Linebacker recruiting in 2010

Though the Vanderbilt coaching staff has signed over 7 linebackers in the past 3 years, it appears as though the staff is going to try to sign at least 2 more prospects in 2010. And unlike recruiting in the past at this position, things might be a little more defined than usual.

MIKE linebacker will be important as even with Blake Southerland joining the fold this fall, VU still will have only two true inside linebackers on the roster after the 2009 season and Chris Marve will be approaching his 4th year in the program in 2010, so it would be wise to keep adding depth at middle linebacker. DeAndre Jones could play middle, but most feel he's best at an outside position.

WILL linebacker will also be important. VU has a good bit of options at SAM, but WILL is set to lose Patrick Benoist and Brandon Bryant after this year and Nate Campbell will be approaching his 5th year in the program in 2010. VU would like more possibilities after 2010 when Campbell moves on.

So far, MIKE has not yielded too much success for VU in terms of offering. Jake Holland chose Auburn over a VU offer and Jake Nicolopulos chose Clemson over VU. Vanderbilt has also offered Rashod Favors out of Texas as well as Josiah Flack from Colorado but Favors appears to be staying in the Big 12 and VU's actually looking at Flack as a possible DB as well as MLB.

However, VU has indentified several other players at the position and could be close to offering Memphis prospect Jonathan Brown, Georgia talent Michael Carlisle, Hoover (Ala.) product Josh Propst, MBA's Brad Bars and Wilson Central's Jordan Poole. All appear to have the talent and it might just be a matter of time before they secure VU offers.

WILL linebacker, or just outside linebacker in general, has seemed to offer a slightly different set of results. Perhaps the top linebacker on VU's radar, Memphis' Justin Maclin, seems very high on what VU has to offer and plans to visit the school this summer. North Carolina standout Ty Linton seems high on VU as well, though if VU baseball would get a little more interested, it could probably help VU's recruitment of the two-sport star. Pahokee backer Zachary Allen has put VU in his top group and is looking forward to his visit to VU in the future. He'd seem like an ideal fit at WILL. If not him, then recently offered Indianapolis talent Joe Gilliam could be the guy. Gilliam is super athletic and very intelligent and is going to be a climber in the recruiting world over the next 6 months. VU's also offered the son of former Saints great Patrick Swilling, Pat Swilling Jr. He's also a D1 level basketball player, so the question now is which sport will he play.

Others who could garner offers from VU in the future include current Duke commitment Aramide Olaniyan, MBA's Fitz Lassing, Memphis Lawrence Peterson, versatile Michigan prospect Ishmael Lewis as well as some others.

Some of the WILL prospects could switch over to SAM, so that position is not getting totally ignored. Still, VU's focus seems to be on the middle and weakside techniques this recruiting period.