Illinois Football: Projected Defensive Depth Chart
LB James Crawford
Next: CB Jaylen Dunlap
The final projected starting linebacker for the Illinois football team is junior James Crawford.
Crawford is a thinner linebacker that is pretty quick and can cover a lot of players most linebackers cannot.
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When Crawford was coming out of high school he wasn’t looked at as a linebacker. Most recruiting sites had him pegged as a strong safety.
Well Illinois had different plans for this talented player.
The Illini didn’t have to fight through a bunch of schools to get Crawford though. He was only rated as a 2-star recruit that had scholarship offers from Samford, Northwestern, Boise State and Illinois.
The Illini nabbed Crawford and they got a good one.
Crawford got to see some action on defense last season, which was the first year he would see extended time. He managed to have 36 total tackles and a forced fumble on the season.
Crawford has a different role this year. He is the old man among the projected starting linebackers so he is going to have to be a leader to some extent.
This season I look for Crawford to be used in a lot of coverage situations. He is lighter and quicker than the other linebackers so hopefully he is a major mismatch to opposing teams.