This is an interesting question, because if there’s one thing our All-SEC linebacking corps is a little deficient in it has to be coverage. Losing Dane Fletcher for the year certainly hurt in this area. Jerod Mayo runs well, but just doesn’t seem to that savvy in coverage. As we’ve discussed many times here, plays like the Cruz touchdown in the Super Bowl are a prime example of this.
Spikes’ shortcomings in the passing game are evident at times but I’m okay with that tradeoff, he makes enough of an impact in the run game that it offsets as far as I’m concerned. If he can just make a couple more plays like he did on the interception in the AFCCG he’ll be fine.
The jury is still out on Hightower but he was rotating in the nickel with Spikes so it’s possible he has some potential there. We’ll have to see how it plays out as he returns to full time.
It would be nice to have a specialist linebacker who can really run and cover. Gary Guyton was almost that guy, but now the closest thing we have is Tracy White. It could very well be an area they address next off-season depending on what their plans with Fletcher are.