Uyeyama's Scouting Notebook | Versatility is Massively Important at LB
Notre Dame is in the midst of a recruiting battle for two linebacker recruits in the 2025 recruiting class. Both Madden Faraimo and Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng are two of the top-10 prospects at the position, but have different skill sets.
NOB is an athlete who is comfortable playing in space, but projects to play as an inside linebacker at the college level. He’s bigger than his older brother, but not by much. He weighed in at 200 pounds when IMG Academy held their Pro Day in the spring.
Faraimo is much bigger. He’s long and weighs around 230 pounds. In fact, he may end up playing as an edge in college (Vyper at Notre Dame), but if he is certainly athletic enough to stick as an off the ball player.
He could also be perfect in the role that Marist Liufau just had for the Irish. He’d be the “Money” backer who could shift to more of a pass rushing role in sub-packages.
They’re different, but equally great prospects who could develop into high picks one day.
That’s not projecting them simply based on where they are ranked. That would be a mistake (more on that later). This is projecting them based on other boxes they check.
There were 42 linebackers drafted in the first three rounds of the last five NFL Drafts (2020-2024). I went back and looked at athletic testing from when they were in high school as well as things they had in common on the field to help me do a better job of evaluating the linebackers that Notre Dame has targeted.
I found out some things that backed up what I already felt about projecting linebackers. I found out some other things that surprised me.
Versatility is critical
There were 42 linebackers selected on day one or day two of the last five drafts. One of them, amazingly, never played high school football. Davion Taylor was a track athlete who ran a 10.6 100m and started playing football in junior college.
Out of the 41 others, 36 (87.8%) either played defensive back at one point in their high school career or were two-way players on offense and defense.
I always see people talking about multi-sport athletes and how many of them have success in football. I’m not discounting that importance at all with linebackers since 29 of 41 (70.7%) were multi-sport athletes in high school, but I think multi-position versatility isn’t talked about enough with high school prospects.
There are so many translatable skills that can apply to the position whether it’s movement, coverage awareness, or ball skills.
Former Notre Dame linebackers Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Drue Tranquill, and Marist Liufau all started out as defensive backs and played prominent roles on offense in high school. JD Bertrand played tight end on offense (he also played basketball and was a swimmer). I think most Notre Dame fans who follow recruiting closely recall that Jack Kiser was a safety and an option quarterback in high school.
Drayk Bowen and Jaiden Ausberry also played running back. Jaylen Sneed played linebacker, defensive line, and safety. Kahanu Kia and Kyngstonn Villiamu-Asa were Swiss Army knives for their respective programs.
Bodie Kahoun played safety before moving to linebacker. Teddy Rezac played safety and also wide receiver. 2025 commit Anthony Sacca was originally a defensive back in high school before moving to linebacker as well. 2025 commit Ko'o Kia role for Punahou is very similar to what his brother did in high school as well.
You get the idea. Notre Dame is on the right track with who they have targeted at the position.
First round picks like Penn State’s Micah Parsons (running back), Clemson’s Isaiah Simmons (safety/receiver/returner), LSU’s Patrick Queen (corner/running back), Utah’s Devin Lloyd (receiver/running back/safety), and Georgia’s Quay Walker (receiver) are more specific examples, but it’s a long list of guys whose multi-position versatility helped them develop into high NFL Draft picks.
Rankings matter…but not as much when it comes to projecting linebackers
Two of the 41 linebackers were unranked players out of high school who signed with and stayed in the FCS during their college careers. Those two can get added to the 22 others who weren’t in the top-20 in the position they were ranked by recruiting sites.
That’s top-20 at the position and not top-20 overall. In other words, more than half of these players (53.7%) weren’t considered as elite blue-chip prospects out of high school.
Many of them weren’t even considered linebackers. 15 of them were ranked at other positions. Seven were in the “athlete” category. Four were ranked as safeties. One was ranked as an edge prospect, one as a wide receiver, and there were two who were ranked as quarterbacks. (Also of note: 10 played quarterback in high school)
Notre Dame fans know how impactful a 5-star linebacker can be and had two Butkus Award winners, Manti Te’o and Jaylon Smith, that prove it. They also know that it’s not always the 5-stars who develop into elite linebackers. Another Butkus winner, JOK, is proof of that. He was the 31st ranked athlete in the composite rankings. (I had him as 4-star on ISD and ESPN had him ranked that way as well)
This is less a criticism of the rankings and more of an acknowledgement that it’s incredibly difficult to project linebackers at the college level, which is why identifying traits and evaluating football intelligence are important when examining potential studs at the position.
40 times are overrated (again)
It’s never something to brush aside if a 16 year old runs a 4.45 40. That is incredible and should immediately catch the attention of any scout and evaluator.
With that out of the way, this is just like wide receiver where 40 times simply don’t matter that much for linebackers.
There were 25 linebackers who had verified 40 times from this group and the average time was only 4.73. There were only three players who had a time below 4.62.
I think most average fans think of freak athletes who are stars at the linebacker position and picture them running 4.5 or faster at the NFL Combine. They see 4.8 for a linebacker in high school and they automatically think that player is slow.
The reality is that these players get faster and many eventually test that well four years later. They aren’t running blazing 40 times when they are rising seniors in high school.
Don’t overrate weight
38 had listed weights and the average was 210 pounds.
While there are a handful who are built like they’ve been in college for a few years (think KVA) only five of the 38 were listed at 225+. There were double the amount (10) who were listed at 200 pounds or less. That includes both Marist Liufau and JOK.
Jaylen Sneed was light when he originally enrolled at Notre Dame. He’s just fine at 222 in his third year in the program. Teddy Rezac being listed at 199 this summer might not be ideal, but it’s not anything to be concerned about in the long term.
Explosiveness (vertical jump) rules the day again
Broad jump wasn’t something being tested previously at Nike/The Opening camps, so vertical jumps have been the primary test for these players to measure their explosiveness. A good result has mattered for every position I’ve studied.
There were 26 players with a verified vertical jump recorded. The average for that group was 34 inches. There were only three linebackers who had a vertical under 30 inches.
NOB is probably not the same level of freak athlete as his brother was, but him not running a 40 at IMG’s Pro Day or scratching a number isn’t a problem. It matters more that he had a vertical over 30 inches (30.5) and he had a strong broad jump (110 inches or 9-2 feet).
Short area quickness has proven to be important as well.
The average short shuttle number for 26 with results was 4.40. NOB’s 4.28 would have been tied for the fourth best time out of those 26 players. It feels appropriate that NOB’s time is tied with his older brother.
That’s elite short area quickness for the position.
Pass rush adds serious value
I know there were many people who were a bit surprised that Liufau was selected in the third round. One of the biggest reasons why is his ability to rush the passer. He did that at Notre Dame in sub-packages and showed that ability rushing off the edge when he was at Punahou as well.
Notre Dame didn’t have what they wanted from their edge rushers in 2023, but were able to use Liufau and Sneed to supplement that on 3rd down. That proved extremely valuable. If Notre Dame isn’t getting what they need from a pass rush perspective from their defensive ends this fall, there’s Sneed and KVA who could help in that respect this season.
That’s the kind of thing that not only adds to the defense, but also adds to how they are viewed by NFL evaluators.
Kahuna Kia is going to be another linebacker who adds value as a pass rusher. Ko’o will as well when he arrives at Notre Dame. (I’m not listing 2025 commit Dom Hulak here, although he’s the epitome of versatility with the way his high school program moves him around on offense and defense. He’s going to be a Vyper for the Irish)
Texas A&M’s Edgerrin Cooper was the first linebacker off the board in the 2024 NFL Draft. His ability to rush the passer had a lot to do with it. Micah Parsons was the 12th pick overall in the 2021 NFL Draft and if they redrafted it today, he would go in the top-three. Other teams didn’t value his pass rush ability enough and they surely regret it now.
Penn State’s Abdul Carter and LSU’s Harold Perkins are projected to be first round picks. They have played off the ball in college, but Carter is moving to the edge full-time this season at PSU. Perkins may do so in the NFL. It’s their ability to get after the passer that has made them highly touted prospects.
The Irish are trying to land Faraimo in their 2025 class and he has the traits to develop into a very good edge rusher. 2026 targets Talanoa Ili and Samu Moala are similar prospects with similar traits to rush the passer.
Linebackers aren’t valued the same way that other positions are in modern college football, but linebackers who can rush the passer well are probably undervalued in terms of recruiting rankings and how much they can help on the field.
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