Ranking College Football’s Best Returning Linebackers for the 2026 Season

Brown started all 13 games as a junior in 2025, earned Third-Team All-Big 12 honors, and finished with 93 tackles, 8.5 for loss, and 1.5 sacks. He ranked second on the team in tackles and 11th in the Big 12, and returns as the conference's leading tackler at linebacker among returning players.

With the departures of Max Harris and Riley Wilson, Brown steps into a larger role as Arizona's defensive anchor heading into 2026. Defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales has been direct about his expectations: "Taye Brown is one of the best linebackers in the Big 12, if not the best." Brown has made 168 tackles across 38 career games and has started 24 consecutive games since taking over a full-time role.

Cade Uluave, BYU Cougars

Senior in 2026; 6'1", 235 lbs.
2025: 100 tackles, 12.0 TFL, 3 sacks, 6 PBUs (at California)

Uluave started 11 of 12 games at Cal in 2025, earned First-Team All-ACC honors, and finished fifth in the conference with 100 tackles despite missing time with an injury. He was named ACC Linebacker of the Week after recording a career-high 19 tackles at Virginia Tech, a mark that tied for third nationally in a game that season. Across three seasons with the Bears, he totaled 237 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss, and 6 sacks.

He transferred to BYU for his final season, where new defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga has already identified him as a starter alongside Isaiah Glasker and Siale Esera. Poppinga noted Uluave's pass-rush efficiency stood out immediately: he generated 20 quarterback pressures on just 44 pass-rush snaps at Cal, a 45% pressure rate that would have led BYU's entire defense in 2025. His speed has also drawn attention in spring practice, clocked at 22 miles per hour with pads on.

Drayk Bowen, Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Senior in 2026; 6'2", 232 lbs.
2025: 67 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 4 PBUs

Bowen started all 12 games in 2025 as the team captain and defensive signal-caller for Notre Dame, leading the Irish in tackles for the second straight season. He has 159 career tackles, 9 tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks across 40 games, including 28 starts over three seasons. He forced three fumbles in 2024, including one in the national championship game.

He played through a torn labrum for much of 2025 before undergoing surgery in January. His spring participation has been limited, though he returned to pads in April and is expected at full strength before fall camp. His focus this offseason has shifted toward the mental side of the position, more film work, more communication, and more involvement in organizing the defense before the snap.

Notre Dame will need him healthy and in command of a unit that has the talent to be among the better defenses in the country in 2026.

Ranking the Top 10 Returning College Football Linebackers for 2026

10. Whit Weeks, LSU Tigers

Senior in 2026; 6'3", 223 lbs.
2025: 31 tackles, 3 TFL, 1 sack (8 games)

Weeks earned First-Team All-SEC honors from both the AP and coaches in 2024, finishing second in the conference with 125 tackles and earning SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors twice. A broken ankle suffered against Ole Miss in Week 5 of 2025 limited him to eight games, though he played through it late in the season and enters 2026 at full strength.

He has 205 career tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, and 5 sacks across 32 games, and returns as the permanent team captain of a rebuilt LSU roster under new head coach Lane Kiffin. Weeks played a direct role in shaping that roster, spending much of January recruiting transfer portal targets to Baton Rouge.

His decision to return rather than enter the NFL Draft was driven in part by unfinished business: "I can't leave this place yet. I've got too much left to prove here."

9. Austin Romaine, Texas Tech Red Raiders

Senior in 2026; 6'2", 240 lbs.
2025: 66 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 1 INT (at Kansas State)

Romaine earned Second-Team All-Big 12 honors at Kansas State in 2025 and finished his three-year run in Manhattan with 184 career tackles and 3.5 sacks. His best season came in 2024 when he led the Wildcats with 96 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss, earning Honorable Mention All-Big 12 recognition.

He transferred to Texas Tech this offseason, stepping into the linebacker room alongside returning Big 12 Championship Most Outstanding Player Ben Roberts. Defensive coordinator Shiel Wood, who coached Jacob Rodriguez to the Bednarik and Butkus awards in 2025, is now tasked with developing Romaine. Head coach Joey McGuire said publicly that Wood will "unlock" what Romaine can do.

8. Keaton Thomas, Ole Miss Rebels

Senior in 2026; 6'1", 240 lbs.
2025: 99 tackles, 7 TFL, 1 sack, 1 INT (at Baylor)

Thomas started all 12 games at Baylor in 2025, earning Second-Team All-Big 12 honors after posting 99 tackles, and followed that with a First-Team All-Big 12 season in 2024 when he logged 106 tackles as a true freshman. His 201 tackles across two seasons made him one of the most productive young linebackers in the conference.

He transferred to Ole Miss for his final season, where defensive coordinator Bryan Brown wasted no time setting expectations: "He may be one of the best ones that's been here in a long, long time." Thomas is projected as the starting middle linebacker for a Rebels defense that lost its top four tacklers from 2025 and is counting on him to anchor the rebuild.

7. Ben Roberts, Texas Tech Red Raiders

Senior in 2026; 6'3", 245 lbs.
2025: 90 tackles, 3 TFL, 4 INT, 6 PBUs, 2 forced fumbles

Roberts has started every game he has appeared in across three seasons at Texas Tech, building a career total of 279 tackles and earning Third-Team All-Big 12 honors in 2025. His signature moment came in the Big 12 Championship game against BYU, where he picked off two passes, made five tackles, and earned Most Outstanding Player honors in a 34-7 win.

He arrived in Lubbock as a three-star prospect and won Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2023 after logging 107 tackles, the most by a Texas Tech freshman since 1980. Now entering his senior season alongside transfer Austin Romaine in the linebacker room, Roberts is the veteran anchor of a defense that went 12-2 in 2025 and reached the College Football Playoff.

6. Arion Carter, Tennessee Volunteers

Senior in 2026; 6'1", 235 lbs.
2025: 76 tackles, 6 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 2 PBUs (10 games)

Carter led the SEC with 7.6 tackles per game in 2025 despite battling a foot injury that cost him three games and the bowl. His signature performance came at Mississippi State, where he recorded a career-high 17 tackles and broke up a pass on the final play of overtime to seal the win, tied for the most tackles by a Power Four player in a single game that season. He earned Second-Team All-SEC honors from the coaches and finished with 161 career tackles across 31 games.

He withdrew from the NFL Draft in January and underwent foot surgery shortly after. He is not practicing this spring but is expected at full strength for 2026, when he joins fellow seniors Amare Campbell and Jeremiah Telander in what linebackers coach William Inge has described as one of the most experienced position groups in the SEC.

5. Amare Campbell, Tennessee Volunteers

Senior in 2026; 6'0", 230 lbs.
2025: 103 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 PBU, 1 TD (at Penn State)

Campbell led Penn State in tackles in 2025 with 103 stops, earned First-Team All-Big Ten recognition from the media, and scored a defensive touchdown on a fumble return in Penn State's bowl win over Clemson. Across three seasons at North Carolina and Penn State, he has 193 career tackles and 10.5 sacks, a production profile that made him one of the more coveted linebackers in the transfer portal.

He followed defensive coordinator Jim Knowles from Penn State to Tennessee this offseason, one of four Nittany Lions who made the move to Knoxville. Knowles called the familiarity a meaningful head start: "I know there were some struggles last year on defense, but the year before that they were pretty good, so we're not starting at ground zero."

Campbell joins fellow seniors Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander on a linebacker unit that William Inge, the linebackers coach, has described as one of the most experienced in the SEC.

4. Rasheem Biles, Texas Longhorns

Senior in 2026; 6'1", 220 lbs.
2025: 100 tackles, 17 TFL, 4.5 sacks, 4 PBUs, 2 INT (at Pittsburgh)

Biles led Pitt in tackles in 2025 with 100 stops across 10 games, earned Second-Team All-ACC honors from the Associated Press, and returned both of his interceptions for touchdowns. His 17 tackles for loss ranked third in the ACC. He has 183 career tackles, 10.5 sacks, and 3 interceptions across three seasons with the Panthers.

He transferred to Texas this offseason, where defensive coordinator Will Muschamp has been direct about how the scheme fits him: "He always puts you in the best position to make the play." Biles joins a Longhorns defense built around versatility and multiple fronts, which he described as a natural fit for his skill set.

3. Rolijah Hardy, Indiana Hoosiers

Junior in 2026; 5'11", 227 lbs.
2025: 103 tackles, 10.5 TFL, 8.5 sacks, 2 INT, 5 PBUs

Hardy started all 16 games in Indiana's national championship season, earned Second-Team All-Big Ten honors from both the coaches and media, and posted one of the more complete stat lines at the position in the Big Ten. His 8.5 sacks were among the highest totals for an off-ball linebacker in the conference, and his 10.5 tackles for loss ranked in the top five nationally at the position.

He arrived at Indiana as an unranked recruit who spent 2023 at the Naval Academy Preparatory School before IU discovered him and offered in May 2024. He enrolled a month later and started 29 games across two seasons.

With Aiden Fisher now in the NFL, Hardy and Isaiah Jones are the returning anchors of a defense that held opponents to 13.9 points per game in 2025. Hardy has been direct about what comes next: "With Fish going, me and Isaiah are going to have to lead the room, lead the defense."

2. Xavier Atkins, Auburn Tigers

Junior in 2026; 6'0", 210 lbs.
2025: 84 tackles, 17 TFL, 9 sacks, 2 FF, 1 INT

Atkins started all 12 games at Auburn in 2025, earned First-Team All-SEC honors from the coaches, AP, and Phil Steele, and led the SEC with 17 tackles for loss, the third most in Auburn program history dating to 1981 and the most ever by an Auburn inside linebacker.

His nine sacks ranked tied for third in the conference, and his 90.7 PFF pass-rush grade was the highest of any linebacker in the country. He returned an interception 73 yards at Texas A&M and became the first Auburn player with multiple sacks in back-to-back SEC games since Carl Lawson in 2016.

A transfer from LSU, Atkins was the first Auburn linebacker to earn All-American honors since Karlos Dansby in 2003.

He enters his junior season as the anchor of a defense under coordinator DJ Durkin, with a stated goal of refining the technical details that separate good from elite: "It's the small things that get you the edge. Every linebacker can run, but can you keep doing those same little things over and over?"

1. Sammy Brown, Clemson Tigers

Junior in 2026; 6'2", 235 lbs.
2025: 106 tackles, 13.5 TFL, 5 sacks, 1 INT, 5 PBUs

Brown started all 13 games in 2025, earned Third-Team All-America honors from both the AP and Phil Steele, and led Clemson in tackles with 106 stops, including a season-high 15 at Penn State. His 13.5 tackles for loss were among the highest totals in the ACC, and his five sacks made him the first Clemson player to record a sack in three straight games since Jeremiah Trotter Jr. in 2023. He won the Blanchard-Rogers Trophy as the most outstanding player in the state of South Carolina.

Now in his junior season, Brown enters 2026 as the most decorated returning linebacker in college football with 186 career tackles, 25 tackles for loss, and 10 sacks across 27 games. He was direct about the motivation heading into a season after Clemson's disappointing 7-6 finish: "I feel like last year was the hardest that I ever worked, and it's not the result we wanted."

Linebacker coach Ben Bouleware has expanded every player's positional knowledge throughout the unit, giving Brown more flexibility and a defense built on a tighter collective understanding of the scheme.