2003 Football Preview: Linebackers
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 8/7/03

Last year, much like the defensive tackles, the linebackers were victimized by injuries and a lack of maturity, size, and strength. Brandon Manning was steady at Whip linebacker, but Backer Vegas Robinson suffered an ankle injury that took the wind out of the linebacking crew, and Mike linebacker Mikal Baaqee struggled to get off blocks.

This year, they're all back, one year old, wiser, and in Baaqee's case, bigger. This crew of linebackers has the chance to be something special, if Robinson stays healthy, Manning improves, and Baaqee puts in a performance like last year, with the muscle to back it up.

Beyond those three, there's optimism for now and the future. We'll cover the starters and the backups in the following paragraphs. But first, a look at the depth chart.

The Depth Chart

The depth chart below represents the latest depth chart released on BeamerBall.com on August 5th, with a couple of minor adjustments based on our prediction of how the chart will look on opening day.

The two-deep in the chart is color-coded by class, and returning starters (9) are listed in bold italics.

Mike Linebacker

Starter: 45 Mikal Baaqee (5-11, 240, r-Jr)
Backup: 41 Jordan Trott (6-4, 247, r-So)
In the Hole: 9 Vince Hall (5-11.5, 255, Fr)

Last year, Mikal Baaqee did what any good Mike linebacker does at Virginia Tech: he led the team in tackles, with 112. Not exactly a record-setting number, when you consider that he played in 13 games, but his 8.6 tackles-per-game average was in line with tackling leaders from the last ten years or so, who averaged somewhere between 8 and 10 tackles per game. The exceptions were George DelRicco, who had 130 and 137 tackles in 1994 and 1995 (about 12 per game), respectively, and Ben Taylor, who had 121 in 2001 (11 per game).

Baaqee has a nose for the football, pursues well, gets good penetration, and fills the hole well. Given that last year was his first year with any significant playing time, he did very well and proved himself to be an instinctive linebacker. His 12 tackles for loss were third on the team, behind Cols Colas (19) and Nathaniel Adibi (15), and his 3.5 sacks were fifth on the team. He had an interception, five pass breakups, eight QB hurries, and a forced fumble. Time and again, Baaqee sliced into the backfield and made a play, or met a running back square in the hole.

Baaqee's shortcoming was his lack of size. He played at about 215 last year, and he had a lot of trouble shedding blockers, often getting pushed five to ten yards downfield, when offensive linemen got into him and got solid contact. And big backs like Pitt's Brandon Miree (235 pounds) and Miami's Willis McGahee (225 pounds) often knocked him backwards or dragged him for extra yardage.

This year, Baaqee's instincts, lateral speed, and nose for the ball are back, and they're bringing 25 extra pounds with them; he weighed in at 240 on August 6th. Will that be enough? Hokie fans hope so. If Baaqee was 6-2, 250, he would be NFL material all the way, and he'd be stopping running backs and fullbacks dead in their tracks at the point of attack. As it is, he's a little short, but his weight is good, though it will probably come down during fall practice and conditioning.

Expect Baaqee to make incremental improvement. The extra pounds will help, and a set of defensive tackles that are expected to be much improved will help, too, by keeping the big OL's off of Baaqee.

Little is known about Jordan Trott, who played mostly on special teams and led the Hokies in special teams tackles. At 245, he's got good size, though his height (6-4) means that he has to pay special attention to keep his center of gravity low and not let blockers get under him.

Behind Trott, true freshman Vince Hall has the Hokies excited about his potential, and he is one of the few true freshmen who has a good chance to play in 2003. The line about Hall is that he has such good instincts that he looks like he's blitzing on every play. He weighed in at a huge 255 pounds when he reported Wednesday, August 6th, and the hope is that all that weight is muscle -- it can't be, can it? -- and won't slow him down. The thought of a 255-pound guy who goes just under six feet mowing over running backs and quarterbacks is comforting.

Vegas Robinson in his better days, wrapping up Rutgers FB Ray Pilch. (click to enlarge)

Backer Linebacker

Starter:  6 Vegas Robinson (6-0, 250, r-Sr)
Backup:  40 Blake Warren (6-3, 239, r-So); 33 Chad Cooper (6-2, 215, r-Jr)

There were three Vegas Robinsons last year:  (1) Early-season Vegas, who stepped in and played like a seasoned veteran; (2) Injured Vegas, who got hurt against Rutgers, of all teams, and didn't play against Temple, Pitt, and Syracuse; and (3) Post-injury Vegas, who was just an average linebacker after his return.

Robinson's injury was to his ankle, and it never quite healed. He had surgery back in March to repair the ankle completely and is expected to be a hundred percent heading into fall practice. This is good, because the collapse of the Tech defense can be traced back to his disappearance from the lineup. This isn't to say that his injury was the only affliction affecting the defense, but it certainly was a big reason why the Hokie defense caved in against the run late in the season.

Robinson is a strength and conditioning freak. A three-time Super Iron Hokie, he is a powerful, explosive tree stump, with a sub-4.5-second forty time and a vertical jump of 40.5 inches, a team record for inside linebackers. Had he not spent two years behind the outstanding Ben Taylor, Robinson might go down as one of the best linebackers in VT history.

All Hokie fans are hoping for, however, is a full season of "Early-season Vegas." That would go a long way towards making this year's Tech defense a force.

Robinson was backed up by James Anderson last year, but Anderson, who struggled greatly, has been moved to Whip in the hopes that he's a more comfortable player as an outside linebacker than an inside linebacker. That leaves backup duties to Blake Warren and Chad Cooper, who played a total of just 47 snaps between the two of them in 2002.

Warren has the prototypical size for the Backer position, and he got the first-team reps this spring when Robinson was out. He's an instinctive, aggressive player who was named the top defensive newcomer in spring practice of 2002. Warren brings a physical presence to the position, and this gives him the inside track on beating out Cooper for the backup spot.

Chad Cooper was highly rated and recruited out of high school, but his career was derailed by Guillain-Barre Syndrome at the conclusion of the 2001 season, his redshirt-freshman year. He spent the second semester at home recovering from the disease, and he lost a lot of weight and valuable developmental time. He returned to play in 2002, but it was mostly in a special teams role, and now he finds himself at 215 pounds, the same weight he was two years ago.

Whoever wins the backup spot between Warren or Cooper probably won't get to play much, barring injury. The Hokies rarely rotate the backup linebackers in for much action. At just 209 pounds, expect true freshman Xavier Adibi to redshirt, unless he proves to be a phenomenal talent on the field.

If Brandon Manning (#48) can fight off a Doug Easlick block (Spring Game 2003), then he can fight off just about anybody. (click to enlarge)

Whip Linebacker

Starter:  48 Brandon Manning (6-0, 214, r-Jr)
Backups:  36 Aaron Rouse (6-3, 208, r-Fr); 42 James Anderson (6-2, 220, r-So)

Brandon Manning, a former walk-on is the beneficiary of two things: (1) his own hard work and skill; (2) attrition at the Whip linebacker spot.

Manning entered the 2001 season as the third-string Whip, behind T.J. Jackson and Deon Provitt. Jackson struggled that season in pass coverage, slipped down the depth chart, and transferred out prior to the 2002 season (with his VT degree in hand, I might add).

Provitt was a promising player who was dismissed from the team prior to the 2002 season for unspecified reasons. He would have been a senior in 2003.

Going into 2002, Manning and Mike Daniels were competing for the starting Whip spot, but Manning had about ten pounds more than Daniels and was a better tackler, so he wound up starting 13 of 14 games last year. He got about 55% of the snaps and was third on the team in tackles, with 70. Daniels got the other 45% of the Whip linebacker plays and finished with 48 tackles.

As the 2003 season approaches, Daniels has been moved back to safety, where he started his career, and there is no doubt that Manning is the number one Whip linebacker. This will be the first time the same player has started #1 on the depth chart at Whip two seasons in a row since Brandon Semones did it from 1994-96.

Aaron Rouse (#36) and Eric Green (#1) bury a hapless receiver in the 2003 Spring Game, while one spectator flees the carnage and Vegas Robinson (in grey T-shirt, near the yard stick) has a gut reaction. (click to enlarge)

That's not a mistake or a typo. Virginia Tech has not had the same starting Whip linebacker two seasons in a row since the 1995 Sugar Bowl and 1996 Orange Bowl teams. For a critical position like Whip linebacker, that's unbelievable. The "Whip" in "Whip linebacker" is starting to be shorthand for the whiplash you get watching players move in and out of the position.

The primary reason Mike Daniels has been moved back to safety is Aaron Rouse, a redshirt freshman who is creating quite a buzz around Blacksburg. When asked to name future stars on the team, many of the Tech players list Rouse.

Rouse has a very bright future, if he can add size, strength, and continue to develop the talents he already has that have the coaches and players so excited.

There's also the hope that if he's that good, the coaches will rotate him in more than they usually do the backup linebackers. Brandon Manning is the solid starter, but Rouse should be prepped for action in case something happens to Manning.

James Anderson, after a very rough few games at Backer last season when Vegas Robinson was out, has been moved to Whip linebacker ... and put #3 on the depth chart. With Manning and Rouse ahead of him, one wonders if Anderson will ever see much playing time again.

But then again, with the attrition and player movement in and out of the Whip linebacker spot since the Semones years, Anderson might be the starter by mid-season. You never know.

Linebacker Summary

The starting linebackers -- Vegas Robinson, Mikal Baaqee, and Brandon Manning -- are a good trio, with the potential to be great, along the lines of the linebacking corps headed by Jamel Smith and Michael Hawkes in the late 90's. But once you get beyond the front line, they're green. The Hokies have never been big on substituting their linebackers and developing a true two-deep rotation, and they don't have one this year, either.

Next: The Defensive Backfield

Ronyell Whitaker and Willie Pile are gone, but there isn't expected to be any dropoff in the performance of the safeties, rovers, and cornerbacks in 2003. We'll preview the defensive backfield early next week and give you the lowdown.