Up today, the Linebackers…
We have 11 LBs on the roster this season:
#17 Kevin Kintzel - Senior from New Lenox, IL
#46 Luke Venegoni - Senior from Gurnee, IL
#34 DeAndre Daniels - Senior from Oakland, CA
#43 J.J. Raffelson - Junior from Lake Zurich, IL
#27 Brad Blumenshine - Junior from Bloomington, IL
#12 Demetrius Allen - Junior from Miami, FL
#44 Brett Taylor - R-Freshman from Macomb, IL
#35 Adam Brott - R-Freshman from St. Clair, MO
#47 Michael Bischoff - Freshman from Elk Grove Village, IL
#54 Cale McMakin - Freshman from Overland Park, KS
#56 Darren Southwell - Freshman from Taylor Ridge, IL
Last season, the defense in general was a bright spot on a team that showed signs of being very good at times. The Leatherneck Defense was 7th in the FCS in total yards allowed (305.3 per game), 16th in the FCS in turnover margin (+8 for the season), 3rd in the FCS in Passing Defense (149.0 yards per game) and 15th in the FCS for interceptions (16).
A large part of this was due to the abilities of the Linebackers.
The LBs were led last year by Kintzel and Raffelson (despite playing in only half the games due to injury), followed up by Venegoni.
Kintzel started in all 12 games, had 74 total tackles (42 solo), 11 tackles for loss including 3.5 sacks for 26 yards. He also had 3 interceptions for 42 yards and 3 fumble recoveries for 12 yards with 2 forced fumbles.
Raffelson started 6 games before being injured, but still had 59 total tackles (31 solo) and ½ of a tackle for loss. If he’d been healthy all season and had the same average stats all season, he would have finished with ~118 total tackles (would have been 23rd in the FCS) and 62 solo tackles (36th in FCS).
Now that the depth chart has been released for the first game, we have a better idea of who’s going to be playing in which spots.
Strongside Linebacker (SLB/Sam):
Starter - Kevin Kintzel
Backup - Adam Brott
Middle Linebacker (MLB):
Starter - J.J. Raffelson
Backup - Brett Taylor
Weakside Linebacker (WLB/Will):
Starter - Luke Venegoni
Backup - Demetrius Allen
It looks like Daniels and Blumenshine will fill in as necessary and that the true freshmen: Bischoff, McMakin, and Southwell will be redshirted this season.
Scott Lawson - Board Admin