Rivals Rankings Week: Updated 2021 linebacker rankings
Without many of the winter all-star games and showcases, there were fewer opportunities to evaluate the senior class than usual since our last update of rankings at the beginning of December. There were several moves at the top of the inside and outside linebacker position rankings, however, including a pair of new five-stars.
2021 RANKINGS: Inside linebacker | Outside linebacker
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RIVALS RANKINGS WEEK
Monday: Five-Star Countdown | Making the Case for No. 1 | How things stand with the uncommitted players in the Rivals250 | The top five-star candidates
Tuesday: New Rivals250 released | Breaking down the new five-stars | Biggest movers in new ranking
Wednesday: Offensive position rankings released | Schools with the most R250 players
Thursday: Defensive position rankings released
Friday: State rankings released
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TEAM MAKING THE MOST MOVES: Maryland
One of the two new five-stars in this ranking update is Terrence Lewis, a Miami product who checks in at No. 3 in the outside linebacker position rankings after moving over from the inside linebacker position. Lewis announced his commitment to Maryland as part of the All-American Bowl’s Signing Day show on Jan. 2, but had actually signed his letter of intent with the Terrapins in the early period a couple weeks earlier. He was one of two big additions at the linebacker position in the early period. Mike Locksley and his staff were also able to flip four-star Branden Jennings, the No. 3-ranked inside linebacker prospect in the 2021 class, from Big Ten rival Michigan on the first day of the Early Signing Period.
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PLAYER TO WATCH: Raesjon Davis
There are a handful of prospects in the linebacker position rankings that remain unsigned, all of them at outside linebacker. The highest ranked of the bunch, and a recruitment that has been fascinating to follow over the last few months, is California’s Raesjon Davis. Previously committed to LSU for a year, Davis stepped away from that commitment last month in a move that had been forecasted.
Davis listed a top five on Jan. 17 that consisted of LSU, Ohio State, Oregon, USC and Vanderbilt. He made a visit to Ohio State this past weekend with his family to check out what the Buckeyes have to offer, but USC is the current Rivals FutureCast favorite.
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PLAYER ON THE RISE: John Lewis
In a year when many prospects around the country did not get a senior season, John Lewis made the most of his final high school opportunity. In just nine games for a loaded Germantown team, Lewis tallied 84 tackles, 13 sacks and forced four fumbles. The resulting college interest brought scholarship offers from Florida State, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Lewis chose the home-state Bulldogs a week before the Early Signing Period opened. A long and explosive outside linebacker, Lewis has the chance to grow into a powerful SAM linebacker or a hybrid edge rusher.