Coming into the offseason, Alabama fans expected the Tide to have to replace their entire linebacker room. Deontae Lawson and Justin Jefferson were all set to graduate and Jihaad Campbell was expected to leave early for the NFL.
However, Lawson decided to return for a 5th season, and Jefferson was granted one extra year of eligibility due to the court case surrounding JUCO rules. With that, the Crimson Tide suddenly had a lot more in the linebacker room than expected.
As a reminder on schemes, defensive coordinator Kane Wommack uses two true linebackers (the “mike” and “sting”) and one hybrid “Wolf.”
Often, they’ll line up in more of a pure 3-man even front with the Wolf playing as a wildcard, lining up just behind the line of scrimmage. If the offense puts the TE on that side, they will shift him down to the more 3-4 under look with the other three linemen making a late shift away… but if there is no TE, he may rush the edge or will sometimes freelance and move to hit lanes between the linemen, rather than just from the edge. This is often done just pre-snap, so it’s not really a true “stunt”, but more of a late shift into a B-gap blitz. The Wolf is more than an edge rusher, and has to be adept at many styles of blitzing – think Clay Matthews with the Green Bay Packers for a high-profile example.
In the interest of balancing out the articles, I’m going to lump the edge rushers who could/would be a “Wolf” in with the defensive linemen next week, and this grouping will focus on the true inside linebackers. As always, I’ll be using rankings from the 247Sports Composite, but will note if any of the other recruiting services have a wildly different opinion.
Luke Metz
Luke Metz in an interesting case as far as recruiting rankings. He was a relatively unknown player when Alabama offered him right after Kane Wommack started recruiting last spring. A few weeks later, he had offers from Georgia, Oklahoma, LSU, Michigan, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and many more.
Then, 247, On3, and ESPN all continued to rank him as a 3-star player, while Rivals went out on a limb and ranked him as a top-100 prospect and the #2 linebacker in the country. He’s one of those prospects that there just seems to be a big disconnect on for some reason.
Playstyle
Metz played most every linebacker position in any given game, so he comes in with plenty of versatility and experience. His most notable trait is a long, swift stride that allows him to close on ball carriers in the open field with astonishing speed. He’s kind of like watching a long-legged horse chasing down a pony. He doesn’t have much tape on taking on and shedding blocks, mostly sticking to more chase-and-tackle plays.
Metz is at his best when he can chase plays to the sideline or blitz from well outside the line to use that closing to finish off plays. He’s not a big-hitting tackler, but he does a great job of using that length to cut off all angles of escape for a ball carrier and wrestles them to the ground.
In pass coverage, he shows a good understanding of zones and is quite comfortable spot dropping into windows and swapping off on crossers. There is some worry that he may not have the quick feet to stick with running backs or slot players in man coverage, though.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
Metz will likely cross-train at both linebacker positions (and probably a little edge rusher, too). However, I think he’s most likely to wind up sticking with the Sting linebacker position. There, he’ll be more able to take advantage of his blitzing speed and length without having to deal with as many offensive guards and centers trying to block him out in the second level.
I don’t expect we see Metz too much this year, or honestly even the next. He’s likely a special teams player with a chance to develop into a contributor later in his career.
Darrell “Duke” Johnson
Johnson is one of those extremely high upside athletes that likely will need some time to season as he becomes a full-time linebacker. He was originally a running back before moving to defensive back, then transitioned from safety to linebacker at the end of his high school career. His senior year stats were incredible, though: 122 tackles with 11 tackles for loss, 1097 rushing yards, and 22 touchdowns.
As always, trying to scout and project the small-school, two-way athletes can be really tough. At 6’1” 200, Johnson looks like the biggest player on the field on any given play, and that is just the size of a normal wide receiver in the SEC. Still, there’s clearly a lot of athletic potential there, and sometimes that works out.
Playstyle
Johnson plays a lot bigger than his size indicates, and is more than happy to go toe-to-toe with any blockers or ball carriers and just try to run through them. There’s no shedding technique involved, but he generates a whole lot of force when the contact is initiated. Add that to an impressive closing speed, and he’s a dangerous weapon off the blitz, when rushing the edge, or just attacking up the middle on a run. He’s also got a smooth balance and coordination that is hard to quantify, but is a player that just seems to always be in control of his feet.
Johnson displayed a lot of hesitancy in his senior film, and then would make up for it with his speed. Going back a year, he was much more decisive and a devastating hitter as safety and slot corner, so it’ll be interesting to see if he sticks to his transition to linebacker.
As a running back, he reminds me of a slightly smaller Bo Scarborough. Maybe not the most agile, but gets to galloping speed and defenders bounce off of his hips as he speeds by and through them.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
I honestly wonder if Johnson would be best served to stay at his current size and move to the Husky corner role. It would allow him to play defensive back, but close to the line of scrimmage and use his ability to blow up perimeter blockers.
If he stays at linebacker and grows into his frame, I could see him using that same power as a Mike linebacker.
Either way, I think Johnson will need a couple of years to focus on a position, grow into it, and get used to the speed of high level ball.
Abduall Sanders
As yet another product of Mater Dei high school in Santa Ana, CA, Sanders has been teammates with current starting Tide CB, Zabien Brown, as well as fellow incoming freshman Chuck McDonald.
Interestingly, ESPN ranks him as the #3 overall linebacker, while the other services are a bit lower one him. He was originally a wide receiver and then an edge rusher as an underclassman before moving to inside linebacker as a junior and really taking to it.
Playstyle
While his other two classmates are long-limbed, rangey athletes that cover a lot of horizontal ground, Sanders is more of a traditional Mike linebacker who will crash into the middle of the field like a bowling ball. He’s solidly built and has no issues blasting his way into a guard or center and giving them a shoulder deke to make a tackle. He’s an excellent A-Gap blitzer that has a knack for timing his blitzes and setting up his own holes to avoid the traffic and make plays.
And when he tackles someone, there is no struggle… They just go backwards. He’s not a big hit specialist, but his tackles leave no doubt.
In pass coverage, he’s surprisingly nimble in the hook zones and has a couple of pick-sixes to his name. His early time as a receiver likely contributes to that comfort in coverage.
With that, though, there’s a reason he’s not a top-100 recruit. He’s got a squat build that seems unlikely to be able to add much more weight in the future, and lacks any sort of long closing speed. The athletic profile just isn’t there, so he’ll have a lot to overcome as he moves to higher levels of football.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
Sanders is clearly a Mike linebacker and will, without a doubt, focus on that at Alabama. I think he has a decent shot of making the 2nd team as a freshman and will be right in the thick of things to be starter in 2026.
Nikhai Hill-Green
Nikhai Hill-Green played at St Frances Academy back in the 2020 recruiting class and originally went to Michigan, where he played for three seasons. He had a strong sophomore season before missing all of 2022 and transferring to Charlotte, where racked up 73 tackles and 9 tackles for loss and a 3rd team All-AAC selection. He then transferred to Colorado, where he really upped his game, notching 82 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and a couple of interceptions to garner an All-Big 12 selection.
He’s now joining Alabama as a 6th-year senior and will be making up a veteran trio of inside linebackers all in at least their 5th year.
Playstyle
Hill-Green is a full developed, collegiate linebacker that knows all the nuances of the position and has the size to be an absolute force. One of the most impressive plays from his season at Colorado was an off tackle run where he stonewalls a running back coming untouched at full speed at the 1-yard line to prevent a touchdown. He’s displayed plenty of ability to take on blocks and push offensive linemen backwards to clog up running lanes, and when he gets his paws on a ball carrier, he hits like a truck.
Hill-Green isn’t the fastest player and has some limitations in coverage or stringing plays out to the sidelines, but he’s generally comfortable in middle of field coverage zones and has a knack for getting his hands up and deflecting balls both at the line and down field. His other most impressive play was one where he intercepted a pass at the line of scrimmage – he just… jumped up and picked off a bullet pass from the QB from 6 feet in front of him. The reaction time on that is pretty insane, and it left everyone watching incredulous.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
I think Hill-Green will be more suited to Mike linebacker, though I’m sure he’ll be able to play Sting as needed as well. It seems pretty likely that he’ll start the season as the starting Mike, and when Deontae Lawson is fully recovered from the injury, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hill-Green retains the spot with Lawson taking over at Sting, leaving Jefferson as the rotational role piece.
