Favorite linebackers

[Crazy Cotton]

Watching Erroll Thompson play has made this year a little more bearable. Seems like even in the worst of times we've had talent at the linebacker position. Who were your favorite to watch play?

1. Mario Haggen - Dude played hard on the best and the worst of the Jackie teams. He and Norwood made it worth tuning in.

2. Barrin Simpson - If you never saw Joe Lee's defense when he had the talent he needed to make it work, you missed some fun times.

3. Quinton, KJ, Chris White, Wells, Chaney, Favors, Juan Long, Culberson, Mawhinney, Daniel Boyd. We didn't always win a lot of games but you knew you'd been hit.

 

[Shmuley]

A list of state linebackers should begin with D.D. Lewis and Johnnie Cooks. Warriors.

 

[Bulldog from Birth]

A 2nd tier after those 2 also has to include Greg Favors.

A list of state linebackers should begin with D.D. Lewis and Johnnie Cooks. Warriors.

 

[Russ Wheeler]

A lot of those guys you mention were that hybrid DE/LB types, which we seem to produce a good many of over the years. Which means we're obviously running the right kind of defense for our personnel.

But to answer your question, K.J. Wright and Chris White were my favorite tandem to watch. They were just so fast.

Marc Woodard was another.

 

[dawgstudent]

The other thing about Erroll is he seems to get social media. He says all the right things which makes you endear yourself to him that much more.

 

[ServiceDogg]

Benardrick McKinney and Mario Haggan are probably my favorite linebackers.
I also enjoyed watching Chris White and the Brown Boys (Richie Brown & Beni Brown)

 

[Crazy Cotton]

I got to see Johnnie Cooks play, but I didn't know enough about what I was watching at the time to appreciate it.

 

[MaxwellSmart]

A list of state linebackers should begin with D.D. Lewis and Johnnie Cooks. Warriors.

This. We've had some very good linebackers over the years but Johnnie Cooks was by far my favorite.

 

[Shmuley]

You are endeared to him because he is husky, am I right?

 

[dawgman42]

I'm partial to Marc Woodard, Juan Long, Dwayne Curry, and Wesley Leasy. But so many good ones to choose from over the years.

 

[kired]

I've loved watching Brule this year. That guy plays like a maniac out there.

Wright, White, McKinney and Culberson were my other faves. Cam Lawrence was a heck of LB too.

Great LBs seem to come in pairs. Kind of like they feed off of each other. Brule and Thompson this year. Wright & White, the Browns, the entire 2014 group - for as much as we bitched about 1A and 1B defense, we did have about 5 or 6 legit LBs.

 

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Keo Coleman

 

[tcdog70]

DD only player we had.all sec on a ****** team. Name another LB that had 30 tackles in a game.

 

[thatsbaseball]

DD graduated a year before I got there but for several years after he graduated he lived in Starkville in the off season. Got to know him pretty well when we lived at the same apartment complex one year. Good guy......good times .

 

[thatsbaseball]

Cooks was a freak kinda along the lines of Sweat.

 

[dawgstudent]

You are endeared to him because he is husky, am I right?

Just like the toughskin jeans I used to wear.

 

[thatsbaseball]

Ray Costic has to be way up on the list.

 

[$altyDawg]

Johnnie Cooks was a bad, bad man. Talk about warriors: Go back and watch the 80 Bama game. Those Bama backs and receivers weren't used to getting hit like that. That game was a brutal war, and our D was up to the task!

 

[Puppychow]

James Williams ‘89 and Reggie Stewart ‘90 were tough.

 

[tcdog70]

Ray started out a full back but quickly became a linebacker. He is #2 behind DD then Johnnie Cooks.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

One of the hardest hitting linebackers I ever saw play at Mississippi State was Jeff Walker. Sadly he only got to punt.

 

[boatsandhoes]

I liked Bennie brown’s game a lot.

Gotta give keo Coleman a nod for making forecade **** his pants in the egg bowl.

 

[T-TownDawgg]

I'm still looking for the old Jefferson Pilot footage of Jeff Walker mixing it up with some special teams badass who ended up getting bodyslammed by Jeff WWF style. Jeff got flagged for a UC and 15 yds, but so worth it

 

[Bobby Ricigliano]

The Fourcade that played for Mississippi from 78-81 when Keo was in middle school?

 

[horshack.sixpack]

The other thing about Erroll is he seems to get social media. He says all the right things which makes you endear yourself to him that much more.

His attitude and work ethic will take him far.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I'd slip Marc Woodard in there somewhere.

 

[DawgsOnTheWing]

Cooks, Haggen, Boyd......

 

[Avelso]

Dr. Daniel Boyd. He was at State while i was there and he wasnt our best LB ever he is the epitome of a tough student athlete.

 

[Bulldog Bruce]

It was either the 6-3 Bama Game or it was the Ole Miss Game where Fourcade ended up beating us in Jackson. I remember a running back broke free and Johnie Cooks ran him down and it was not an angle situation. The back had to have at least a 5 yard gap on him. JC ran by other players and caught the guy. It was a jaw dropper.

 

[msudawg1200]

Hometown boy Barrin Simpson

 

[L4Dawg]

A list of state linebackers should begin with D.D. Lewis and Johnnie Cooks. Warriors.

I remember DD with the Cowboys, not at MSU. Cooks' last year was my freshman year at state. He is the best linebacker I've ever seen at MSU. I remember the Miami Hurricane center put him out of the game once, we were in shock. He came back the next play and lined up directly over the center. After that play the center went out of the game, and he didn't return.

 

[dawgman42]

J.J. Grant. Every version of him.

 

[Palos verdes]

Chris White nearly singlehandedly shut down Florida's offense in Gainesville, 2010. He was a machine.

 

[paindonthurt_]

Juan Long

 

[Bucksnort_Dawg]

I’m with Kired on Cam Lawrence. He was an underrated part of that defense. But we have had a plethora of solid linebackers. I wish I would have been able to watch Johnnie Cooks, the stories I hear say a lot about the ball player he was.

 

[was21]

Kri white...you know he ready....ready ready

 

[M R DAWGS]

Greg Favors

 

[boatsandhoes]

my bad- Tom Luke ‘91

 

[msu86]

As a young kid Daniel Boyd is who I would pretend to be in backyard football games. He seemed to be around every tackle.

 

[cowbell88]

Paul Lacoste in the mid 90’s. He was in “beast mode” for most games.