Linebacker Play The Minnesota Way

Linebackers are usually the leaders of the defense. The good ones have poise, intelligence, leadership, mental and physical toughness, dependability, intensity and football instincts. They must have knowledge of the defense. They must be able to defeat offensive linemen weighing 320-plus bearing down at them. They must be able to react quickly and trust what they see and know. Finally, they must, must, must, be able to tackle. They are linebackers. The good ones have a lot of these qualities. The excellent ones have them all. At the University of Minnesota, we try to teach these intangibles to every linebacker with the hope that the players will become great at most of them, which in turn, would make them excellent linebackers. Unfortunately, some of these qualities are hard to teach and therefore, All-America linebackers are rare. Regardless, that is what we strive for each and every