LB Preview

Linebacker is an area of concern for the Bulldogs for the first time in years. Vaughn and Moore are both playing at new universities after graduation leaving giant holes at the inside linebacker spots. Shaffer clearly won the respect of his teammates with a shocking nomination as captain. He’s looked solid in limited playing time since his freshman season but hasn’t put enough on film to fully alleviate the worries. Biggs, a former walk-on at Utah, has seen similar action to Shaffer with quality play over a small sample size. Shaffer and Biggs have prototypical size for the position at 230 lbs. and 233 lbs. respectively although whether they can keep up with the fastest backs in the league remains to be seen. Ayo-Durojaiye returns at outside linebacker and hopefully will bounce back after losing his starting position in the middle of last season. There were high expectations for Ayo-Durojaiye entering the 2023 campaign, but he never seemed to regain his confidence after brutal games versus Holy Cross and Cornell. It will be hard to keep Kamara off the field at some capacity at linebacker if he doesn’t crack a top safety spot. Raymond, Warncke, Lee and Campbell all return with experience and should see additional defensive playing time as well as extensive special teams duties. Three freshmen enter the mix with the additions of Steven Partin, Eddie Palumbo and Joe McCord. Partin was a one-man army in high school playing linebacker, running back, quarterback, wide receiver and punter with fantastic speed and instincts. Palumbo is very quick to diagnose plays and should be one of the better linebackers in pass coverage on the roster. McCord played outside linebacker and defensive end at the high school level and possesses very active hands to shed blockers and the speed to track down plays on the backside.