The Main Event...
Darren Childs (Sr.) -- In 2008, he started two games in place of Antonio Appleby, and turned in a stellar 10-tackle performance in the win against UNC. Like Denzel Burrell and Aaron Clark, this is a guy who has waited for his turn, and he enters 2009 training camp as the surest bet to be a starter of any of the linebackers on the roster. Childs is solidly built, a good athlete, and [obviously] a productive run-stopper. I feel comfortable and confident with him penciled in as a starter.Darnell Carter (Jr.) -- In the same boat as Jameel Sewell and Chris Cook, Carter is returning from a year-long academic suspension. Before he was dismissed from the team, Carter was pushing Copper and Appleby hard in practice, and there were some around the program that felt he was a better, more explosive, dynamic talent than either of them. Now he's back, and is the darkhorse to start beside Childs at ILB. No doubt he'll be rusty after a year's vacation from football, but if he can regain his lost momentum, the Greer/Carter battle could be one of the best of training camp.
Terence Fells-Danzer (So.) -- He paid his dues on special teams as a redshirt freshman, and now he's ready to contribute as a wave/rotation player on defense. He's big and athletic; very close to the prototypical 3-4 ILB. Hopefully the light will flicker on for TFD in 2009.
Dominique Wallace (Fr.) -- Arguably our best recruit of the 2009 class, Wallace was signed to play halfback... before Gregg Brandon was hired to bring his spread offense to Charlottesville. Now Wallace (a bruising 6-1, 235-lb. power back) is a Hoo, but a bad fit at halfback in the new UVA offense. In high school his second position was middle linebacker, and some say that is his best position projecting to the future. I think he'll end up slotted at linebacker this summer, and I think there's a good chance that we'll see his redshirt burned this season so we can get his elite talent on the field. Al Groh is in a position where he needs to "smoke 'em if he's got 'em," after all.
Childs doesn't have a lot of game experience, but he's been in the program for four years already. 2009 will be his fifth year as a Hoo, and to me, that's experience. I think he'll play and play well. At the other ILB spot, I think Greer will just barely edge out Carter and Wallace for the starting spot. Brains and toughness go a long way in the middle of the 3-4, and Greer seems poised to pick right up from where Jon Copper left off. Meanwhile, the presence of Carter, Wallace, TFD, and Schautz makes this one of the deeper positions on the team --- I feel confident in any of our ILBs if they earn some playing time.
I'm already out on a limb predicting that Dominique Wallace will end up at linebacker and that Al Groh will burn his redshirt in order to get him on the field... so I'll just go all the way to the end of that limb and say that this season, Dominique Wallace will give us some Ahmad Brooks-ian flashes of brilliance, and that we'll all be excited to see him take over a starting spot in 2010. This kid has limitless upside, he's a hard worker, and he's already a devoted ambassador of Virginia Football. The sky is the limit, and we'll start to see some of that potential become realized in 2009.
Replacing both starters at ILB is a daunting task. Most of the names are new, but this is a deep, talented group of players at a position that is generally featured in the 3-4 defense. I think that as the season grinds along, the ILBs will emerge as a strength of the UVA defense. I expect this group to control the middle of the field and easily outshine their counterparts on the outside.
Keep up the good work, K-man! You were born to do this.
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