We continue with our extended but not drafty All-B1G tour of the conference.

Previously:

• Quarterback and Running Back
• Receivers and Tight Ends
• Offensive Line
• Defensive Line

-----------------------------------------------

BiSB: /blows the Draftageddon Horn

Ace: Where’d everyone go?

Seth: Should we do a vote whether to include Reschke?

BiSB: Only if it's unanimous.

Ace: The thing about Reschke is he’s not even that good aside from the racism.

BiSB: (We reserve the right to keep voting until it is unanimous)

Seth: What I gathered from spring practice is it's not Reschke's that good, so much as their other SAM options in spring were very bad.

Ace: HOWEVER, we should be discussing doom squirrels. Why are we not discussing the doom squirrels?

BiSB: Well, in the spirit of The Gaz, we should probably start with the leading returning tackler. Who in this case is... oh. Oh no.

Say it for me, Slackbot.

slackbot: I think you mean Rutger

BiSB: Sigh. Yes.

Ace: MGoBlog is Devin Bush, and the gentleman wearing #1 for Purdue is our readers’ expectations for this post.

Seth: Devin Bush ain't a squirrel anymore since Herbert got to him.

 

A post shared by Devin Bush Il (@dbush_10) on Aug 20, 2018 at 9:49am PDT

More like a radioactive mutant badger with a surly attitude.

BiSB: Maybe that bulk will hurt his speed and athleticism?

Devin Bush 1, Tackling Donut 0 pic.twitter.com/z557B4hml7

— Dave Revsine (@BTNDaveRevsine) August 14, 2018

Ace: That donut has a family.

*had

Seth: TIL Bush's hits are an entire octave higher than Noah Furbush's.

Ace: Here he is chasing down an Air Force quarterback from behind on a delayed blitz.

BiSB: Are we concerned that his production tapered slightly as the year progressed? It seems like it was mostly teams adjusting to focus on the Doom Squirrel, but still.

Ace: The competition both got more difficult and started gameplanning to stay away from him. I’m not too concerned. When he had plays to make he was still quite effective.

Seth: The canonical Bush is still that screen against Purdue where the guy's about to trundle for YAAAARDs and this blue blip suddenly appears going 1.8x faster than anyone else in the frame.

BiSB: And as a Michigan fan, if the plan to limit Devin Bush is the Minnesota "leave the other little linebacker unblocked and see what happens" approach, I'm good.

Ace: Speaking of.

Does He count here?

Brian: Yes.

Ace: Oh good.

The Mathlete: I have Bush as the third most productive linebacker returning in the conference, even with a drop off at the end of the year.

Seth: Shouldn't we do HSPs separately?

BiSB: In 2018, I'm not sure we can distinguish cleanly between the two.

Brian: They're linebackers. They're just modern. Michigan's is just a little more extreme than the OSU/MSU walkout versions.

Seth: The thing I'm excited for this year is the next iteration of Don Brown's 3-3-5. Sending Furbush in as Bush's lead blocker surprised Florida but once it was on film teams were prepared for it. But they've got some more versatile weapons ready. Like Singleton, Uche, McGrone. Imagine if you're waiting for one guy to come in front of Devin Bush, and then that guy is ALSO Devin Bush.

Brian: Yeah this isn't what the post is though? There are probably other linebackers in the league

Seth: You got MGoBloggers talking about Devin Bush, really what did you expect?

Brian: Adherence to the stated topic.

[After the JUMP: Other linebackers in the league, probably]

BiSB: But back to the original question: Khaleke Hudson?

Ace: Sorry I was watching Khaleke Hudson GIFs.

Brian: Minnesota highlights don't count

Ace: That one was legit!

Seth: 4/5 didn't recover the fumble himself.

BiSB: And he beat the an edge block cleanly on one of his other Minnesota sacks.

Ace: But fine here’s a linebacker intercepting a pass 20 yards downfield.

I KNOW IT’S AGAINST MARYLAND BUT STILL.

BiSB: The Minnesota game is ten examples of what we can reasonably expect a couple of times per game against teams that don't suck at adjusting to stuff, right? Like, the combination of Don Brown and RPS will get Murder Chipmunk unblocked on the edge with SOME regularity.

Ace: This is asking if Don Brown can free up his linebackers a couple times a game, so… (tents fingers)

Brian: I mean bits of it are replicable yes. I do think the sheer quantity of TFLs in that game distorts a proper view of Hudson's sophomore season, which was very good but not junior Jabrill Peppers-level.

Brian: Good news is that he was a true sophomore.

Seth: So we talked about a linebacker besides Devin Bush Jr. Are we done?

Brian: There's also... Joe Bachie?

Ace: TJ Edwards would like a word.

BiSB: Y'all sleeping on Paddy Fisher?

Brian: Right, the infinite pile of Badger LBs

The Mathlete: Bachie was my most productive B10 Linebacker last year.

Seth: By how much? Stats for linebackers are too contextual for marginal differences.

BiSB: He was disappointingly surprisingly good.

Brian: I had never heard of Paddy Fisher before but I instantly knew he was a Northwestern player

Ace: He’s pretty dang good.

Paddy Fisher had a tremendous year in 2017 - he enters this season as Northwestern's highest-graded returning player. pic.twitter.com/ivY1XKG3YZ

— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 2, 2018

Brian: That's like 0.3 points away from Bush.

Seth: Paddy Fisher is a '90s throwback. He's big and smart and can cover a Tampa 2 or gyaaarrr an attempted block off of him.

Ace: Yeah, he was second-team all-B1G to PFF last year.

The Mathlete: Made as many plays as the best in the conference, just didn't make plays that were of the same magnitude, by my metrics

Brian: Could Northwestern Be Good?, he asks about a 10-win team.

Seth: Barely disguised Pat Fitzgerald in pads basically.

Brian: "Paddy"

Alex: I’m not gonna have a whole lot to contribute here but yeah “Paddy Fisher” sounds like a really bad alias for Pat Fitzgerald.

BiSB: Most of the Northwestern front 7 returns. He'll be productive again.

Ace: Speaking of which, another Northwestern linebacker was also second-team all-PFF…

Seth: Paddy and their other interior LB Nate Hall are quite a pair. Hall is a blitzing maniac and Paddy picks through the debris. Hall had 16.5 TFLs last year!

Ace: Justin Jackson Gets Ewing Theoried, The Season

Seth: Just don't talk about anything besides Northwestern's front seven and they look really good. There's still that whole "Clayton Thorson is our savior and might be out for the season" thing.

Brian: There was a guy in my mentions complaining about a lack of Northwestern discussion in the OL post who could not have predicted our stunning face turn in this regard

BiSB: Tommy Doles... exists.

Ace: Blame Mick McCall, random Northwestern guy.

ANYWAY.

BiSB: On Wisconsin?

Ace: Ryan Connelly is also there, yes.

Seth: And T.J. Edwards deserves more than a mention. Like he should have been at least a 2nd rounder last April.

Ace: He’s a potential All-American. His coverage skills make me upset. You don’t hear “rangy 3-4 ILB” that often.

…except at f****** Wisconsin.

Seth: I've lost track of the times PFF named him their best coverage LB, but talking too much about that vastly underrates how he just destroyed Michigan's blocking last year.

Brian: Probably should have been last year. When Michigan played Wisconsin his ability to knife through fullbacks and murder otherwise well-blocked plays leapt out at me. And Michigan's tailbacks.

BiSB: But with Conor Sheehy gone, who is going to absorb those blockers?

/is literally pulled in by the gravity of Olive Sagapolu

Brian: And then Ryan Connelly was almost on par.

Seth: Connelly is frustratingly good. He looks like a wide receiver (6-3/228) and then he's suddenly all over your QB 8 yards in your backfield. And that height helps him match up with TEs.

The Mathlete: The only guy in my top 8 returning LB's we haven't talked about is Markus Bailey.

Ace: Purdue has a couple decent guys even without Ja’Whaun Bentley.

BiSB: I fear Purdue's turnover might leave him and Lorenzo Neal looking for help.

Seth: Yeah, I have a feeling Purdue's good linebacker play the last few years was secretly Gelen Robinson doing work up front.

Brian: "Ja'Whaun" is a great linebacker name, sounds like someone getting a shoulder to the gut

BiSB: But in a vacuum, I like Bailey.

Brian: Bentley was legitimately salty a year ago

BiSB: And, truth be told, "vacuum" is a pretty good description of West Lafayette.

Ace: We did watch him get ejected for targeting.

BiSB: And yet Peoples' Elbowing Wilton Speight wasn't a penalty.

NOT BITTER THOUGH.

Ace: Minnesota has two returning LBs with double-digit TFLs, including one—Carter Coughlin—who’s at least getting some preseason All-B1G hype. No you’re trying to quickly move past any mention of last year’s QB situation.

BiSB: One of those Minnesota linebackers will be starting under center by week 7.

Ace: It really coulda been Vicious Vic. Actually, a third Minnesota LB—Thomas Barber—made third-team all-conference last year.

Seth: So Penn State has some interesting B+ linebackers. Koa Famer is moving inside and has come a long way from when he was a safety called into emergency duty in our 2016 game. Cam Brown is their HSP-ish guy but he's really an anti-Tight End weapon whose sole purpose is to solve the Zach Gentry problem. Manny Bowen is back from his second super-secret probation, and is fair replacement for Cabinda if more off-field issues don't arise.

Brian: is Cam Brown seven feet tall and do lightning bolts come out of his ass

Seth: He's 6-5 and yes.

Brian: well then

Seth:

He looks awkward doing anything but covering TEs.

BiSB: Given the current Penn State injury curse, Brown will probably be stricken with scurvy or something.

Brian: I'd say that's inevitable for a 6'5" linebacker

Ace: Yeah, Crable looked weird too.

BiSB: Can they launch him at the quarterback?

Ace: He had very little impact behind the line of scrimmage last year: 1 run stuff, 0.5 sacks.

BiSB: I don't know if you can play a guy whose sole role is to defend TE routes.

Ace: I do like both Farmer and Bowen, though.

The Mathlete: I have Brown with fewer plays made than Furbush

BiSB: At some point he's going to have to defend a gap, and leverage is hard for an Anti-Ent

Ace: I’d take MSU’s Andrew Dowell if we’re going for HSPs.

BiSB: I like Dowell. Probably my second-favorite HSP.

The Mathlete: If you remove Minnesota, Dowell's production was right in line with Hudson's last season.

Seth: So before we move outside, I think we need to stop avoiding this. Ohio State has a linebacker named Tuf Borland. And despite their wish to use hybrid safeties at all three LB positions injuries and whatnot got him on the field and he indeed looks like you'd imagine a linebacker named Tuf Borland would.

Ace: I believe TUF BORLAND is the preferred style.

Seth: TUF BORLAND played for Todd Howard in high school. We're never going to hear the end of "Itoldyaso."

BiSB: He's also returning from an Achilles injury.

Ace: Oof, forgot about that. That complicates things.

BiSB: He's supposed to be back. But, is he BACK back.

Ace: We’ve mostly figured out knees but those injuries are nightmares.

Seth: It may not matter because they think they've got a new Raekwon MacMillan in 5-star Baron Browning. They even gave him the #5.

BiSB: I'd actually take Malik Harrison over Browning.

Ace: It’s tough to pick guys this year because there’s so much turnover. Iowa lost all their LBs and they’re usually reliable for one or two.

Seth: Harrison is going to be outside I think. Or he's the WILL at least.

BiSB: Nick Niemann might be Random Iowa Linebacker this year.

Ace: I see what they’re doing there. Ben Niemann was quietly one of the best LBs in the conference last year.

BiSB: They're taking the MSU linebacker approach?

Ace: They’ve already found a way to clone OL.

BiSB: (The "use younger brothers" thing. Not the "call a teammate a terrible racist slur and get kicked off the team but then come back for a 6th year somehow" thing)

Seth: Speaking of, Michigan State does have an actual Bullough at linebacker this year though with Bachie around Riley is superfluous at MLB and too Bullough-y to play the "Money" (SAM) position.

Brian: It was nice having Tegray Scales because you could sound like you knew about Indiana

Ace: They also lost Covington, who was pretty close.

Brian: Oh wait, they have The Other Fant I know about Indiana.

Seth: Rashard plays for the Bears.

Ace: Fant and both their safeties graduated.

BiSB: They also lost Nate Hoff and Chase Dutra

Ace: Make that all three of their safeties.

BiSB: They get HSP Marcelino Ball back though.

Seth: Yeah, that's probably Khaleke's competition for best HSP.

BiSB: Ball showed athletic promise as a freshman. He just didn't know where to, uh, go or be.

Ace: I still don’t think he’s quite as good as IU fans believe. Eye-popping plays mixed with some dorfs. He’s still young, though.

BiSB: But I think he was literally 17 years old.

Seth: We missed him last year because of injury but I saw a great Ball game (ha!) when I was doing the FFFF before it.

The Mathlete: I have 1% of Indiana's LB production returning this year, same with Iowa

Ace: Is that bad?

Brian: I do not know about Indiana

BiSB: If you're a "glass is 99% empty" kind of guy, I guess.

The Mathlete: Virginia Tech has 0%, so I guess it could be worse.

Brian: Any contenders from the field of general incompetence?

BiSB: Linebacker-wise, or in life?

Brian: Linebacker-wise for now.

Seth: Maryland has an HSP in Antoine Brooks.

Ace: Did we actually name the Rutgers guy?

slackbot: I think you mean Rutger

Ace: Trevor Morris may be not-Rutger level.

Seth: No. No he's awful.

The Mathlete: Rutgers has two guys on the fringe of my Top 10, Trevor Morris and Deonte Roberts

slackbot: I think you mean Rutger

Seth: They're both converted safeties who are not Devin Bush-like. My scout of them was they'll get pulverized by Michigan's power/counter game and that was dead on correct.

BiSB: Rutger's defense wasn't terrible last year.

Ace: Illinois’s leading tackler was kinda productive but they were so bad. Del’Shawn Phillips.

Seth: Maryland is starting an Illinois grad transfer inside.

Brian: Someone has to clean up after 8 yards

Ace: He managed ten run stuffs when no other IL LB had more than five.

Brian: no sale!

I'm just so skeptical any Illinois player is going to be legitimately good.

Ace: Do we consider Nebraska the dregs now?

Seth: At linebacker, yes.

Brian: Recovering dregs. They're going to Dregs Anonymous.

BiSB: Eh, they lost Kalu, but they've got some guys.

(I don't know who. But... presumably someone?)

Ace: I can’t say I know anything beyond the stat line but they had a rotation freshman named Ben Stille whose name is presumably pronounced Steel and he had 9.5 TFLs and 3.5 sacks as a freshman last year.

Seth: They're going to have a super tiny SAM this year who should be fun to watch. Remember how at UCF Chinander started the one-handed twin at 3-4 OLB and that worked? They're doing that this year with 5-11/206 Breon Dixon. Some freshmen are battling for the other OLB spot and last year's SAM is still around. Inside they grabbed a JuCo in Will Honas and are hoping one of the younger guys grows past senior Dedric Young but as of spring nobody had—sophomore Avery Roberts is the James Hudson in this equation.

Brian: Stille is going to be a DE this year.

Ace: Ah, that explains that. Still dregs.

BiSB: Nebraska was #110 in S&P+ defense last year. I think they might be bad again this year.

Brian: All right I feel things have been surveyed.

Seth: Back to Ohio State for a minute, Dante Booker came back for a 5th year, though he's been injured forever. Guy played in the national championship game.

BiSB: I think this horse is dead.

Seth: Wanna make teams?

BiSB: I feel like WILL/MLB is sort of a pile.

Ace: Yeah.

Speaking of that pile, the top end is at least easy to sort out.

Dakota Allen tops our 2019 NFL Draft prospects to watch at LBhttps://t.co/t3rUxbQ7Z7 pic.twitter.com/YsqDVpiYeY

— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 16, 2018

Seth: Science is so DISRESPEKTFUL.

Hybrid Space Player / Spacebacker / SAM / Star / Viper / Souseface / Sticklebrick / Tickle-me-Elmobacker / Spur / Husky / Wolfman / Outside Safety-ish Persons

Tm	Brian	Seth	Ace	BiSB	Mathlete
1	Khaleke Hudson, MICH	Khaleke Hudson, MICH	Khaleke Hudson, MICH	Khaleke Hudson, MICH	Khaleke Hudson, MICH
2	Andrew Dowell, MSU	Marcelino Ball, IU	Andrew Dowell, MSU	Andrew Dowell, MSU	Andrew Dowell, MSU
3	Marcelino Ball, IU	Andrew Dowell, MSU	Koa Farmer, PSU	Marcelino Ball, IU	Antoine Brooks, MD
4	Koa Farmer, PSU	Antoine Brooks, MD	Marcelino Ball, IU	Khaleke Hudson in glasses and a fake mustache	Koa Farmer, PSU

Ace: Isn’t Farmer basically their MIKE now?

Seth: He's their Will.

Ace: Bowen and Brown are more HSP-y.

Seth: They all are. Farmer and Brown platooned HSP last year. Bowen is supposed to be replacing Cabinda.

Ace: PSU has too many HSPs.

BiSB: Or too few ILBs

Seth: I vote the latter. They brought in a 5-star who's ticketed for DE and he was leading at MLB until Bowen was reinstated.

 

INSIDE LINEBACKERS

Tm	Brian	Seth	Ace	BiSB	Mathlete
1	Devin Bush, MICH	TJ Edwards, UW	TJ Edwards, UW	TJ Edwards, UW	Joe Bachie, MSU
	TJ Edwards, UW	Devin Bush, MICH	Devin Bush, MICH	Devin Bush, MICH	Devin Bush, MICH
2	Ryan Connelly, UW	Joe Bachie, MSU	Ryan Connelly, UW	Joe Bachie, MSU	TJ Edwards, UW
	Paddy Fisher, NW	Paddy Fisher, NW	Paddy Fisher, NW	Paddy Fisher, NW	Markus Bailey, PU
3	Nate Hall, NW	Ryan Connelly, UW	Tuf Borland, OSU	Ryan Connelly, UW	Thomas Barber, MN
	Tuf Borland, OSU	Nate Hall, NW	Nate Hall, NW	Markus Bailey, PU	Paddy Fisher, NW
4	Joe Bachie, MSU	Malik Harrison, OSU	Joe Bachie, MSU	Malik Harrison, OSU	Nate Hall, NW
	Malik Harrison, OSU	Koa Farmer, PSU	Markus Bailey, PU	Trevor Morris, RU	Ryan Connelly, UW

Ace: Minnesota and Rutgers cracking a loaded ILB field!

slackbot: I think you mean Rutger

Ace: I’m not disagreeing, btw.

Seth: I am. This was my 2017 Rutgers FFFF take:

The linebackers are [a problem]. Trevor Morris earned a cyan circle last year and is still basically Obi Ezeh with worse pass protection: he was routinely blown out on edge protection, and picked on in coverage. When Rutgers added him to the blitz he tipped it, and spent so long picking through traffic he was irrelevant to the pass rush and opened up big passing holes. Washington had an entire touchdown drive picking on that guy.

slackbot: I think you mean Rutger

BiSB: It's like the baseball All-Star game: everyone gets a representative.

/remembers Illinois

Aw shit.

Ace: Trevor Morris, the Robert Fick of the Big Ten.

[ED-Seth: The rest of this article has been clipped since at this point it divulged into naming random former Detroit Tigers from the 1990s and early 2000s and we figured your patience for baseball doesn't extend to the Shane Halter Year or the Hiram Bocachica Experiment.]