FSU Football Depth Chart: Projecting Post-Spring Starting Lineup
By Kelvin Hunt
Linebackers
Starters: Matthew Thomas, Ro’Derrick Hoskins
Rotation: Dontavious Jackson, Emmett Rice, Adonis Thomas Sh’Mar Kilby-Lane, Josh Brown
The linebacker position has been a problem area for a number of years due to injuries and players either transferring or missing on recruits.
FSU football finally has good depth at the position with redshirt senior Matthew Thomas and redshirt senior Ro’Derrick Hoskins returning as starters this season.
Thomas came on strong the latter part of 2016 and looked like the all-world linebacker recruit FSU recruited out of high school. Hoskins played OK at times last season, but could see his reps decrease with the emergence of sophomores Donatvious Jackson, Emmett Rice and Josh Brown.
Not to mention JUCO linebacker Adonis Thomas who enrolled early this spring. He’s familiar with the scheme as he came from Alabama and should make an impact early.
Sh’Mar Kilby-Lane returns from being academically ineligible, but has missed valuable time with an injury this spring. He very well could be passed up in the rotation, especially if FSU plays a lot of nickel with only two linebackers.
Josh Brown in a player Jimbo Fisher raved about last spring, but he got lost in the shuffle somehow last season. It’ll be interesting to see if he can separate himself if opportunities present themselves.
Let’s not forget four-star linebacker Leonard Warner who’ll be arriving at FSU football this summer.