Friday Frosh Watch: 2026 Linebackers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A look at three freshman linebackers who are establishing a name for themselves this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Frosh to Watch</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eli Stevens, Northglenn Norsemen (LB)(Fr.)(42) - Despite only being a freshman, Stevens has been a day-one starter for the Northglenn defense this season and has quickly established himself as one of the more crucial players on the team. Stevens had about as productive a freshman season as he could have hoped for, as he's registered 71 tackles, 6 tackles for a loss, 3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and a pass deflection. Putting on the tape of Stevens' freshman season, you can see he is an extremely physical defender with a high motor, as he always seem to be in position to make a play. Displays tremendous explosiveness out of his stance allowing him to crash downhill and fill his run fits quickly. Shows good form as a tackler, consistently getting his head across the ball carriers core, wrapping up, and driving through contact to finish the tackle. Brings plenty of power and force behind his pads at the point-of-attack when making contact with the ball carrier, routinely stone-walling them at the moment contact is made. Shows adequate hand usage, consistently stacking-and-shedding smaller opposing blockers. Stevens certainly made his presence known this season for the Norsemen and will only get better by the time 2026 rolls around.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1312375' first='Tyler' last='Shaffer'], Wellington Eagles (LB)(Fr.)(9) - Shaffer, arguably, was the best player on the Wellington defense in 2022 despite being a first year starter at 14 years old. Diving into the numbers from Shaffer's freshman season, he accounted for 56 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks, a forced fumble, 2 pass deflections, and an interception. Unfortunately, there's no film available of Shaffer's freshman season, so I won't be able to write up an honest assessment of his traits. Regardless, he's still a talented player, with the numbers from his freshman season supporting that. He'll only get better from here and I'm sure he'll start to garner some recruiting buzz by the time 2026 roles around.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ian Allison, Wellington Eagles (LB)(Fr.)(38) - I'm sure the Eagles have to feel good knowing they've got two freshman contributors from this past season that will be staples of the defense in the next three years to come, as Ian Allison joins his teammate [player_tooltip player_id='1312375' first='Tyler' last='Shaffer'] on this list. Despite not registering as many sacks as Shaffer, some might argue that Allison had the better freshman season in 2022, as he accounted for an impressive 60 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, 2 pass deflections, and an interception. Unfortunately, similar to Shaffer, Allison doesn't have any film available for me to provide a legitimate assessment of his skillset, with how early he is in his prep career probably being why there's no film available of him. With that being said, however, the numbers indicate a highly productive defender that will only grow over the next three years of his prep career. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->