2024 Spring Football: Position Battle - Linebackers
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Written by Evan Alvarez
Over the past several seasons, Indiana has been blessed with NFL caliber linebackers leading the defense. From Micah McFadden (now starting and starring for the New York Giants) to Cam Jones (who won this year’s Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs) to Aaron Casey (likely 2024 NFL Draft pick and combine participant), IU has developed a reputation for always having strong, hard-nosed, intelligent, leaders in the middle of the defense who regularly wreak havoc for Big Ten foes.
Hoping to take the “Linebacker Torch” from these IU legends and run with it are several newcomers to the program along with some familiar faces. Let’s walk through each of them and think about where things may land at this very important position in 2024.
Middle Linebacker
Aiden Fisher vs. Jayden McDonald
Both Fisher and McDonald come from extremely successful programs in James Madison and Troy, respectively, and bring to the IU defense some much needed experience to couple with their high level talent.
Aiden Fisher (JR) earned third-team All-Sun Belt honors last year as only a sophomore, leading the JMU Dukes with 108 tackles. What’s even more impressive is Fisher only began starting for the Dukes in week three. His meteoric rise is a testament to his instincts and athleticism, as Coach Cignetti says in a January 2024 article with the Indiana Daily Student (by Daniel Flick), “He’s a reactive, instinctive player that plays fast, very dependable. Smart player and he’s in the right place…He’s where he’s supposed to be, which is what playing football is all about.”
Jayden McDonald (GR+) also hails from the Sun Belt, but does have Big Ten experience. He began his career with the Iowa Hawkeyes, redshirting his freshman season, before transferring to the wildly successful Troy Trojans and leading the team in tackles with 75 during the 2023 season. McDonald was rated as a top-40 linebacker in his recruiting class per 247 Sports Composite Rankings and also ended up having a 3.6% better Pro Football Focus (PFF) Grade than Aiden Fisher during the 2023 season.
Likely Winner
Aiden Fisher. Despite Jayden McDonald’s stronger PFF Grade in the 2023 season, Aiden Fisher knows this defense like the back of his hand and also has strong relationships with the existing coaching staff. Per PFF, it seems as though Fisher can improve in the run game, but displays elite metrics when it comes to rushing the passer and pass coverage.
On the flip side, Jayden McDonald’s PFF grades are almost exactly the opposite, displaying very strong run metrics, so there may be a rotation in play here where Jayden sees more running downs and Aiden sees more passing downs. Or, Aiden continues his meteoric development and simply runs away with it. Kaiden Turner is also vying for a spot here, but Aiden Fisher is the front-runner and my pick to secure the starting role.
Weak Side Linebacker
Jailin Walker vs. Joshua Rudolph
Typically, the weak side linebacker is a more athletic player who can freely roam over the defense, taking on a wide range of responsibilities. To fill this role, look no further than these two candidates, as they both fit the bill.
Jailin Walker (SR) is another transfer coming in from the James Madison Dukes. He is a two-time Honorable Mention All-Sun Belt Conference honoree and finished 2nd on the team (behind Fisher) in total tackles with 61 and finished 2nd on the team (behind new Indiana DL transfer Mikail Kamara) in forced fumbles with three. Jailin had a phenomenal 2023 season and finished with the 28th highest PFF linebacker grade in the entire country (with well over 250 qualified linebackers graded).
Joshua Rudolph (SR) is a familiar face to the Hoosiers, providing much needed athleticism and speed on the IU defense during the 2023 campaign. He transferred to Indiana after two successful seasons at Austin Peay. On limited snaps, Rudolph was the 2nd best performing linebacker on the stout 2023 Indiana linebacking unit per PFF (Aaron Casey was the top performer, if you’re curious). Where Rudolph shined (no pun intended) the most was in pass coverage, grading as the top coverage linebacker for Indiana in 2023 by far. To hammer in his pass coverage importance, Rudolph graded 39% higher in pass coverage than the next closest linebacker with a PFF grade of 66.9. The next closest pass coverage grade among linebackers was Aaron Casey at 48.2 (all PFF stats here are using a minimum of 20 coverage snaps in the 2023 season).
Likely Winner
Jailin Walker. His 2023 performance is simply too strong to ignore. Any linebacker finishing in the top 30 nationally per PFF is an absolute force to be reckoned with. His familiarity with the playbook and coaching staff (like Aiden Fisher) helps immensely too. Expect Rudolph to see several pass coverage snaps given his prowess and expertise there, but Jailin is the favorite here and is my pick to secure the starting role.
The Hoosiers begin Spring Practice on March 21st, where these position battles will begin to take shape on the field. Check them out at IU’s Spring Game as well on Thursday, April 18th at 8pm in Memorial Stadium.