2021 Fall Camp Preview: Who starts next to Nate Landman at inside linebacker?

BOULDER — Fall camp is on the way.

The University of Colorado hasn’t announced when, exactly, camp will start this season, but the first week of August is typically a safe guess. With about one month left until the 2021 Colorado Buffaloes football team hits the grass for the first time, we can start looking ahead to the biggest expected storylines of August.

In the first of 10 stories previewing what’s on the way, we’re digging into one of the most competitive position battles on the team: inside linebacker.

While Nate Landman has solidified himself among the best of the best at the position both in the nation and in Colorado football history, the other starting job is up for grabs.

Senior Akil Jones held down the starting job since the middle of the 2019 season, but he entered the transfer portal in January. When he was injured and missed the Arizona game last season, junior Jon Van Diest filled in.

By the end of the regular season, Jones had played 229 defensive snaps, Van Diest had played 85 snaps and junior Quinn Perry played 40.

But the competition isn’t just about Van Diest and Perry; a couple of young linebackers could be ready to see the field and the Buffs also added two intriguing veterans from the transfer portal over the offseason.

At least five players will be in a horse race for the second starting inside linebacker… assuming that Nate Landman is ready to return from a torn Achilles’ tendon sustained in December.

That’s where we’ll start.

What should we expect from Nate Landman?

When Landman tore his Achilles during the Utah game in the final week of the 2020 regular season, Colorado hadn’t lost a game yet.

But without Landman, Colorado blew a lead against the Utes before being blown out by Texas in the Alamo Bowl.

The question now is when Landman will be back on the field and how long it will take him to shake off the rust.

During spring ball, CU coaches were optimistic that he would be back in time for the start of the season and potentially even the start of fall camp. In an interview with the Pac-12 Network during CU’s Spring Showcase in late April, Landman hinted that he was already back to 90-95% healthy, despite being just five months removed from the injury.

“I’m excited to be back healthy come summer,” Landman said.

It’s fair to be skeptical about Landman’s quick recovery, and he admitted during the interview that getting from 90% health to 100% is the toughest part of the process, but there’s reason to be optimistic about his contributions early in the 2021 season.

When Landman does get back, Colorado will have one of the most impactful defensive players in the country at its disposal.

While Landman still has plenty of room to grow in coverage—he gave up 17 receptions on 22 targets in 2020, which were good for 8.9 yards per catch—he earned a spot as a Butkus Award finalist thanks to his ability to diagnose run plays and beat the running back to the hole. In five games, Landman made 53 tackles, with nine of them going for a loss, while only missing two tackles all season.

And despite his lack of plus cover skills, Landman can still be productive on third downs; on 47 pass-rushing attempts in 2020, Landman converted 10 of them into pressures, including four sacks. Don’t ignore his contributions to CU’s breakout pass rush a year ago.

How can Colorado complement Nate?

As mentioned above, Landman is an all-star run-stuffer and blitzer, but his cover skills are nothing special.

The easy answer to the question is to throw the guy with the best cover skills possible next to Landman and try to mask his lone weakness. This isn’t necessarily the wrong answer, but there are other factors in the equation.

Here’s the big one: Colorado runs a system that requires every front-seven defender to defend the run in one gap. (For example, the nose tackle will either defend the running lane to the left or right of the center, depending on the play call and how the offense is aligned.) So if one defender doesn’t fulfill his responsibility, either because he’s beaten by an offensive lineman or because he doesn’t know his responsibility, the opposing running back could have a wide open hole with nobody in position to stop him until he reaches the secondary.

An Athlon Sports Preseason All-American like Landman can cover up some mistakes from his teammates in the running game, but consistent leakages could spell doom for a team that’s built from the trenches out like Colorado.

These types of leakages were one of the biggest problems for Colorado in its 55-23 Alamo Bowl loss to Texas and in the loss against Utah, thanks in large part to the inexperienced linebackers who filled in for Landman.

Check out the first run in the clip below. It isn’t the cleanest example, but watch how Quinn Perry stumbles through his gap, opening up a running lane for Texas running back Bijan Robinson. (Take note of how defensive lineman Mustafa Johnson, Colorado’s most impactful loss of the offseason, just about covered up for the mistake, too.)

In theory, a good cover linebacker would be the perfect match for Landman, but meeting a baseline level of production in the running game is going to be non-negotiable.

During spring camp, first-year inside linebackers coach Mark Smith told reporters that despite the way the game is changing to necessitate more sideline-to-sideline speed and cover ability out of the linebackers, the DNA of the position still starts in the run game.

“We still build a foundation from the ground up about backers attacking the line of scrimmage, dominating the run game,” Smith said. “You have to be big enough and bad enough to be able to play downhill.”

Landman is the definition of big and bad, which could cover for a slight deficiency for his partner, but it’s clear that Smith is looking for a run-stuffer first, who ideally has cover skills, too.

Who are the competitors?

Colorado has plenty of options at inside linebacker, and there’s a good chance that there will be a deep rotation at the position in 2021. In a perfect world, five or six guys would get in every game, according to Smith.

“I challenged the entire group,” Smith said during spring camp. “I said I don’t want to go into a game and only play two or three guys. I’d love to see five or six guys be playing so we’re fresh and everybody’s at their best all the time.”

While a six-man rotation would be a surprise, Colorado has plenty of options and many of them provide different skill sets. During camp, Karl Dorrell said that he wants to emphasize putting linebackers in positions to do what they’re best at in the coming season.

“We try to figure out what their skillset is, what are they really good at, what are the things that we want to get our guys in position to do that they’re capable of performing,” he said.

So here’s what each of the contenders can provide:

Jon Van Diest – Jr. — Buff fans know Van Diest the best of any of the inside linebackers, save for Nate Landman.

Van Diest started five games for CU in 2019, before Jones took over the starting job, and then started two more in 2020 due to injuries ahead of him on the depth chart. For the past season-and-a-half, Van Diest has served as a very solid No. 3 linebacker, playing 162 total defensive snaps.

Like Landman, the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Van Diest fits the run-stuffer mold. He knows where to be and when to be there, though he lacks some of Landman’s explosive qualities.

But Van Diest has worked with a speed coach over the offseason, which could help in one of two ways: First, an extra step of speed could be the difference between meeting runners a step downfield of the line of scrimmage and hitting them at or behind the line of scrimmage, which could lead to the first non-sack tackle for loss of his career.

Second, he could take a step forward in coverage, which would make him a nice fit next to Landman, given what he already provides.

With Landman sidelined during spring ball, Van Diest served as the defensive play caller, which only makes the safest option in this group even safer.

Robert Barnes – Jr. — Barnes, at the moment, is the sexy pick to start next Landman.

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound grad transfer came to Boulder from Oklahoma, where he played both safety and linebacker. He was a five-star recruit in 2017 and the No. 27 player and No. 3 safety in the country.

Barnes started 10 games for the Sooners, most of them at safety during his sophomore season in 2018. Over the course of his Oklahoma career, Barnes notched 78 tackles, four pass breakups, two picks and a forced fumble.Barnes couldn’t find consistent work with a consistent national contender, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have been an impact player during that time if he’d started out in Boulder.

One thing that Barnes can absolutely provide is big game experience.  His forced fumble came in a Big 12 Championship Game win over Texas. He put up three tackles in a College Football Playoff Semifinal against Alabama, despite leaving the game with an injury in the second quarter.

Barnes is the favorite to be Colorado’s “MONEY” linebacker (a.k.a. the team’s dime linebacker), a role he started learning early in spring camp. Dorrell also noted during camp that he’s capable of playing in the alleys, which likely means he’s a candidate to play the STAR position in heavier packages.

How much he’s able to learn could be the biggest factor in determining his role in Boulder in 2021.

Jack Lamb – So. — Lamb, who is a graduate transfer with three years of eligibility remaining, is an absolute wild card.

In 2018, Lamb was the No. 2 inside linebacker in his recruiting class according to Rivals and he decided to attend Notre Dame. He played in Notre Dame’s dime package in 2019, but a career-threatening hip injury ended his season in early November. Lamb came back the next season but wasn’t able to regain his role and was relegated to special teams work, where he was a key player for the Irish.

At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds with experience in dime packages, Lamb could be a perfect fit next to Landman but plenty of questions remain. Like Barnes, he played for a national contender, so he could be a key piece for CU, despite not having a defensive role last season. But he’s only put 124 defensive snaps on tape, he may have lost some mobility because of the hip injury and he wasn’t on campus for spring ball, which means he’s starting behind the pack in the competition and we haven’t seen him as a Buff or heard coaches’ accounts of his play.

Any result is in play for Lamb, both in 2021 and beyond.

Quinn Perry – Jr. — Perry was the No. 4 inside linebacker for Colorado in 2020, slotting in right behind Van Diest.

Perry transferred to Colorado from a junior college ahead of his junior season and redshirted his first year in Boulder. He was a redshirt junior last year and will keep the same designation in 2021 thanks to the NCAA decision to grant all student-athletes an extra year of eligibility due to Covid-19.

Perry played his first snaps of the season in Week 2 against Stanford. He played 12 snaps on defense and spent all of them in pass coverage, allowing no catches on a single target. But he didn’t see the field again until three weeks later when Akil Jones missed the Arizona game with an injury. He spent more time on the field but was caught out of position a couple of times.

Perry told reporters before the season that the biggest challenge during his transition to Power 5 football was learning the playbook.

This will be a big season for Perry, as he could make a statement if his knowledge of the playbook and feel for the game have improved since we last saw him. With Landman and some of the depth linebackers sidelined during spring ball Perry had plenty of extra reps, which could pay dividends when the season rolls around.

At 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds, Perry is a big linebacker but he’s fluid in his movements. He’s played on the U16, U17, U18 and U20 U.S. National rugby teams, and you can tell when you watch him move.

One more note: When asked this spring what he’s learned from Nate Landman, who grew up in a rugby family, Perry praised him, noting that this biggest thing he learned was to “unleash hell on everybody.”

Marvin Ham II – RFr. — Ham was a 4-star recruit and is entering his third season in Boulder.

We haven’t seen much of ham yet—just three snaps in the game against Utah—but this could be the season that he steps into a role on the defense. Like Perry and Van Diest, he received extra reps during spring ball, which could microwave his development.

Ham’s calling card is his coverage skills. While he’s a long shot to start when the Buffs are in a true 3-4 alignment, he has a very real chance to earn a role in sub packages, either at the MONEY or STAR position.

The question for Ham is whether the time is now, or if he needs another year—or maybe even two—before he’s ready to contribute.

Mister Williams – Fr. — Williams will be a second-year true freshman in 2021.

Last season, he played exclusively on special teams and made his biggest splash against Stanford when he totaled three tackles.

It’s unlikely that Williams will factor into the rotation this season but he’s a name worth knowing, as there’s a chance he breaks out in camp. Coaches have compared his game to that of Robert Barnes.