Sports Buzz: Dolphins Linebacker Situation | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Sports Buzz: Dolphins Linebacker Situation

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DOLPHINS NOTES

### Philip Wheeler said today that he's more comfortable playing and tackling with a cast on his hand than he was a week ago and expects to play Sunday. Koa Misi is expected to miss the game with a sprained ankle, with Jason Trusnik filling the middle linebacker job in his absence.

Trusnik not only never received any major college offers to play college football, he didn’t land any Division 2 offers either.

“I didn’t think anything was going to work out with football,” said Trusnik, who attended Division III Ohio Northern and is certified to teach pre-kindergarten through third grade. "I thought I would get a good education and get a job.”

But something interesting happened along the way. He became a Division III All-American at Ohio Northern, was signed by the Jets as a free agent and eventually ended up a Dolphin.

His growth as a linebacker has been “considerable,” Philbin said.

Trusnik has made 15 career starts, 10 of them with the Browns in 2009. “Everybody wants to be a starter in the league,” he said.

What stand outs about Trusnik, according to linebacker coach Mark Duffner, is his competitiveness, toughness and how well he prepares himself.

“You are going to get everything he's got from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head,” Duffner said. “He’s a physical player and over his career, he's gotten to be a pretty instinctive player.”

### Jelani Jenkins will replace Dannell Ellerbe at weakside linebacker.

When former general manager Jeff Ireland drafted Jenkins in the fourth round in 2012, he envisioned a player who could be an asset in pass coverage on third down, potentially more. Jenkins flashed those skills Sunday, when he stuck closely to the Patriots tight ends and running backs.

Jenkins was a track star in high school in Olney, Md., and was both a Parade All-American and the nation’s No. 1 linebacker prospect when he entered UF. But as the Dolphins’ shortest linebacker (6-0), he has had to prove he can hold up against the run, which has been a question.

“As a linebacker, you want to be effective on all downs and that’s one thing I’ve had to prove,” he said. “I think my [run defense] has improved.”

Duffner said what helped Jenkins against New England is that “he played fast. That’s what we want him to do.”

### Philbin said today new linebacker Kelvin Sheppard has picked up the system well. He graded out significantly below average against the run in Pro Football Focus ratings the past two NFL seasons (for the Bills in 2012 and Colts in 2013) but was very good against the run as a rookie for Buffalo in 2011 after being drafted in the third round from LSU.

“I’m a very physical linebacker,” he said. “I love getting downhill against the run. This offseason, I worked my butt off on my third down coverage.” He said he “and some of my former teammates are still trying to figure out” why he was cut by the Colts last month.

### One wild card in the equation is Chris McCain, who came to the Dolphins as a linebacker but played mostly defensive end in the opener, when he collected a sack in 15 defensive snaps. He returned from illness today and said he split time between linebacker and defensive end in Thursday's practice.

“He’s shown flashes of productive play at outside linebacker,” Duffner said. “The more we can get him repetitions, the more we will see improvement. He’s continuing to get opportunities.”
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"Trusnik not only never received any major college offers to play college football, he didn’t land any Division 2 offers either".

He now happens to be in his 9th NFL season (3 with the NY Jets, 2 with Cleveland and 4 in Miami) and has played in 94 NFL games. He also got promoted to the role as a Miami Team Captain - responsible for leading the Special Teams unit. While others have superior athletic skills and natural talent, Jason Trusnik is a quiet achiever to not only have survived in the NFL but now being given the opportunity to start as mike LB. I'm rooting for him to succeed. Good luck Trus - one of the obvious good guys on the team.
 
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need a big day from this group. im still scared to death of trusnik playing. hopefully he proves me wrong. I like Jenkins and think he will do fine. gotta step up. wish tripp was playing
 
i wonder about the tackling? Spiller is elusive..
 
Would like to see McCain in there at SAM and against Buffalo's run game, his proficiency on blowing up lead blockers from what I saw in preseason with great technique and a surprising level of violence, I could see him being important in helping limit their yards on the ground.
 
sinPHIN said:
need a big day from this group. im still scared to death of trusnik playing. hopefully he proves me wrong. I like Jenkins and think he will do fine. gotta step up. wish tripp was playing
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Same here, I have a feeling that they will test this group cover skills, and Bills have a lot of speed. And EJ is not Vick but he can make plays with his legs. This is the match up that bothers me.
 
I've been high on Jenkins for a bit now and this is a great chance to show us where he 's at. Hell, it could be a blessing in disguise losing ellerbee and getting Jenkins in vs Bills. His extra gear of speed ellerbee doesn't seem to have could be helpful.
 
Maybe, just maybe, knowing he hast the cast will make Wheeler focus more on his fundamentals when making a tackle.
 
Ruckus45 said:
I've been high on Jenkins for a bit now and this is a great chance to show us where he 's at. Hell, it could be a blessing in disguise losing ellerbee and getting Jenkins in vs Bills. His extra gear of speed ellerbee doesn't seem to have could be helpful.
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Ellerbe is slow, runs 4.9 40 compared to Jenkins who runs 4.65 40. If anything it adds more speed to the linebacking corp. IMO, right now, Jenkins is our best coverage linebacker I'm just not sure how he'll hold up against the run.
 
zachblitz54 said:
Maybe, just maybe, knowing he hast the cast will make Wheeler focus more on his fundamentals when making a tackle.
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Or he could just keep trying to tackle people with his shoulders and not use his arms like he has his whole career. Wheeler not playing wouldn't be a terrible thing...would help give some of the linebackers some rest and help special teams but Wheeler's a liability on the field.
 
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