Originally published Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 12:00 AM

This linebacker class lacks sure-fire studs

Position summary There's a chance this draft could be the fourth in a row with at least three linebackers taken in the first round, but...

José Miguel Romero

Seattle Times staff reporter

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Top linebackers
Rk	Pos	Player	College	Ht	Wt	Comment
1.	OLB	Keith Rivers	USC	6-2	241	Plays the ukulele, and is a pretty good football player, too.
2.	ILB	Jerod Mayo	Tennessee	6-1	242	Could be picked late in the first round.
3.	OLB	Quentin Groves	Auburn	6-3	259	Perhaps a hybrid linebacker/rush end.
4.	ILB	Dan Connor	Penn State	6-3	231	"Linebacker U" product can play all three LB positions.
5.	ILB	Curtis Lofton	Oklahoma	6-0	246	157 total tackles were third in the nation last season.

Position summary

There's a chance this draft could be the fourth in a row with at least three linebackers taken in the first round, but overall, this class is devoid of many top-level prospects.

"Decent depth, a little below average," said Rob Rang, senior draft analyst for nfldraftscout.com. "Not terrible, but not as good as a typical year."

Rivers is considered the best choice of the group. He wore the fabled No. 55 jersey at USC and appears to have lived up to its reputation, as the number is traditionally assigned to the cream of the crop of linebackers at the football powerhouse. Others who wore it: Junior Seau, Willie McGinest and Chris Claiborne, all currently in the NFL.

Seahawks slant

Barring anything unforeseen, it's another season of Lofa Tatupu in the middle with Julian Peterson and Leroy Hill on the outsides. Two Pro Bowlers and a solid young player. Translation: This group of starters is about as good as it gets in the league.

Even though the Seahawks lost a couple of capable backups, Niko Koutouvides and Kevin Bentley, in free agency, those losses should be offset by the return of D.D. Lewis, who was once a starter in his first Seahawks tenure, and role players Lance Laury and Will Herring. Those three will be major contributors on special teams.

The team has a need for a backup middle linebacker with Koutouvides gone, so look for Seattle to address that at some point in the draft and if not, most certainly with undrafted free agents.

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