LWOS has presented the best returning 2024 linebackers of the Big 12, Big Ten, and the ACC. As the Power Four is rounded out, we evaluate the best SEC linebackers returning this season. Some of the most prolific players of the past come from the SEC, such as Alabama’s C.J. Moseley, Takeo Spikes from Auburn, and Florida’s Jevon Kearse. In last season’s linebacker preview, several went on to the NFL, like Alabama’s Dallas Turner, who is already projected to make a difference for the Minnesota Vikings. Rams rookie Omar Speights was featured from LSU. He likely has the best chance to make the 53-man roster out of their 16 undrafted free agents.
This year is no easier a task to select the best, as the crop of worthy linebackers is vast. Taken into consideration is the fact that Texas and Oklahoma will be joining the conference, and bringing with them additional talent to the position. However, as with the other conferences, any of their players will be joining for the first time, and thus are not truly returning. However, they will get a shout-out later in the article.
3. Deontae Lawson – Alabama
Despite missing three games last season, Deontae Lawson ranked second on his team in tackles with 67. He had 5.5 tackles for a loss and three sacks. Lawson was a semifinalist for the Dick Butkus Award, given to the outstanding linebacker in the country. He is already on the award’s watchlist ahead of the season’s kickoff.
This year, Lawson’s facing several firsts. He will be playing for a new head coach, Kalen DeBoer, who replaced legendary Nick Saban. The Mobile, AL native will also be learning a new defensive scheme, and new terminology, wearing the new in-helmet communication system, and wearing the number zero for the first time. On top of all that change, his old linebacker coach Coleman Hutzler took off to become defensive coordinator at Mississippi State.
It was rumored that Lawson might jump to the NFL, following Saban’s retirement, but he decided to return. He was somewhat philosophical about all of it at a post-practice press conference. “My biggest decision for coming back is just competing for a national championship and just bettering myself,” Lawson said. “With the number, it’s a new era, it’s a new beginning for myself and that’s how I look at it, I’m just being myself,”
Pro Football Focus (PFF) has ranked the entire Alabama linebacker corp in the top 10 in all of college football.
2. Jamon Dumas-Johnson – Kentucky
Before transferring to Kentucky from Georgia, Jamon Dumas-Johnson missed the Bulldogs’ final five games with a broken arm. However, he is still listed in a majority of 2024’s preseason profiles, not only for linebackers but for players in general. Perhaps, it’s his play in the previous two seasons that have garnered such praise.
He too was a Butkus Award finalist, in 2022. In the process of helping his Dawgs win their second consecutive national championship, Dumas-Johnson racked up 70 tackles, nine for a loss, and four sacks. After three seasons in Athens, he has 126 career tackles, 17 for a loss, 9.5 sacks, and one interception. Additionally, he was named first team All-American by The Sporting News and ESPN.
“Pops”, as he’s called, was recruited by Kentucky from high school in Hyattsville, MD. That made an impact as to where he landed after hitting the transfer portal. He felt a connection with the Wildcats defensive coordinator Brad White. “He’s the only coach who sat down for 30 minutes to an hour and just talked ball to see if I really wanted to be at Kentucky,” Dumas-Johnson said in a press conference. “Going back into the portal drove me here remembering what he did.” Perhaps the Cats like a fighter too. For Georgia, he started in 24 of the 38 games in which he played, including nine playing through a foot injury in 2023.
1. Harold Perkins Jr. – LSU
This Bengal Tiger is at the top of every preseason profile list whether targeting linebackers or all players. Harold Perkins Jr. made his impact on Baton Rouge from the time he stepped on campus. As a true freshman in 2022, he placed second among all FBS linebackers with 18 quarterback knockdowns, a combination of sacks and hits. He is the Swiss army knife among linebackers excelling as a pass rusher, ability to cover passes, and all-around athlete.
Perkins comes to the Bayou naturally, hailing from New Orleans, LA., where he was a national top 10 recruit. In both seasons at LSU, he was on the second-team Coaches All-SEC team and proved to be adept in the classroom as well. making the All-SEC Academic Honor Roll. The other accolades in 2022 are too lengthy to mention here. Suffice it to say he was on almost every Freshman All-American list out there.
He has already amassed 147 career tackles, 82 solo, 26 for a loss, 13 sacks, and two interceptions. Additionally, he shows versatility, playing middle to outside linebacker, with the ability to rush off the edge. Perkins comes into 2024, playing for a new defensive coordinator Blake Baker, who helped Missouri win 11 games last year. Heading into 2024, Baker believes all Perkins has done is look like the best linebacker in College Football. “Harold Perkins is an ascending player. “I don’t think he’s scratched the surface still of where he’s going to be,” Baker said after practice to the press
The Red River Gang
As they accept Texas and Oklahoma into the fold, the SEC saw fit to preserve the Red River Classic, as well they should. That’s the historic meeting of the arch-rival neighbors. The two did not escape bringing quality linebacker talent into the conference on their way in.
Danny Stutsman, a Sooner linebacker, is a throwback to some. He comes in at 6’-4” and 241 pounds and his stats are off the charts. In his two seasons in Norman, Stutsman amassed 267 tackles, 28 for a loss, seven sacks, and three interceptions. He was first-team All-Big 12, and a Lombardi Award semifinalist in 2023.
His Longhorn Counterpart is Jaylan Ford. He additionally comes laden with accolades from 2023. He was also a Butkus Award semifinalist and first-team All-Big 12 by the coaches, Phil Steele, and the Associated Press. This four-year linebacker has NFL draft stock that’s value is through the roof.
The fireworks are about to start, in what promises to be the most interesting college football season yet. This is an understatement because there are no words to describe the 2024 College Football season.
