Towering over their competition, senior linebackers Karlos Dansby and Dontarrious Thomas anchor the Auburn defense.
Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said the two linebackers are the best he has ever seen, but the real difference is their height, with Dansby at 6-foot-5 and Thomas at 6-foot-4.
“Karlos and Dontarrious are as two good of linebackers that you will ever be around in college football,” Tuberville said. “I have coached several linebackers who have gone on to the NFL and were successful, but the thing these guys bring to the table is their height.”
Tuberville coached NFL linebackers Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens and Jesse Armistead of the Washington Redskins. He said those are two of the best linebackers in the NFL, but are just over six feet tall, not giving them the same advantage Dansby and Thomas have.
“Karlos and Dontarrious have height, speed and good football intelligence,” Tuberville said. “They control both sides of the ball. You can’t get much better than Karlos and Dontarrious.”
Both linebackers also were praised by the national media. ESPN The Magazine called them “the nation’s best linebacking tandem.” Dansby and Thomas both garnered preseason All-Southeastern Conference honors and were selected to the Butkus Award watchlist. Dansby also earned preseason first-team All-American honors from numerous publications and was named a semi-finalist for the Butkus award.
Thomas said he and Dansby rely on each other for support during games.
“It’s a great opportunity to play with him,” Thomas said. “He’s a guy who helps me and is the focal point of our defense – he’s a playmaker.”
Dansby leads the team with 47 tackles (eight for loss), while Thomas is second with 41 (six for loss). The two are even with four quarterback hurries and one forced fumble a piece, but there is one area where Thomas lacks – sacks. Thomas has yet to record a sack, while Dansby already has four.
“I’m ready to get me one [a sack],” Thomas said. “Hopefully I’ll be in the position to get one and take full advantage of it.”
Thomas said LSU’s offense as a whole seems to have no weakness. He hopes Auburn can scheme to confuse LSU.
“We’re going to try to give them a different look and try not to let them know where we’re coming from,” he said.
LSU coach Nick Saban said controlling the Auburn defense will be a difficult task for the Bayou Bengals on Saturday night.
“Their defense is probably as good as any in the country,” Saban said. “Dansby and Thomas are probably the best two linebackers that I’ve seen anywhere on any team for a while, and they’ve got an excellent overall defense.”
LSU offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth said playing against a team with two great linebackers is challenging. He said it is harder to double team the defensive linemen knowing the linebackers are also a threat to get into the backfield.
“If he’s really good and talented, that makes it tough for you to get to him and it makes your job harder,” Whitworth said. “Both of them are very big linebackers and very successful linebackers.
“We’re not going to worry about individualizing anybody on their defense. We want to have success as an overall offense so that’s going to be our goal and that’s what we’re going to do.”