MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- It's been eight months since Minnesota last took the field in Phoenix when the Gophers defeated West Virginia, earning their ninth win of the 2021 season. The Gophers started fall camp on August 1st, so here's a look at what's in store for the linebacker position leading into the 2022 season.

Mike linebacker: Mariano Sori-Marin, year 5// Cody Lindenberg, year 3 OR Lucas Finnessy, year 3 // Devon Williams, year 2 OR Derik LeCaptain, year 4

Will linebacker: Braelen Oliver, year 4 OR Cody Lindenberg, year 3 // Devon Williams, year 2 OR Derik LeCaptain, year 4

3rd LB role, aka Sam LB: Donald Willis, y ear 4 OR Josh Aune, year 5

Minnesota's going to miss Jack Gibbens. The Abilene Christian graduate transfer led the team in tackles with 92 and had 4.5 tackles for loss and three passes defended. He's no longer around, and neither is James Gordon IV (South Florida) or Jaqwondis Burns (SMU).

What is returning is second-leading tackler Mariano Sori-Marin, and I expect him to transition back to the Middle (Mike) linebacker spot after playing a lot of weak-side (Will) linebacker last fall. The Illinois native has played a ton of football for Minnesota as he's registered over 1,400 defensive snaps over the previous three seasons. Sori-Marin trusted Gibbens to do his job in 21', and both positions showed well. Without Gibbens alongside him in 22', Sori-Marin has to trust the guys around him once again.

It'd been a rough last two years for Braelen Oliver after a gruesome knee injury in the spring of 2020, but in the last few games of the 21' season, you could see the light come on again for the Georgia native. I'm expecting Oliver to have the first crack at winning the open linebacker spot, but that competition is still open going into the fall. Pushing Oliver will be third-year guy Cody Lindenberg, who was healthy throughout the entire spring and the more reps those two continue to accumulate, the faster they'll continue to develop.

Fourth-year Ohio native Donald Willis is who I'll project to step in if Minnesota's go into a 4-3 set, as he's received the most run each of the last two seasons, but Josh Aune was back practicing this spring after he missed all of 21' with a torn ACL. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, but I expect both to receive time depending upon the opponent.

That then leaves us with the fan base's favorite former walk-on in Derik LeCaptain, who transitioned back to defense, along with Devon Williams, who drew praise from both Fleck and Rossi in the spring.

A little peek behind the curtain on what defensive coordinator  Joe Rossi said about the linebackers following spring practice.

Mariano Sori-Marin:  I want to see him be a little bit better in coverage. And whether that's in zone or even man coverage. I think that was probably a big emphasis. And then I think just being being able to go finish plays.

I'd be lying to you if I feel like there's some significant thing in terms of a fundamental. That's not the case. That's what happens when you got an older player who works really hard like he does. He's good at his fundamentals. He knows the defense. He knows it almost as well as me, and that's really good. I want to see the coverage improve and I want to see just finishing some plays to create some minus yardage plays, but we're very pleased. 

He's a great leader. And as his position coach, if he catches something, he will get it corrected with the guy before I even have to get there. We'll be in a group session and I'm kind of watching the whole defense and also the linebackers, but if he sees something, he'll help and grab the guy and get them corrected and that's invaluable for us."

Braelen Oliver:  Playing out of the box is different than playing in the box. And so he was is a strong-side backer and how we deploy is usually over a tight end or is usually out of the box.

And he's developing himself as a box player. He's developed himself in terms of knowledge of the defense. I would always argue that one of his biggest strengths is his speed and athleticism, and those things are obviously important to play linebacker. 

But in terms of playing in the box, there's also the key and diagnose. There's also the reaction portion of it. And I feel like he's made really good strides. I can sit here and say that where he was at the end of the November, that I would agree. From November into the bowl season, I felt like he was playing his best football. I really believe he's picked up from where he's left off. And I think he's made a lot of improvements this spring. So we're excited about where he is now and where he can be."

Cody Lindenberg:  If you just look at Cody's career so far.

Cody didn't have spring ball when he early enrolled in 2020 because of Covid. He was out during training camp for 10 days in the fall of 20', and comes back and starts against Michigan. He plays the next week, and the week after gets hurt. Then ends up out again, quarantining and then the season ends. So he really didn't really play much football.

Let's go through 2021. He goes through spring ball and makes a lot of strides and improves. We get him in a couple of games early in the season. Against Colorado, he played significant snaps. I thought he did a great job too. The next week, he goes down with injury and out for the year.

So I know he's been here a couple of years, but he really hasn't played a lot of football in my opinion, especially as a guy who was a high school safety who is now a college linebacker. So for me with Cody, it's just playing the position in just going through it. Cody is very intelligent and he knows what to do. Cody is able to go and execute the fundamentals of the drills because he's a very diligent in his work. So when you asked him to learn the fundamentals of position, he'll go do it.

It's just playing and part of playing is just seeing it and making a mistake. I tried that run through, but I know now that I didn't make it. So in that scenario next time, I'm not going to take the run through and I gotta work over the top. Or I should have used my hands here, instead of trying a rip through. It's just little things like that. But he's just got to play the game and he's got to play linebacker.

And so I feel like he's made really good progress. I think he has a very high ceiling. And especially when as crazy as it is, he has four years of eligibility left. And you look at where he is physically and what he's transformed his body into. And then you combine that with the knowledge that he has about the defensive scheme. And then when he just gets reps, keeps accruing reps and having them putting them under his belt. I think he's got a high ceiling."

Lucas Finnessy:  Lucas played outside backer, or Sam, because that was the easiest transition for a corner to go to. We started him out of the box. He did that the majority of the year.  It kind of became evident as he developed his body that he was going to be an inside guy. So during bowl prep, we moved him inside. And so he had however many practices there and you could tell that it was definitely the right move. And now through spring practice, I like his work ethic. I like his understanding of football. I like his frame and I like his athleticism.

I don't want to sound redundant to Cody, but he's got to go play linebacker. We're giving them lots of reps in practice to go play linebacker. Go screw it up, go fix it. People sometimes think of like a mistake is a negative light. And I used to when I was young too, but everyone goes through it and no one starts off knowing everything. You have to cross mistakes off the list. You got to go out and do it. And so we've been given them a lot of reps, as we are all the young linebackers to go out and just play it.  And every day he's gotten better and better and better. And he just what does he need to do? He needs to continue on the track that he's on and continue to just gain experience and see things.

In Lucas' whole high school career, he was playing over one guy standing near the sideline as a corner. Now he's in the middle of the defense with a lot of traffic around him. That's a that's that's a big change. Now he worked into it from being an outside backer into an inside backer, but we're pleased but he's just got to keep working."

Donald Willis and Josh Aune:  I think that that group is really good. I think Josh and Don are two different players, and they bring different things to the table.  But I like when guys have different skill sets. And so they both been impressive in the spring.

And I think that what I would like to have happen is there'll be a switch in some of the situations. It isn't always necessarily nickel or the base defense, but who's the best guy?

Listen, there's schematic advantages of playing in a nickel. There's schematic advantages of playing base, but also when it could go either way, who's the best guy for the situation? So I've been pleased with them. They'll both be not only at Sam, but also be important in our subpackages when we bring some different personnel groupings in. It's good to get Josh back. He's very detailed. He plays tremendously hard and he's strong. Don has really come a long way in terms of the execution of the details of the defense. He has some innate playmaking ability and some great twitch. And so between those two guys, I've been pleased with the spring."

Devon Williams: Dev is a little bit smaller than a lot of the guys in the group, but I don't view that as a negative when I say that. I mean he's like 217 pounds. It isn't like he's a small guy, but we have some big guys. He can run and he's athletic and he can change direction. And he's in the early portions of his development as a linebacker. In high school, it was more of just like, there's the ball, go get it. And that isn't necessarily how we're structured here. But you see flashes. He had a run through at a recent practice where he would had a nice tackle for loss. So I've been pleased with his development. He's got to keep working. He he should provide tremendous value for us on special teams. He adds depth, and if he can beat out one of the older guys, he's certainly going to be able to step up and play with the older guys. If he does that, then that's good for us. But I think he's got a very bright future.

Maverick Baranowski: Maverick should still be sitting in high school history class pondering the American Revolution. But he is an early enrollee. He's got a frame to grow. I like how he's moved. He's flashed physicality. And he's got natural key and diagnose ability. And that's a good thing as it can be developed it can be taught and improved. But then sometimes you get guys who just have a really good knack for it, and he's got a really good knack for it. So I think he's gonna have a bright future like Dev."

Make no mistake about it, the fifth-year Georgia linebacker has a slight lead heading into the first week of fall camp over Cody Lindenberg for that Will linebacker position. The light came on in November, he continued to stay healthy through the spring and summer and now he's ready to try and earn the role in the fall camp. That being said, I wouldn't be shocked to see Oliver and Lindenberg rotate early on in the season depending on the skill set of the opposing offense, but Oliver has a chance to finally play 400+ snaps this fall. 

Can Sori-Marin elevate his play to another level without Jack Gibbens?

We saw last year that when Mariano has a guy next to him that he trusts to do his job, he can play a lot quicker, faster and just better. Now he's going to have more inexperienced guys beside of him, but he's going to need to elevate his level of play to be the playmaker while the other guys continue to get their feet underneath him. In his final season, I'd love to see it. 

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