Which USC linebacker would you like the most and why?

Rey would be a horrible pick. If I had to make a decision... it would be Cush. But we could get depth at LB in third and go with the best player with #13. OL Oher, DL Brown,
OL A. Smith, DL Jackson, seem to fit the bill to be available

Clay Matthews...hands down. Here's why:

1) He is from a football family -His father, Clay, was a 4-year (1974-77) letterman linebacker at USC who played on Troy's 1974 national championship team and earned All-American honors in 1977 (he went on to play with the NFL's Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons from 1978 to 1996). His brother, Kyle, lettered at safety on USC's 2003 national championship team. His uncle, Bruce, was a 3-year (1980-82) letterman offensive guard at USC who earned All-American honors in 1982 and then played with the NFL's Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans from 1983 to 2001. His grandfather, Clay Sr., was on the football, wrestling and swimming teams at Georgia Tech in the 1940s and then played in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers in the 1950s.

2) He was a walk on at USC, which means that he has a proven work ethic. This work ethic prompted coaches to find and somehow to make him crack the lineup at USC as a DE/OLB hybrid. He plays special teams like a mad man (which is what he played the first two seasons).

3) His combine was unbelievable. Not only was he top ten in 40-yard dash, Bench press, Vertical jump, Broad jump, 3-cone drill, & 20-yard shuttle, but the best fact about his combine was that his 10 yard split in the 40 yard dash was 1.49 seconds!! That is faster time than Derrick Williams, Kenny Britt, and D.J Moore.

4) His versatility will be great for us. He can play SLB on the first two downs, and then play DE on pass rushing downs.

CLAY MATTHEWS is this year's Jordy Nelson (for whom I was lobbying for us to pick last year). His football family, work ethic, athleticism, and versatility will be a great asset for us as a team. Furthermore, his ability to be coached and his character would provide us with a lot less of the individualistic distractions and provide us with a hard-nosed football player for the next 10 years or so.

I really don't want any of these guys. Ray M. seems like he's always trying to make the ESPN highlights. He has the most potential out of these guys but is he going to be a true student of the game like Fletcher is. Is he going to be able to keep his weight down? I just don't see it. He has Brian Bosworth written all over him. The other two are simply not worthy of the 13th pick. They look like 2nd or 3rd rounders to me.

I honestly think Andre Smith is the pick if he's available at 13. If not they'll try to trade down and if that can't be done they'll grab Rey. Then maybe try to work their way back into the first or second. If they do get the trade down done I could see them taking Eben Britton.

However to answer the thread, Rey, by far. Guys a football player and Fletchers production has made me realize how beneficial we are to make sure that we always have a dominant guy at that Mike spot. Plus I don't want to risk repeating the Lamar Marshall experiment.

I would go with Rey Maualuga as well. We need that kind of energy/swagger on the team. And it would also mean a fellow Samoan on the team.:woot:

I really don't want any of these guys. Ray M. seems like he's always trying to make the ESPN highlights. He has the most potential out of these guys but is he going to be a true student of the game like Fletcher is. Is he going to be able to keep his weight down? I just don't see it. He has Brian Bosworth written all over him. The other two are simply not worthy of the 13th pick. They look like 2nd or 3rd rounders to me.

I was thinking...we have blades, who could be a very good MLB and I think MLB is the perfect position for him...so ya why get maualuga if he is really gonna be like blades, IMHO

Clay Matthews...is a hands down NO. Here's why:

A "good bloodline" does not change that the guy as 10 career starts. Why waste a 1st round pick, 13th at that, on a guy who hasn't played a full year in college? No thanks.

Rey Maualuga FTW

Rey Maualuga FTW

FTW???

And to respond to the guy saying we should definetly get clay matthews because of bloodline...good point, but keep in mind those guys started from day one at USC, or at least started for 2 full seasons, him on the other hand started from the 4th game on in his senior year...WAY to RISKY for 13...and combine numbers don't mean too much, people read way to much into combine crap..what i look at is if the kid can play or not, not how much he can bench, run , run around cones, etc. I look at the tape...just take anquan boldin for example he was a great player, but when he went to the combine, he ran a 4.7 fourty..numbers like that drop most guys in the draft at that position, but when you would watch him at FSU he would dominate, and had great game speed....and that s the other thing with the 40 is that they run it without pads on, I wanna see how fast you run with pads on....
.....bottom line, don't look at matthews just because he had a great combine, look at his game tape to see how well he really is

FTW stands for "for the win" as in I firmly believe that he (Rey) is the best choice for us out of the USC guys. Its used in some blogs to add emphasis to a statement.