Previous Breakdowns: Defensive Line

BALTIMORE, MD - In the second of a seven-part series breaking down the 2014 Johns Hopkins football team, HopkinsSports.com takes a look at the Blue Jay linebackers. While newcomers to the program may make an impact this season, the breakdown includes only returning players.

Don't Be Confused: Before looking at personnel, lets chat about the Blue Jays' defensive scheme. Under the direction of defensive coordinator Mickey Rehring, Johns Hopkins will once again employ a 4-4-3 alignment. In this system, JHU's outside linebackers are referred to as strong safeties. The players lining up at strong safety for the Blue Jays are part of the linebacking crew not the secondary.

Who's Back: A trio of starters are back for the Blue Jays this season in senior Hani Annabi and juniors Keith Corliss and Brady Watts; the trio is experienced, active and accomplished.

Annabi quietly led the team in tackles last season with 53, including 4.0 for losses and a pair of sacks. On a defense that rotated a number of players and counted 14 individuals with 25 or more tackles last season, Annabi was the only player on the team with 50 or more stops on the year.

Corliss and Watts form a dynamic junior duo that should anchor the defense for the next two years. From his spot in the middle, Corliss finished third on the team in tackles (46) last season despite missing three games with an injury. From his position on the outside, Watts totaled 35 tackles in 10 games a year ago and specializes in making plays behind the line of scrimmage as eight of his 35 tackles went for losses.

Likely to Emerge: Sophomore Jack Campbell led all JHU freshmen with 27 tackles last season despite playing in just eight games - his 27 stops were the most of any player on the team who didn't start a game last season.

Keep an Eye on: Senior Chris Ibrahim makes the move from the secondary to strong safety after posting 35 stops a year ago. Juniors Joe Trumbetti and Sebastian Edwards should also see time at SS after combining for 28 tackles in 2013. Sophomores Rob Gorman and Pat Runger combined to play in 15 games as freshmen last season and appear poised to take on a more prominent role this season.

Who's Gone: All-Everything SS John Arena took his 48 tackles, 9.0 tackles for losses, 4.0 cumulative GPA and more than $25,000 in postgraduate scholarships from the National Football Foundation and NCAA off to medical school. There's no question the Blue Jays have a talented crew of returning linebackers, but Arena, who graduated a semester early with a degree in neuroscience, was just as smart on the field as he was in the classroom and that will be difficult to replace.

Numbers to Know
2 - The number of seniors in the initial two-deep for the Blue Jays at linebacker. While there is experience at linebacker, this is generally a young group that will only get better and should be the nucleus of the defense for the next couple years.

27 - Tackles last season by Jack Campbell, the most of any player who didn't start a game and the most among all freshmen on the team.

134 - Combined tackles a year ago by returning starters Hani Annabi, Keith Corliss and Brady Watts.

- Pride and Poise -