Virginia football position preview: Linebacker

Clint Sintim admits the weeks leading into last December’s early signing period were not easy.
“It was stressful times, for sure,” the Virginia linebackers coach said.
The Cavaliers were in a fight to fend off every late-arriving suitor for Essex linebacker Kam Robinson, who’d been verbally committed to the Hoos since the previous summer, but gained aggressive interest from Florida State and South Carolina as signing day neared.
Robinson even took a visit to Tallahassee in December only to, in the end, ultimately stick with Sintim — Robinson’s lead recruiter — and the Cavaliers.
He inked with UVa, becoming the lone top-10 prospect in the Commonwealth — per 247Sports’ rankings — in the recruiting class of 2023 to sign with a Virginia school.
“He had a lot of opportunities to go other places,” Sintim said, “and he chose to remain here at Virginia because he believed in Coach [Tony] Elliott, the staff and that he’ll have an opportunity here to do all the things that maybe I did when I was a player and go to the next level. So, we’re super excited for him.”
And through the first week and a half of training camp, the 6-foot-2, 227-pounder has already impressed Elliott. The second-year coach mentioned Robinson first when asked about which freshmen were off to strong starts during drills.
So, it’s not outlandish to envision the rookie linebacker contributing this coming fall, though, he’ll have to push and overcome veterans James Jackson, Josh Ahern and Lex Long as well as sophomore Stevie Bracey throughout the rest of the month to earn playing time on defense.
“There’s no question athletically that [Robinson] can,” push them, Elliott said, “and I think everybody on our practice field sees it and knows that athletically he can. It’s going to be a function of, can he pick up the scheme?
“Because at that position,” Elliott said, “you’ve got to make so many calls and so many checks. … It’s going to be a function of how much he can absorb and how far we can get him to the point where he can function on his own, because at that position it’s tough to have your [middle linebacker] being told what to do. He’s got to tell everyone else what to do.”
We begin our Virginia football position previews with a look at the Cavaliers' quarterbacks.
It’s why Bracey said he spent the offseason studying up on the defense. He wanted to go into the preseason with a strong understanding of the system.
Bracey, who in his own right was heavily sought after as a recruit the year before, appeared in seven games last season and most notably registered a five-tackle effort against Miami.
“With defense, not a lot changes from the base calls,” Bracey said, “but when we add new stuff, that’s when it becomes a challenge. So, I spent a lot of time in the playbook between the spring and the summer and that was the one thing I feel like I struggled with a little bit last year. You can’t play confident if you don’t know what you’re doing, so being able to get in the playbook and really know what I’m doing and what everyone else is doing, it’s definitely added to my confidence.”
We continue our Virginia football position previews with a look at the defensive line, which is expected to be one of the team's biggest strengths.
Bracey said he and Robinson have played some next to each other during the preseason with the second-team defense. So, while the pair might be UVa’s linebacker duo of the future, they haven’t moved past the older backers yet.
Jackson racked up 60 tackles last season and was steady while playing alongside former three-time All-ACC choice Nick Jackson, who has since transferred to Iowa. Ahern was hurt this past spring, but is healthy now and has four years of experience under his belt.
“When I came into this role last year,” Sintim, who slid from defensive line coach to linebackers coach when Elliott retained him, said, “Nick Jackson was the pinnacle of the linebacker room. That was clear-cut. He was already an all-conference player two years prior and he was productive and everyone on the team knew that.
“This year, it’s a little bit different,” Sintim said. “James has had some success. Ahern is a veteran guy. Stevie has played a lot. Trey [McDonald] played a lot in the spring and then there’s Kam and there’s all these different pieces and I think as camp goes, it’ll kind of solidify who is who but collectively they’re competing and working, so we’ve got a good group.”
We continue our Virginia football position previews with a look at the Cavaliers' defensive backs.
Sintim said he’d be fine with playing as many as four of the linebackers in a rotation, but that defensive coordinator John Rudzinski has the final decision on defensive personnel.
“But the beautiful thing about being a linebacker is,” Sintim said, “while there’s two guys on the field at a time, there’s also going to be a bunch of guys who can contribute on special teams and those guys who are on special teams have to be impact players.”
As for the role of Robinson, the former four-star recruit, Sintim said Robinson’s preseason performance will determine his game responsibilities.
“We’re still learning who Kam is as a football player,” Sintim said, “a competitor and a student-athlete. Thus far, he’s been great. He came in the summer and, athletically, he’s competing at a high level. He’s been able to somewhat manage the playbook from what we see, but we’ll see.”