Minnesota 2024 spring position preview: Linebacker
After taking a look at the defensive tackle room earlier this week, we move to Minnesota's next position group, the linebackers.
This offseason, the Gophers said goodbye to Ryan Selig, who played in all 12 games at the linebacker position last season. Across 13 games last season, Selig recorded 31 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. He also had one pass deflection.
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That being said, of all the linebackers that saw the field in 2023, Selig is the only one who has moved on this offseason, at least as of right now. With that being said, here's how the Gophers' linebacker room currently projects to stand heading into Saturday's spring game.
PROJECTED STARTERS
For the Gophers projected starters at linebacker this year, assuming everyone stays healthy, Maverick Baranowski at the middle (MIKE) linebacker position and Cody Lindenberg at the WILL (Weakside Linebacker) position seems as the most likely scenario.
Baranowski is entering his redshirt sophomore season with the program after playing in 10 of 13 games last season. The Illinois native was top five on the Gophers in tackles with a total of 52 while also recording five tackles for loss, one sack, and two pass break ups. The 2023 season was a strong one for Baranowski who after playing in four games as a true freshman was thrusted straight into an important role within the Gophers defense. Overall, Baranowski was very much a solid piece of the Gophers defense last year and was especially impressive in his limited snaps as a pass rusher. He will need to clean up the missed tackles, however, after missing nearly a dozen last season.
Entering his fifth year with the program, Lindenberg will look to put together a somewhat of a bounce back season in 2024. Last season, the Anoka, Minnesota native appeared in just four games while missing nine games with an injury including the first seven of the 2023 season. That being said, when on the field last season, Lindenberg was very good, totaling 31 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and one forced fumble in his four games played. When on the field throughout his career, Lindenberg has had a history of production and in total, has 102 total tackles in his last 17 games played.
Together, Baranowski and Lindenberg should create a reliable starting pair of linebackers for the Gophers in 2024.
The Gophers will occasionally roll out a SAM linebacker role as well in their defense. Likely to hold that spot down is Devon Williams but also could see Joey Gerlach play in that spot as well.
the fourth-year linebacker out of Ohio is coming off a season in which he played in 12 of 13 games last season, recording 52 tackles including two tackles for loss and one sack. He also had one interception, one pass deflction, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He played the second most snaps of any Gopher defender in 2023. With Cody Lindenberg hoping to be fully healthy for the 2024 season, Williams will likely see that snap count drop a bit this fall. On the other hand, Gerlach played in all 13 games for the Gophers in 2023 with most of his time on the field coming on special teams. He had one tackle on the season.
BACKUPS & DEPTH
As of right now, we are projecting Matt Kingsbury and Devon Williams as the Gophers primary backup linebackers to Baranowski and Lindenberg. It is worth noting that the Gophers do like to get their linebackers time in practice at more than just one spot to allow for some position versatility, so this isn't to be taken as a concrete depth chart but more of an idea of who the primary rotation will consist of.
Kinsbury played in three games last season for the Gophers as a true freshman, recording four tackles in the process. The Chicago native has had a solid spring by all accounts and has set himself up to be a key part of the Gophers' linebacker rotation this fall.
We discussed Williams above with the SAM linebacker position. He also will likely play behind Cody Lindenberg quite a bit as well this season at the WILL.
Other names to know at linebacker include Tyler Stolsky and Derik LeCaptain. Stolsky, a walk-on, played in a handful of games last year out of necessity and all things considered looked solid when on the field. He could see the field again in 2024 but how much he sees the field will once again be dictated by injuries. LeCaptain, on the other hand has mostly been a special teams contributor in his career but missed all of 2023 with an injury. He will see some time on the field defensively but it's hard to project just how much time he'll see. That being said, when last healthy in 2022, he played just 54 snaps over the course of the regular season.
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