Last Word on College Football continues its look at the best-returning players by position, by conference. As we make our through the Pac 12, it’s time to look at the best returning linebackers. The players can transfer within the conference but anyone coming from outside the conference does not qualify for the list. The linebackers are listed as the best three with no preference as to where on the position grid they fit. There are the top five returning linebackers in the Pac 12.
Best Returning Linebackers in the Pac 12
5. Edefuan Ulofoshio; Washington Huskies
The journey is the thing for Ulofoshio, whose name means “Unafraid of war,” in his native Nigerian. He is from Anchorage, Alaska, but the family moved to Las Vegas for his high school years. And then lacking substantial scholarship offers, he began as a walk-on in Seattle. It took him two years at Washington to earn a scholarship, and the patience is paying off.
While Ulofoshio missed most of last year with an injury, he showed in the previous two seasons that the potential is there, totalling 98 tackles and three-and-a-half sacks over just 10 games, (including the Covid shortened season). If he can stay healthy, he is expected to be the key component to the Huskies defense. And for good measure, he will be completing his pre-med school, with hopes of becoming a doctor.
4. Eric Gentry; USC Trojans
The first thing you notice about Gentry is that he is hard to miss. At 6-6, 200 pounds, he is freakishly tall for a linebacker. Gentry transferred to USC for 2022 after playing his first year at Arizona State, where he was a freshman All-American after the 2021 season.
His issue for 2023 will be his health. He is coming back from ankle surgery that caused him to miss all of the Trojans’ Spring camp. He injured his ankle in mid October against Utah, causing him to miss four games. He came back at the tail end of the season, including USC’s loss to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl, but was clearly hobbled.
Still, even playing at far less than 100%, Gentry racked up 71 total tackles, two sacks, and an intercpetion.
3. Darius Muasau; UCLA Bruins
The product of Ewa Beach, Hawai’i, Musasau enters his second season at UCLA. He spent the previous three seasons playing for the University of Hawai’i, where he had 210 tackles combined over 2020 and 2021.
Muasau transferred to UCLA in time to take part in Spring camp last year. In his first season in Westwood, playing under the Bruins’ first-year linebacker coach Ken Norton, Jr., Muasau recorded 91 total tackles. That includes three for a loss and one sack while starting all 13 games. He had a season-high 14 tackles in UCLA’s Sun Bowl loss to Pitt. As a pass rusher, he tallied 17 total pressures, which included 13 quarterback hurries, and three quarterback hits. He was named second-team all-conference for the results.
His natural instinctiveness, reading, and reacting make him a strong complement to UCLA’s All-American edge rusher Laiatu Latu.
UCLA’s defense continued to struggle in 2022, ranked 87th in the country. But Muasau, and Latu, more than hold up their end of the equation.
2. Jackson Sirmon, Cal Bears
Another linebacker who enters his second year at his current program. Sirmon spent four years playing for the Washington Huskies before transferring to Cal for the 2022 season. He was one of four players on defense to start all 12 games for the Bears last season.
He totaled 104 tackles on the season. Forty-nine of them were solo and six were for a loss. The total tackles ranked him 40th in the country and third among Pac-12 linebackers. He added three-and-a-half sacks to his numbers. He pulled off career-high in tackles, tackles for loss, tackle-for-loss yards, sacks, and sack yards in the Bears’ loss to Notre Dame in September.
The numbers got him voted first-team All-Pac 12 last season. He is a pre-season first-team pre-season All-Pac 12 from Athlon for 2023, as well as a fourth-team All-American from the same publication.
Numbers aside, Sirmon’s personal highlights would undoubtedly include his 37-yard fumble return for a touchdown that put the Bears up for good in a 27-20 Big Game victory over Bay Area rival Stanford. For as good as Sirmon’s numbers are he doesn’t get a lot of national recognition, due in no small part to Cal being 4-8 in 2022.
1. Karene Reid; Utah Utes
Reid enters his third season playing for Kyle Whittingham and the Utes. His spot at number one may seem out of order if all you do is look at numbers. He had 72 total tackles in 2022 with nine-and-a-half for a loss and five sacks. Reid also had his first career fumble recovery for an 11-yard scoop-and-score during the Oregon game. He finished the season first-team All-Pac 12 (AP vote), and second-team in the coaches’ vote.
The numbers are fine, although they put him behind Sirmon. But we put Reid as the number one returning linebacker in the conference because of his impact on what has evolved into a very good defense. The Utes defense went into 2022 having to replace linebackers Devin Lloyd and Nephi Sewell. But with Reid rising to the challenge after a tough season opener against Florida, the Utes’ defense finished 27th in the country.
Utah linebacker coach Colton Swan told the Deseret News, “He not only knows what he’s doing, but he knows what everybody is doing with the offense included in that. That’s when you get to become a great player — when you understand what you and your defense are doing and how it fits into the offense and how you can utilize that information to make plays.”
As we near July, we start to get to the preseason award watch lists. Reid has already been named to the 2023 Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List, given to the Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year that makes the biggest impact on and off the field.
Photo courtesy: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
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