Irish Recruiting Recap: Linebacker

One of the glaring weaknesses on last year's Irish squad was the play at LB. On the outside, the Irish were extremely young, with Kerry Neal and Brian Smith garnering huge minutes. On the inside, the Irish were simply not productive enough and lacked elite talent. The Irish took a step towards addressing this weakness by signing 4 LB prospects who will immediately upgrade the competition at this position.

Darius Fleming: Darius reminds me a lot of Kerry Neal. He is a tremendous athlete with very good speed who just has a knack for rushing the passer. You can't have enough of those guys. Darius will need to work on his pass coverage and overall understanding of the position, but right now he is certainly a guy who could see the field. I don't believe you will see him starting this year, as he is behind some talented guys in Kerry and Brian, but I strongly believe that he will see the field.

Steven Filer: Steve can play either outside or inside in the Irish defense, but I believe he is best suited for one of the inside backer positions. He is a big, strong kid who already has the size to compete for playing time. What differentiates Steve from some of the other LBs currently on the Irish roster is that he retains outstanding athleticism and quickness with that size. By contrast, a guy like Mo Crum looked very athletic at 220 lbs, but when he bulked up this past season, he looked slow and awkward. Steve can play at 240 and look very fluid as an athlete. On film, Steve is just a playmaker. He is a guy who is going to find the ball and be solid in his tackling. He doesn't have that blazing speed to go sideline to sideline, but that is why the Irish 3-4 personnel defense is perfect for him, because he won't have to. Make no mistake, though, Steve has plenty of speed for his position in this defense. The other benefit is that Steve's high school played a defense that shares many concepts with the Irish defense. While I don't think Steve will start, as ILB in this defense takes a while to learn (see Toryan Smith), I do think he is going to be pushing for minutes this year.

Anthony McDonald: In many cases, you can tell when a guy comes from a football family. They seem to have more honed instincts, they are more fundamentally sound, and they just seem to understand the game better. Anthony is one of those guys. His instincts for reading a play are what jumped out at me. He doesn't have great speed, but his instincts compensate for that as he always seems to find his way into the proper position and always is around the ball. I will take a guy with the talent of Anthony and great knowledge of the game and great instincts at ILB in this defense any day. Anthony is also a very aggressive player who is looking to make the big hit. As he matures, he will learn when to rein that in and just make the tackle, as sometimes his desire for the big play hurts him. I would rather teach an aggressive kid to rein it in rather than make a passive kid more aggressive any day.

David Posluszny: I will confess that I have not seen much film of David at all, as there isn't much available and he was hurt for much of this past year. Therefore, I will rely on what I have been told about David. First, he is a football player. Everyone I talk to uses that exact same description at some point in the conversation. He is a hard nosed, talented, lunch pail type kid who is going to keep his mouth shut and give you everything he has. He isn't Rudy, though. This kid can play. Keep in mind that his brother Paul was not a 5 star guy coming out of high school either and he is doing pretty well for himself. Without having seen him play, I am not sure whether David will wind up inside or outside at LB in this defense. I do know that he needs to add some bulk to his frame and he needs to avoid injuries, as they have seemed to plague him for a couple of years now. I don't think you will see David this year, unless he makes a mark on special teams, but I would not discount him becoming a solid player down the road for the Irish.

Your thoughts?