What Will Northwestern do at Linebacker in 2017-2018?

Anthony Walker Jr. was arguably one of the best defensive
players in Northwestern history.

"The Franchise" was a steady force in the middle of Northwestern's defense the past three seasons. Now he has taken his talents to Indianapolis and will try to help shore up the Colts' defense.

Joseph Jones was only a one year starter (last season), but he was a very good outside linebacker. His combination of speed and toughness made him ideal to match up with Big Ten offenses. He is now fighting for a roster spot with the Dallas Cowboys, where he signed as a highly touted Undrafted Free Agent.

It will be a challenge for Mike Hankwitz and his defensive staff to replace these big time contributors. They do; however, have a couple experienced building blocks to be the foundation for the linebacker group. These building blocks are Nate Hall and Brett Walsh. This duo has combined to make 17 career starts (12 by Hall, 5 by Walsh). Hall has seen a good amount of playing time in each of his first two seasons at outside linebacker. Walsh saw most of his playing time last season while replacing an injured Jaylen Prater. Hall is a similar build to Walker Jr. and has a similar play style. They are both big and strong, but have the quickness to be effective in coverage and make tackles in the open field. Walsh, on the other hand, is extremely undersized for a Big Ten linebacker— weighing only 215 pounds. His lack of size did not impact his effectiveness, though, as he used his quickness to avoid blockers and make plays.

While it is pretty much guaranteed that Hall and Walsh will be starters at linebacker, it is no guarantee what positions they will play and who will join them. The top contenders to play alongside Hall and Walsh are Warren Long, Nathan Fox, and Paddy Fisher.

Long was a running back up until the start of this offseason and a pretty good one at that. He ran for 329 yards and 5 touchdowns in 2015 as the primary backup to Justin Jackson. A broken hand sidelined him for pretty much the entire 2016 season (He only had one carry for nine yards). Long is now an outside linebacker. The only way he could start is if Hall moves to the middle linebacker spot. This is an interesting thought because Hall is a similar player to Walker Jr., so there is reason to believe he would thrive in the middle. This would allow Long and all his athleticism to see much more action at outside linebacker. Long's knowledge of offensive schemes, along with his vision, quickness, and strength make him an ideal fit at outside linebacker. This option is unlikely, though, because it seems to be too risky to move Hall out of the outside linebacker spot in which he has thrived for the past two seasons and risk him struggling in the middle.

Fox (45) appeared in all 13 games last season

Fox and Fisher are both unknowns. Fox is a redshirt sophomore and Fisher is a redshirt freshman. Fox appeared in all 13 games this past season, while Fisher did not see the field. Fox has recorded 11 career tackles. The only real evidence of these guys' abilities is spring practice. Even that doesn't really help because both of these guys had very strong springs. In the end, I think both of these guys will see time in the middle to start the season, and Hankwitz will wait for one to separate themselves and earn the starting job.

Northwestern has plenty of options at linebacker, but it all depends on how the players meet the challenges of playing linebacker in the Big Ten.