Which USC linebacker would you like the most and why?

Agreed, I would love to have Rey flying at the ball on a blitz ala Palamalu.

:laughing- Tony Romo here I come! Yeah baby! :woot:

:laughing- tony romo here i come! Yeah baby! :woot:i love it!!!!!

With Haynesworth up front taking on the blockers, Rey-Rey would have a field day. Look for Fletch to have even more tackles than last year.

With Haynesworth up front taking on the blockers, Rey-Rey would have a field day. Look for Fletch to have even more tackles than last year.
Good call, Fletcher is a beast, I hope he can stay healthy. He IS the workhorse for our defense, I hope AH turns out to be as productive a free agent as Fletch has been.

I hope so. If all our FA signings turned out to be as productive as Fletch, we'd be in the Super Bowl every year. :)

Rocky is our WLB, Marcus was our SLB. TE's block as much as they catch passes and are not as fast as RB's or slot receivers. Plus TE's are bigger and stronger. If a safety is converted to a LB, he would usually go to WLB to take more advantage of his coverage skills and usually smaller size than the SLB. (RB's and slot receivers are faster/harder to cover than TE's) and the SLB would be used more to block/cover the TE who is stronger but not as swift as a RB/slot receiver. Think of it this way Nick, the SLB is usually lined up across from the TE. So wouldn't it make more sense for him to cover the TE than the WLB who is lined up on the other side of the field? Strongside LB is called strongside because he lines up on the strongside of the o-line. The strongside of the o-line becomes the strongside because it has an extra player on that side, the TE. It's 4:42 am and I'm not fully awake yet, but, doe's that help? Usually the SLB get's safety help over the top to help on deeper coverage. No one is saying a WLB can't cover. He usually takes on the RB's/FB's coming out of the backfield and slot receivers like Wes Welker of NE.

Well said bro...I'm on the same page as you. I think the caveat to our LB in coverage issue is it always seemed like our SLB, Marcus, got stuck covering way more than our other LBs. Maybe teams purposefully targeted him cuz he's lost a step, but then again I believe Randall Godfrey also was in coverage more than the other two when he played last year.

...it's sort of seems like, while yes the WLB must be able to cover quicker RBs and slot WRs, our SLB is the guy more commonly stuck in coverage based on playcalling of opposing offenses(?).

Maualuga would be the USC linebacker that I would pick. His explosiveness, effort, and football IQ would be the main reasons. The only thing I would question in comparison to the other 2 would be his workout habits - does he work in the weight room because I think this plays a part to being a good linebacker.

Cushing looked good to me early on, but I am suspicious that this guy is a serious steriod user. No definitive proof, but there isn't any reports anywhere explaining his unbelievable mass growth (44%) from his college freshman year. I think I'd be fine with him, if there would be some reasonable explanation for this.

Matthews's strength as a prospect is his potential. I wouldn't draft a guy in the first round based on potential without the production to back it up; that wouldn't make any sense IMO.

FYI

Sources: NFL doctor tells players they are clean - NFL - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-combinedrugs040309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)

FYI

Sources: NFL doctor tells players they are clean - NFL - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-combinedrugs040309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)

Thanks SS! I hate BS rumors.

I think maualuga is another name we can take off the list of people the skins will get, along with mack..I say this, because:
A) maualuga is projected to be picked until the mid to late first round so we don't need to get someone that high
B) we have a MLB already and one in waiting, Blades,
C) we need OLine first (OT)
D) if we get a LB it will be an OLB
E) maualuga hasn't ever played OLB so that would be risky to put him there right away as a rookie
F) the skins have brought in Other LBs, and from what I remember they haven't brought Him in for a private workout which they have done for Matthews
G) if they go off a prospects combine numbers, his aren't anything spectacular
H) he's been known to leave the fields on third down, so your paying millions for a two down backer

Don't get me wrong, I like him,and I think he's the equivalent of troy polamalu at LB, it's just that we have other needs, specifically OT, he will be a great linebacker, but unless otherwise, I think he'll be somewhere else unless all four OTs are gone and so is Matthews (who is very high on the texans draftboard, so maybe we could threaten them that we'll draft him at 13 and force them to swap picks with them @ 15 and get their 2nd rounder) but I would be looking t someone else and quit the maualuga talks along with the alex mack talks