mo Burnam and Aaron Casey but the level of proven production from returnees is about as low as you can get. How quickly a few reliable linebackers can emerge is going to go a long way towards determining the ceiling of the IU defense.

Fans of Hoosier Huddle can help support the site by shopping on Amazon using the ad below at no cost to the shopper. Thank you for your support.