2009 Kentucky Football Positional Preview: Linebackers

Last years Kentucky defense, or in Strait Pinkie terms, the Whomp Squad, was arguably the best defense in recent UK history. The defensive line was tremendous and Trevard Lindley led a solid secondary, but UK was anchored by a 3 man corps of linebackers that made you pay if you were going to go at them.

Johnny Williams, Micah Johnson, and Braxton Kelly gave UK a group of linebackers that could really play with any team in the SEC. They were big, they were bruising, and they were intimidating. Micah Johnson made the decision to return to UK for his senior year, but UK still loses two thirds of that group.

Kelly and Williams will be missed, but in some ways I’m looking forward to seeing how UK fills those two empty spots. UK has the opportunity to surround Micah Johnson with some serious athleticism on the outside which could add a new dimension to this year’s Whomp Squad.

Middle Linebacker

At middle linebacker, it’s Micah Johnson all the way and everybody’s known that since the second the 6-2 260 lb senior announced he would return to the program. The man is a straight up beast, and for the first time last season, he began to live up to the billing he received out of high school.

He has a combination of size, speed, and strength usually reserved for the next level, and we are lucky we get to watch him for one more season.

The competition to watch is who will emerge as Micah’s backup. This is not a battle to ignore either, for a couple different reasons:

(1) Injury – Micah missed 2 full games due to injury last year

(2) Micah as a third down pass rusher – With Jeremy Jarmon out of the picture, UK is going to need to generate pass rush. Moving Micah to rush end could be an answer to that. If Micah emerges in that capacity, one of his backups will need to step up.

So, who are the guys that are fighting to back him up?

A name you heard quite a bit this summer was Qua Huzzie. Huzzie is a freshman out of UK pipeline LaGrange HS in Georgia. This is a guy who is the future of the middle linebacker position at UK, but unfortunately, it’s going to have to wait a year. Huzzie will redshirt this season due to a shoulder injury.

Instead, sophomore Ronnie Sneed and senior Mikhail Mabry will compete. Sneed has much more upside and long term potential, but Mabry would be a much steadier presence due to his veteran status.

Strong Side Linebacker

6-3 250 pound senior Sam Maxwell is almost certainly going to be the starter at strong side linebacker. Maxwell has bided his time and learned while watching guys like Wesley Woodyard, Kelly, and Williams mostly from the bench. I expect Maxwell to step in and shine in his senior year.

Weak Side Linebacker

This is really the position that stands to get an athletic upgrade. Sophomore Danny Trevathan has been tremendous according to coaches. With the steadiness of Micah Johnson in the middle and a veteran presence at the opposite LB position in Maxwell, Trevathan will be free to fly around and create as much havoc as possible. He had 11 tackles in the Blue/White Game and he is one of the players I am most excited to see develop this season.

Youth is really the theme with the other linebackers who will fight for time at the other outside positions.

Redshirt freshman William Johnson also fits the athletic mold that I’ve been talking about. Johnson was very solid in practice during his redshirt year, so much so that he earned top honors as scout team defensive player of the year in 2008. Johnson is the first player I would expect to see off the bench.

Junior Brandon Thurmond is a guy whose career has been completely derailed by injury in his first years at UK. Until this spring, he had not practiced since 2007. Just because we haven’t seen him much, he’s a bit of an unknown at this point.

Beyond that, UK has three true freshman with very bright futures: Ridge Wilson, Ryan Mosby, and Tristian Johnson. There stands a pretty strong chance that 2 of these 3 could redshirt, with the other backing up at both outside positions and being an important special teamer. Wilson looks like he’s ahead of the other two.