All four were first-team all-conference selections last fall. Two of them were selected as their conference’s Defensive Player of the Year. A third was his conference’s Linebacker of the Year. Two of them played for conference champions.
Now, all of them — Neville Hewitt, Mike Hull, Jeff Luc and Zach Vigil — have to prove themselves all over again.
“I dont’ think any of us have mentioned (it) to each other, but I think we still have that edge about us that we went undrafted even though we did very well our senior seasons,” Luc said. “At the end of the day we get along and we play together and we learn together.”
The four rookies are among the 10 linebackers on the roster, a group that includes five returning players and veteran free agent acquisition Spencer Paysinger
Going by recent history and doing quick math, there’s a chance that at least one of the rookie free agents will make the 53-man roster. And the possibility of there being more shouldn’t be discounted.
Again, these are all proven performers. Perhaps the measurables weren’t there for them to get drafted, but the tape doesn’t lie.
It’s not by accident that Hewitt (Conference USA) and Vigil (Mountain West) were named conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2014, that Hull was the Big Ten’s Linebacker of the Year, or that all four of them made at least 123 tackles last fall.
Head Coach Joe Philbin has praised the group of rookie linebackers on more than one occasion since they signed with the Dolphins after the draft, and singled them out in June as young players who had stood out during the offseason program.
