{"id":4113,"date":"2020-11-12T14:19:41","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T19:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gridironstuds.com\/blog\/?p=4113"},"modified":"2020-11-12T17:54:16","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T22:54:16","slug":"5-thing-middle-linebackers-need-to-show-college-scouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/5-thing-middle-linebackers-need-to-show-college-scouts\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Thing Middle Linebackers Need to Show College Scouts"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Chad Wilson – GridironStuds<\/strong>
\nTwitter: @gridironstuds<\/a> |\u00a0YouTube Channel<\/a> | TikTok: @Gridironstuds<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Middle linebacker is the glory position on defense especially when we start talking about college football.\u00a0 College football is ripe with celebration of the middle linebacker who was the lifeblood of the great defenses in the history of the game.\u00a0 If you fancy yourself as being the next great college football linebacker,\u00a0 there are somethings you are going to need to show to sell college football scouts on your ability to do that for their school.<\/p>\n

(1) Big Tackler<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notice how I did not say good tackler.\u00a0 Of course it is nice to be a good tackler or a guy that does not miss tackles very often when you are playing linebacker.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 as a middle linebacker,\u00a0 your tackling sets the tone for the entire defense.\u00a0 It is kind of hard for a defense to have the reputation of being a ferocious one if the middle linebacker is a soft tackler.\u00a0 The middle linebacker is the tone setter when it comes to good old fashion hitting.\u00a0 When the “Mike backer” gets in the A gap and stones the other team’s leader rusher with a punishing hit,\u00a0 not only does the crowd go crazy but so does his teammates.\u00a0 This inspires them to do their individual jobs to the utmost and gets the juices going.\u00a0 A middle linebacker’s job is to hit people so be a hitter that finishes off ball carriers.<\/p>\n

(2) Football IQ<\/strong><\/p>\n

While being a big hitter may give off the impression of being a meat-head,\u00a0 a middle linebacker should be anything but that.\u00a0 Most of the time,\u00a0 the defense runs through the “Mike”.\u00a0 That means you make the calls in the huddle,\u00a0 survey the defense and alert the defense to what may be coming.\u00a0 In addition,\u00a0 any shifts by the offense prior to the snap may require you to change a call or make a check.\u00a0 Finally,\u00a0 within a second of the ball being snapped,\u00a0 the middle linebacker has to know what is going on and move to his assignment instantly.\u00a0 That’s a lot of responsibility and the guys who are the smartest,\u00a0 handle it the best.\u00a0 Think of how much guys like Ray Lewis and Brian Urhlacher knew about the game of football.\u00a0 These things did not happen by accident.\u00a0 The guy in the middle has to know it all.<\/p>\n

(3) Take on Blocks<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are going to be in the middle and typically first on the scene,\u00a0 you are going to have people trying to stop you.\u00a0 Often times that comes in form of massive linemen that outweigh you and are coming from various angles.\u00a0 Your ability to excel at the position of middle linebacker means knowing where the blocks are coming from and defeating them quickly.\u00a0 The quicker you defeat the block either by being slick or with force,\u00a0 the faster you can make the tackle.\u00a0 Middle linebackers are measured by tackle numbers and you’re not making tackles if you are getting blocked.\u00a0 Develop elite abilities in the area of defeating blockers through proper angles, pressure and technique.<\/p>\n

(4) Pursuit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes the play gets beyond you or runs away from you.\u00a0 This is when you have to show your relentless nature by running down the play and getting involved.\u00a0 As a middle linebacker,\u00a0 this doesn’t just mean on run plays.\u00a0 Even when the ball is thrown down the field and into the secondary,\u00a0 middle linebackers have to turn around,\u00a0 haul tail in the direction of the throw and get involved.\u00a0 As a middle linebacker you have to take any attempt to move the ball into your team’s territory personally.\u00a0 So,\u00a0 just because a play did not come directly to you doesn’t mean that you get to take a play off.\u00a0 When that ball is snapped your mission has to be to get to the football first and deal with the unsavory act of the offense trying to advance the ball towards your goal line.<\/p>\n

(5) Blitz<\/strong><\/p>\n

I saved the best part for last.\u00a0 What middle linebacker doesn’t like to blitz?\u00a0 Enough with being passive and waiting for the action.\u00a0 How about dictating it with a nice blitz.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 blitzing is an art and if you are to be great,\u00a0 you better know how to execute a masterpiece.\u00a0 Many young linebackers think that blitzing means running full speed through a gap and into a blocker.\u00a0 That’s not it.\u00a0 A successful blitz results in a sack of the quarterback or a tackle for loss on a running back.\u00a0 When you slam right into a blocker,\u00a0 you lessen your chance at making that happen.\u00a0 Instead,\u00a0 learn how to be crafty along with forceful in achieving your objective.\u00a0 Part of that craftiness is learning how to time up your blitzes so that you hit your gap right when the ball is snapped.\u00a0 Catching the cadence right will be the first good step in achieving your sack and tackle for loss dreams.\u00a0 Also learning the various ways to dip, swim and rip through blocks will help you be a menace on the other side of the line of scrimmage as well.<\/p>\n

There you have five things that will certainly catch a college football coach’s attention.\u00a0 It helps if you are 6’3″ and 210 lbs. too but if you aren’t,\u00a0 you control the five things named in this article.\u00a0 Whether you have that size or not,\u00a0 being excellent at the different aspects outlined in this article will go far in making your defense great and your team a winner.\u00a0 When it boils down to it,\u00a0 that’s the name of the game and will surely attract the attention of somebody that could use your winning ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Chad Wilson – GridironStuds Twitter: @gridironstuds |\u00a0YouTube Channel | TikTok: @Gridironstuds Middle linebacker is the glory position<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":4114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[995],"tags":[1060,1059,1063,1062,1061,713,1064],"class_list":["post-4113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recruiting-tips","tag-college-scouts","tag-geting-recruited","tag-getting-exposure","tag-middle-linebacker","tag-playing-linebacker","tag-recruiting-tips","tag-tackling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}