Talk about being a multi-dimensional player: Wisconsin Badgers senior Leon Jacobs has undergone a carousel of position changes so far in his Wisconsin career, but in his final year on campus, he finds himself back where he started — at outside linebacker.
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Jacobs came to Wisconsin in the class of 2013 out of Bakersfield, California as a three-star inside linebacker. Wisconsin recruited him to play outside linebacker, and four years later, that's where it looks like he'll end his career.
But the middle of the journey was a little odd — Jacobs switched to middle linebacker after the duo of Marcus Trotter and Derek Landisch graduated, then switched to offense to play fullback to help the Badgers depth there before returning to defense at inside linebacker last year when Chris Orr's season ended early with injury.
Now, it appears he's back to outside linebacker as Wisconsin looks to replace both T.J. Watt and Vince Biegel. Zach Heilprin of Land of Ten (along with most other Wisconsin media attending the Badgers spring practice Thursday) noted the change during individual drills.
Looks like Leon Jacobs has moved back to OLB. So to review: OLB > ILB > FB > ILB > OLB
— Zach Heilprin (@ZachHeilprin) March 30, 2017
Jacobs has been an interesting player for the Badgers over the course of his career. Once a starter at linebacker, he was essentially replaced on the depth chart after a targeting penalty early in the season led to the emergence of Chris Orr.
Jacobs has four career starts and has played in 31 total games in his career. He's totaled 45 total tackles, 5.0 TFLs and 2.0 sacks over that span.
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The Badgers have a tall task ahead of them to replace the production and leadership from Watt and Biegel over the past ew years, but there's no doubt returning Jacobs to the group of young guys at the position will help the Badgers move forward and once again be one of the best defenses in the conference and the country.
