Dobbs on Jerry Rice Award Watch List

That's awesome. Congrats to Dobbs... well deserved. 

dharry13 I never want to hear your recruiting complaints ever again. Maybe one day, we will get the #43 ILB crew together and bring back John Provost as an honored guest. 

I think you should amend your deal to allow for complaining about the OC.  He is just terrible and no one should be prohibited (by private agreement or otherwise) from saying so. 

The current LB group has zero depth at 6 LB's. 

To be honest, true freshmen and (even sophomores) really shouldn't be full time starters right out the gate. There are a lot of key learnings with run fits, pass coverage, pass/ run reads, shedding blockers, etc that cannot be fully understood going through one month of training camp. Even if you have an absolute stud like Dobbs, starting a true freshmen is less than ideal and indicates poor recruiting in previous classes. 

The linebackers have arguably been the best position on the defense. Who cares if there's only one senior. That's Gilmore's fault. I'll take Doran and Dobbs for the next two seasons.

Besides...Chesney's defense is a 4-2-5. Has less LBs on the roster because he plays less. His weak safety (Stefanik) is a LB/S hybrid.

Without looking at the roster what are there six LBs on the roster? That's three strings. Why over-recruit LBs when you know 1) you don't need them and 2) they'll never play due to scheme?

The number three linebacker, Liam Anderson, is eighth in tackles on the team
We play 3-4 linebackers in rotation,

Linebackers --

As has been noted, the switch to a 4-2-5 defense has led to the re-designation of several players who came to HC as linebackers. Corey Stefanik and Kendrick Knight each came to Holy Cross as linebackers; they are now listed as DBs. The current LB rotation includes Jacob Dobbs (Fr) and Liam Doran (So) as starters. (It has been noted that Doran came to HC as an LB, was listed as a DL last year, and was moved back to LB for 2019.) The backup LBs are Cullen Honohan (So) and Liam Anderson (So). Honohan started several games at LB last year when Haddon was injured; Anderson came to HC as a DB (he played QB in high school). Anthony Leo and Matt Jackson are the other LBs; Leo has played mainly on special teams. In addition, Benton Whitley came to HC as an LB, but now is a starting DE; Keiston Lowery came to HC as a linebacker and is now listed as a (slightly underweight) DL.

One LB from last year did not return to school this year and is no longer on the roster.

In short, in my opinion, the number of LBs on the roster is sufficient. If several injuries occur, there are players who can fill the need at LB.

I love the way Stefanik and Lang play/are utilized....very active, essentially 2 more LBs

I don't see anything that indicates that Coach Gilmore failed to recruit LBs toward the end of his tenure. The 2017 roster included 12 LBs. There was only one sophomore (current senior Matt Johnson), but there were three freshmen -- Benton Whitley, Keiston Lowery, and Kendrick Knight. As indicated above, all three are listed at different positions on the 2019 roster (two DLs and one DB).

Side note -- when I attended the annual HC Football Golf Outing in June 2017, I asked Coach DiMichele which of the incoming freshmen would make an immediate impact. Without hesitation, he said "Kendrick Knight!"

The 2018 roster had three freshmen LBs -- Cullen Honohan and Anthony Leo (both still at LB on the 2019 roster), and Matt Wood (no longer on the roster). 

Incidentally, the incoming 2020 recruit class (who will be freshmen next year) includes three current verbal commits who appear to be playing linebacker in high school -- Joe Rivers, Phoenix Dickson, and Dante Bolden. I suspect that one or more of these recruits may be shown as DBs on the 2020 roster.