Middle linebackers are the center of attention on defense

By Lee Goddard
Caller-Times

George Gongora/Caller-Times

Ray middle linebacker Haskell Hudgens (left) and defensive back Jamin Aleman are two members of a defense which has helped lead the Texans to a 4-0 start this season.

The warning that reaches the linebacker is like an air raid siren going off in his ear. It gets his immediate attention.
   "Crack! Crack! Crack!"
   With that alert, the linebacker knows the offense is trying to execute one of the most brutal blocks on him - the crackback.
   "The first time I got cracked, I got laid out," said Fred Vela, a linebacker at Gregory-Portland High School. "It was a clear shot from the tight end. Straight earhole. A big 6-foot-3 tight end cracked me in the earhole."
   Vela popped back up, but he had just met head-on one of many opportunities an offense can use to take a linebacker out of a play. The crackback - when a receiver or tight end slants in and gives a linebacker a blindside shot - is one of the many obstacles a linebacker can face on a given play.
   In almost any defensive scheme, the linebacker is supposed to be the playmaker. The position lends itself to versatility. A 'backer stuffs the run, drops into pass coverage and can come in on the blitz.
   Of course, that also puts a bullseye on the linebacker, a target who must be contained. So forgive them for feeling a bit detested by the offense.
   "You'd be surprised by how many people come after linebackers just because they hate us," said Flour Bluff's Andy Matakis, who plays linebacker in a 4-3 formation. "All the backs and linemen try to get the linebacker. We're here to make plays. Get the linebacker and you pick up five or six yards. Everybody hates us."
   'I hate linebackers'
   Think Matakis' point isn't valid? Tuloso-Midway running back James Gaitan would gladly list the reasons he dislikes linebackers.
   "I hate linebackers," Gaitan said matter-of-factly. "They twist ankles, bend fingers, poke eyes."
   Matakis said a good linebacker doesn't have to go to extremes, just enough to let his presence be known to the running back.
   And the junior also adds that you don't have to have tremendous physical gifts to excel at the position.
   "It's probably more important to be smart," Matakis said. "You can read the play and be there before the ball is and you can make the tackle. You don't necessarily have to be the biggest person or the fastest person, but if you can get there before the play . . . "
   'He took me out of the play'
   You can make the tackle, to end Matakis' thought. Ray's Haskell Hudgens is usually looking to the guard to take him to the play.
   "I look at his helmet and see where he goes," said Hudgens, who, like Vela, plays in a 5-2 scheme. "If he's going to block me, I'm going to see his facemask heading straight toward me. If he's blocking down, I'll see his earhole. Or if he pulls, he will take me in the direction of the play."
   While the guard may take him in the general direction of the play, there is usually somebody lurking around, ready to take the linebacker out of the play. One way is, of course, the crackback.
   Hudgens, a senior, recalls Parents' Night of his junior year as his first varsity encounter with the crackback. The Texans were facing option-oriented Laredo United, and Hudgens didn't get fair warning of what was moving his way.
   "I was just heading toward the ball and wasn't looking for the receiver coming in for the crackback," Hudgens said. "That's the secondary's job to tell you when a crackback's coming. They (the secondary) get free when the man is coming in, so they have to warn you.
   "Earhole," Hudgens said of where he got hit that night. "But he didn't get me as clean. I recognized it, but late. So he took me out of the play."
   'Get to the ball'
   You would think such a block would make a linebacker want revenge on the receiver, that if he would recognize the crackback, the blocker would be hammered or "blown up." But that's not always the case.
   Hudgens and Vela use the "rip move," an uppercut, to work through the block. Matakis likes to use the rip or the swim move, making a swimming motion to work away from the blocker.
   "Many people might want to blow them up and punish them," Hudgens said. "But that takes you out of the play. You've got to keep yourself free and get to the ball."
   Which brings up another hazard for Hudgens and company - offensive guards. The linebackers seem to have a special hatred toward the guards, who can fire out and, if quick enough, get on a linebacker before he can get in on the play.
   "They know the snap count, so they know when to come off the ball," Matakis said. "By the time you make your read step, they're already on you. If they're big and not as fast, you can take them on up high. But if they're fast, real good guards are going to cut you. If your legs are gone, it's harder to make the play."
   'That's the best feeling'
   If a linebacker shakes through the blocking, he usually has a fair shot at his target: the ball carrier. While linebackers often have earned reputations as hard hitters - Dick Butkus, Jack Lambert and Lawrence Taylor are just a few - the local players don't find that to be the case.
   While bigger linebackers like Hudgens (6-2, 226) and Matakis (6-3, 220) say they must make form tackles more than go for kill shots, the smaller Vela (5-7, 170) frequently thinks knockout.
   "I'll go hit anybody," Vela said. "I do get good open shots. But when I don't get open shots, I make them open. I adjust to where I know I can take them down for sure. My favorite part as a linebacker is when you do have that open shot and take it and you hear the crowd just go, 'Oooh, yeah.' You get up and it's, yeah, you did something. That's the best feeling - knowing that you did it."
   Linebackers can't be one-dimensional, though. While teams will face far more rushing plays at the high school level, it's still important to know pass technique.
   Hudgens, who picked off a pass against King last Friday, will often drop back into zone coverage and play underneath, meaning he's closer to the line than the defensive backs.
   Matakis also can drop into coverage, but that would prevent him from his favorite part of playing linebacker.
   "I love to blitz. It gives me a chance to get more physical," he said. "For some reason, I like going up the middle. It gives a chance for the other defensive linemen to get free. If I do get free, it gives me a chance to chase the play or get my hands in the air and block the pass."
   Still, with all a linebacker has to do, many have found them thrust into the position, using instinct instead of knowledge. Matakis described his first game at linebacker as a shock. Vela's reaction could best be described as disbelief.
   "My reaction after the game was, 'Did I just do this?" Vela said of his first linebacking experience. "I didn't know anything really. I was just thinking I had better learn more for the next time."