The Daily Nole

FSU Football: Linebacker Continues to be the Elusive Position

Jeff Romance/FSU athletucs

A small chunk was taken out of Florida State’s 2017 recruiting class on Monday night as 3-star legacy Bradley Jennings Jr. announced that he was decomitting. Considering that Jennings was FSU’s lowest ranked commitment for the class, the loss doesn’t seem to leave a huge void, but its implications might be bigger than they seem on the surface.

With Jennings leaving the class, the Seminoles do not have any linebackers committed for 2017, 2018 or 2019. With National Signing Day still six months away, it’s too early to panic or believe that FSU can’t bring in a solid corps of linebackers, but it does seem like the position has been lacking for the Seminoles over the last decade.

That’s not to say that Florida State hasn’t had good linebackers over that stretch. Geno Hayes, Dekoda Watson, Vince Williams, Christian Jones, Nigel Bradham, Telvin Smith and more recently, Reggie Northrup and Terrance Smith have all had good FSU careers, but there are a number who haven’t panned out.

Since 2008, highly-touted recruits like E.J. Levenberry, Arrington Jenkins, Jeff Luc, Nigel Carr and Kain Daub have all transferred or been booted from the program. Tyrell Lyons was the most recent FSU linebacker to voluntarily transfer while 2015 recruit Lorenzo Phillips exhausted his eligibility quicker than originally expected. Others like Matthew Thomas and Delvin Purifoy have had trouble staying on the field. Freddie Stevenson, a former 3-star linebacker recruit, has had a successful career, but as the team’s fullback.

Heading into 2016, the linebacking position is inarguably the Seminoles’ biggest concern. Thomas and Ro’Derrick Hoskins are expected to start and while both are talented, guys behind them like Sh’Mar Kilby-Lane and Purifoy have very little experience. FSU brings in a good class of linebackers that includes Dontavious Jackson, Emmett Rice and Josh Brown, but the class would have been stronger had Keion Joyner been able to qualify.

For those who watched the Marvin Jones and Derrick Brooks’ of the world, it’s almost hard to fathom FSU having issues at linebackers. Jones and Brooks were each 2-time All-Americans for the Seminoles in the early 1990s and Jones took home the Butkus Award in 1992. Sam Cowart was a Butkus Award finalist and a consensus All-American in 1997.

Unfortunately for FSU, Cowart was the Seminoles’ last consensus All-American at linebacker. The only position with a longer drought for FSU is running back, but that could change with Dalvin Cook returning.

Cook was named a first-team All-American last season by Sports Illustrated and FWAA and a second-teamer by Walter Camp, CBS Sports, the Sporting News and the Associated Press. FSU hasn’t had a linebacker honored as an All-American by any major publication since Buster Davis was a second-team selection by three publications in 2006. The Seminoles also haven’t had a player selected higher than the fourth round of the NFL Draft since 2007 when Timmons went 15th overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

For Florida State’s recent shortcomings at linebacker, there’s really no explanation. The Seminoles have recruited well at the position, but the retention rate has been low. Finding players to produce at the position hasn’t been a problem either; FSU just hasn’t been fortunate enough to produce elite players at the position. As long as the Seminoles can continue to secure top-notch talent everywhere else, it won’t be long before the luck turns with the linebackers.

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