Linebackers, like running backs, just aren't appreciate they way they used to be. That might be changing soon, though. Some of the best offenses in college football this season relied or rely heavily on 12 personnel (1 running back, 2 tight ends), and that often means defenses need more big bodies on the field to stop the run.
Saturday Blitz transfer portal rankings 2026: QB,WR, RB, TE, OL, EDGE, DL, LB, CB, S
Those big bodies, though, can't be old school run-stuffers. They need to be able to cover because the whole idea of those 12 personnel offenses is to get the defense to put slow-footed linebackers on the field so they can torch them through the air. If that trend continues, the linebackers who can fit the run and cover in space could suddenly become some of the most valuable players on the open market when the transfer portal opens from January 2-16.
So, here are your official Saturday Blitz linebacker Transfer Portal rankings for 2026.
Last rankings update: 11:45 a.m. ET, 12/30/2025
1. Robert Woodyard Jr. - Auburn
Woodyard looks like the best linebacker on the market this offseason, but in 2025, he wasn’t even the best linebacker on the Auburn defense. With Xavier Atkins heading back to the Tigers, Woodyard, a physical run-stuffer who is best playing downhill and struggles a bit in coverage, is heading to the portal with one year of eligibility remaining.
2. Khmori House - North Carolina
Khmori House is the classic jack-of-all-trades, Swiss Army knife, type of linebacker. He’s undersized to play every snap in the box, but luckily, he’s athletic enough to hang in coverage, play snaps in the slot, and even cover tight ends and running backs one-on-one on the outside. House wasn’t great for Bill Belichick, but a linebacker who can cover, create splash plays against the run, and rush the passer is always useful, but especially so with the proliferation of 12 personnel across college football in 2025.
3. Austin Romaine - Kansas State
At 245 pounds, Romaine is a traditional big linebacker who is built to fit the run and meet backs in the hole. He did that in 2024 to the tune of 90 tackles, 54 run stops, and 22 QB pressures. In 2025, though, his missed tackle rate climbed to 22 percent, and he was a bit less effective in every aspect of the game. If he can recapture his 2024 form, he’ll be a difference maker for one season; if he continues to struggle tackling in space as he did in 2025, he’ll merely be serviceable.
4. Jackson Forrest - Old Dominion
PFF grades aren’t gospel, but as a true freshman, Forrest was the fourth-highest graded linebacker in the country over his 307 defensive snaps. It’s a relatively small sample size for a young player in the Sun Belt, but he showed too many good things on tape not to be enticed, especially with three years of eligibility remaining. Forrest’s speed allows him to feature as a pass-rusher, running looping stunts and games with defensive linemen, and his strength lets him take on blockers and keep them off his body so he can shed and make plays.
5. Owen Chambliss - San Diego State
A long will linebacker, Chambliss rushes the passer nearly as much as he plays coverage, and he’s about equally impactful in both facets. He finished the year with 17 QB pressures, three sacks, four pass breakups, and an interception. When dropping into coverage, he has smooth hips, quick feet, and an obvious understanding of leverage. That’s a rare combination at 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, and with two years of eligibility left, he can be a long-term solution at the second-level for a Power 4 contender.
6. Ethan Wesloski - North Texas
A three-year starter at North Texas, Wesloski has developed into one of the best coverage linebackers in the country and a sure tackler. He allowed just a 58.7 passer rating on 22 targets this year and registered a missed tackle rate of just 9.1 percent. He doesn’t add much as a pass-rusher, but he’s a tackling machine at middle linebacker with 113 total tackles this year, with 9.0 for loss, and 49 stops.
7. Gideon Lampron - Bowling Green
With 119 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles in 2025, Lampron is a prototypical middle linebacker. He dominated at Dayton for two seasons, and the jump from FCS football to the MAC wasn’t too much to handle for the Ohio native. Now, he appears ready to spend his final season of eligibility in the Power 4.
8. Liona Lefau - Texas
A sure tackler in the middle for the Longhorns, Lefau really got picked on in coverage this season, allowing 22 catches on 28 targets for 307 yards and two touchdowns. SEC offenses are too good to leave him on the field on passing downs, and he’s not quite big enough to be a true run plugger in the conference. However, he has plenty of sideline-to-sideline speed to make plays and two years of experience in high-leverage games at Texas.
9. Caleb Bacon - Iowa State
An old school 240-pound outside linebacker, Bacon was a useful player in Jon Heacock’s 3-3-5 scheme. In that style of defense, outside backers have to be big enough to set the edge in the run game and play downhill, and Bacon did that well. In space, though, he missed his fair share of tackles in 2025 and can be picked on in zone coverage by spread offenses that force him to be the apex defender just inside the slot.
10. Chris Jones - Southern Miss
Only five players in the entire country made more tackles than Jones’s 133 in his sophomore season at Southern Miss. He also added 3.5 sacks, two pass breakups, an interception, and a forced fumble. He’s rarely influenced by eye-candy in the backfield, and when he triggers, he rarely misses.
Jones does a great job of wedging himself between blockers to penetrate the backfield and finds holes almost like a running back, with very few wasted movements. He may need to diagnose a bit more quickly if he makes the jump to the Power 4 because his speed advantage will dwindle, but his efficient play style will give him more than a fighting chance.