30 Players in 30 Days: #9 — Otaro Alaka

Notes from Olin's thoughts on Alaka

• Otaro told us a few days ago that he feels most comfortable at weak side linebacker. He stressed that he’s capable in the middle and will do whatever is asked of him. If you put him at weak side, you’re putting him in a position where he can be at his best.
  
  
• You want to put good players in a situation where they can maximize their ability. After his freshman year and his defensive player of the game at the Liberty Bowl, Kevin Sumlin said he was one of the top players on the team.
  
  
• Last year he had a solid year. 74 tackles and 9 tackles for loss. Not great, but not bad. If you put him at weak side and let him stay there you could see those totals go up. Regardless, I would project that you would see a more effective linebacker.
  
  
• You can be cautiously optimistic about the linebacker corps this year because he feels he’s back to his old self and projected to be at his old position. If you get the best Otaro Alaka that he can be, you have a solid option at weak side linebacker.
  
  
• He needs to stay healthy. He stayed healthy last year. Rusty or not he had a productive season. Sure, it could have been better. What if those tackles were made at the line of scrimmage and he’s eliminating big plays? That was a huge problem for A&M.
  
  
• It would not surprise me if he lead the team in sacks. They have to come from somewhere and with him coming off the edge to blitz, he’s athletic and fast. He could make plays.
  
  
• Otaro needs to have a good year for himself. Make that weak side linebacker position one that you don’t need to worry about. If he can do that, than at least one-third of the linebacker problem has been solved. If he has a good year then hopefully others will follow.
  
  
• If he can have 11 more tackles than last year and get to 85, that will be borderline good enough for SEC honors. If I see a linebacker with seven sacks I’m saying he has a chance to be All-SEC. Otaro definitely has the ability and he’s healthy. I think we can expect a good year from him.
  
  

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