Penn State Football: position grades for the linebackers

Grading the performance of the Penn State Football linebackers for the 2021 regular season

The 2021 Penn State Football linebacker corps was comprised of some pretty highly rated players during their respective recruiting cycles.

Brandon Smith lead the way in this department as he was a 5-star recruit, the No. 1 ILB, and the 18th overall recruit in the 2018 class. Smith, Friday announced that he would forego his senior season and declare for the 2022 NFL Draft.

Meanwhile, Curtis Jacobs was a high 4-star recruit, the No. 3 OLB, and the 36th overall recruit in the 2020 class. And Ellis Brooks rounds out the group as a 4-star recruit, the No. 13 ILB, and the 260th overall recruit in the 2017 class.

Like Smith, Brooks announced Monday that he too will enter the NFL Draft next spring.

Obviously, this group is talented on paper. But unfortunately, football isn’t played on paper.

Instead, it’s mostly played on artificial turf surfaces with ground-up tires sprinkled in.

So how did Penn State Football’s linebacker group fair on the field this past season?

Here’s a look at the stats from the starting trio and their backups.

2021 Starting Linebackers
Curtis Jacobs – 51 tackles 6.0 TFL 2.0 sacks
Ellis Brooks – 100 tackles 3.5 TFL 1.0 sacks
Brandon Smith – 81 tackles 9.0 TFL 2.0 sacks

2021 Backup Linebackers
Charlie Katshir – 10 tackles
Jonathan Sutherland – 19 tackles 2.0 TFL
Kobe King – 3 tackles
Tyler Elsdon – 6 tackles
Jamari Buddin – 4 tackles
Jesse Luketa (mostly played DE) – 52 tackles 7.5 TFL 0.5 sacks

Clearly, the Nittany Lions‘ linebackers filled up the stat sheet this past season. But with most things in football, stats don’t always tell the whole story.

Throughout the majority of the season, Ellis Brooks was the most reliable linebacker of the bunch as he roamed the field from sideline to sideline. He rarely found himself out of position and he was a sure tackler.

And by “sure tackler” I mean he was about as sure of a tackler as you can be in today’s game. Brooks’ did fail to bring down the ball carrier on more than one occasion.

Speaking of “missed tackles”, let’s evaluate Brandon Smith’s season.

Smith appeared to be the most explosive linebacker who was always capable of making the big plays. The key word here is “capable,” because Smith didn’t make nearly as many difference-maker plays as he could have.

There were far too many times Smith had the RB or QB dead to rights behind the line of scrimmage, only to have them squirm out of his grasp and turn a negative play into a positive one.

Smith also showed poor gap discipline at times and appeared to struggle to come off blocks once he was engaged with a lineman.

Curtis Jacobs had a relatively quiet start to his season but in no way does this mean he wasn’t doing his job as the SAM.

Things really started to click for Jacobs from the Iowa game on as he settled into his position and got more comfortable with the game speed and his reads. Curtis compiled 34 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 interception from the Iowa game until the end of the season and he turned into a reliable defender on the edge.

Final grade for Penn State Football’s linebackers: B

The Penn State linebacker group was solid in 2021. At times they allowed the opposing running backs to impose their wills (Auburn, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State) but overall they played well as a unit.

At this point, Smith is headed toward the draft and hopefully a career in the NFL. It would be a huge boost to the linebackers for next year if Jacobs can retain his starting job and elevate his game.

But as with everything in college football these days, the situation is always fluid.