Best of the Best: Top linebacker classes in 2020 cycle
National Signing Day has come and gone. Recruiting classes are all but finished and the results are ready to be dissected. Today, Rivals position-by-position look at the 2020 cycles continues with the country’s top linebacker classes.
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1. Oregon
Signing the top two linebackers in a class should make you a shoe-in for the top of a position ranking, but Alabama signing two five-stars and the highest-ranked four-star made this a close call. In the end, five-star Justin Flowe, ranked No. 8 overall in 2020, and five-star Noah Sewell, ranked No. 10 overall, are considered one of the most special linebacker duos to ever sign with one team out of high school. Add in four-star Jackson LaDuke, whom Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal is reportedly very high on, and this is the best linebacker group signed in 2020. Another four-star, Jaden Navarette, is expected to further bolster the position, but he is listed as an athlete and does not count for position ranking purposes.
2. ALABAMA
You can bet Alabama fans will not agree with the Crimson Tide being No. 2 in this ranking after signing three of the top seven prospects in the class, but they can be assuaged by the knowledge that the linebacker cupboard is re-stocked with ridiculous levels of talent headed to Tuscaloosa. Five-star Chris Braswell out of Baltimore is the highest-ranked member of this group, but another five-star in Demouy Kennedy ranks close behind. Texan Drew Sanders is the highest-ranked four-star linebacker in the 2020 class, and the group is closed out by in-state four-star Jackson Bratton, a Rivals250 prospect.
3. LSU
In many years LSU would have a strong case for signing a top class at linebacker, with four of the top 17 ranked prospects at the position set to play for the National Champs. This group really started to come together last April when four-stars Josh White and Antoine Sampah committed to the Tigers within a week of each other. The Tigers would add to that group late in the fall with a pair of four-stars from Georgia in B.J. Ojulari and Phillip Webb, the latter of whom made his decision on National Signing Day in December. Webb is the highest-ranked of the group at No. 73 overall and the No. 5 outside linebacker prospect in the class. White and Sampah also sit inside the 100 and rank Nos. 7 and 8 at the inside linebacker position.
4. MICHIGAN
The largest linebacker class in the top five, Michigan signed a total of six prospects at the position, then saw its linebackers coach bolt for the NFL four weeks later. Brian Jean-Mary is the new position coach in Ann Arbor who inherits a class that features four prospects rated four-stars. Kalel Mullings is the highest-ranked out of the group, finishing at No. 92 overall and No. 8 in the outside linebacker rankings. Fellow four-stars Osman Savage (158) and Cornell Wheeler (245) also finished in the Rivals250, while Brooklyn four-star William Mohan just missed. Three-stars Nikhai Hill-Green and Jaylen Harrell round out the class.
5. WISCONSIN
The Badgers just edge out their conference foes Ohio State for the fifth and final spot on our list. When you compare the average ranking of the top three prospects in both Wisconsin and Ohio State’s class, they rank pretty close to each other. The Badgers, however, signed two additional three-stars than the Buckeyes, pushing them higher in the ranking.
The headliner of the group is Rivals250 prospect Kaden Johnson out of Minneapolis, who joined the class on National Signing Day in December. Another four-star, Nick Herbig out of Hawaii, is the highest-ranked four-star outside linebacker not in the Rivals250. Wisconsin also went into Michigan to land high three-star linebacker Jordan Turner, while taking three-star Malik Reed out of Arizona and three-star Preston Zachman out of Pennsylvania.