If you are looking for reasons why Leslie County was 3-8 in 2018 look away from the linebacking corp. At least two of the LBs, Preston Spurlock and today’s feature, Class of 2020, Spencer Napier, were splendid patrolling the second level.
We have written about Spurlock’s prodigious tackling numbers, particularly his numbers of plays made in the offensive backfield. It would appear the middle-linebacker in the formation, Spencer Napier, wasn’t exactly twiddling his thumbs on Friday nights.
The two linebackers, Napier and Spurlock, may comprise two of the better run-stoppers in the 2A classification. Napier, for his part in 2018, registered 106 tackles over the 11 games in which he played.
When looking at the 5-11, 240-pound fire-hydrant, one can easily see why he might be difficult to dig out of the hole. Napier dead-lifts 465-pounds, back squats 475-pounds, and power-clean a cool 255. He can run a little bit too, clipping his 40-yard dash time in 4.9 seconds, which isn’t blistering fast for a linebacker but for a MLB who weighs 240-pounds? Well, it’s not exactly slow either.
Napier is a guy who reminds a lot of people of former All-American linebacker, Keith DeLong. DeLong played at the University of Tennessee in the 80s before starting on a Super Bowl Champion 49er’s squad.
Like Napier, Keith DeLong was a 4.9, forty guy who played in the 240-pound range. Napier and DeLong share another similarity. Napier also possesses the sixth-sense, football IQ which seems to always leave him in tackling range of the ball-carrier seemingly every play.
Napier and Spurlock are charged with doing something about a defense which was quite porous in 2018. Leslie County allowed 376 points over its eleven games just last year. The Eagles also permitted opponents to rush for over 2,000 yards in the eleven contests, another number which has to be alleviated.
All of that aside, the Eagles are still loaded for bear at the LB-post. It will be fun to see what these two do in 2019 for a program looking to return to its prior glory with the talent to do just that.
This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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