While will linebacker has always seemed a certainty to be dominated by Keli Lawson, the mike linebacker spot has had one of the most fascinating starting battles in fall camp. It opened as a four-man battle before FCS All-American LB transfer LB Stone Snyder chose to leave the team and move on from college football after not really getting much traction in the battle following his summer arrival.
That left a three-man battle between veteran Alan Tisdale plus younger linebackers Jaden Keller and Jayden McDonald. Early on in fall camp, the younger linebacker had the edge with Brent Pry proclaiming at VT Media Day that Keller and McDonald were the "frontrunners" in the mike LB competition.
The beautiful thing about fall camp though is that there is plenty of time for competition and guys who are behind to step their games up and surge ahead. For Alan Tisdale, he is doing just that.
