EMU Football 2026 Positional Outlook: Linebackers

(Players in bold listed as starters (or shared starters) in EMU’s team notes)

Listed on preseason depth chart (MIKE)

Listed on preseason depth chart (WILL)

Also on roster:

This year’s group of linebackers is led by a pair who’ve been with this team since 2021 and 2022.

Zach Mowchan, who has been on and off the field with a string of injuries that’s bugged him since 2023, is back for Year #6 with the defense.

Health, of course, is going to be on the minds of everybody who has seen him exit two of the previous three seasons early. Mowchan played in three games in 2023, another three in 2024, and started five of nine games in 2025 as Andrew Marshall (now at Minnesota) played in every game and started half of the season next to Manning. Though, it’s worth noting that Mowchan played more total snaps last season (304, per Pro Football Focus) than Marshall (295).

He’s reportedly as healthy and able as the team could hope for, and is getting some attention through camp.

Barry Manning, a fifth-year player who moved down a level from safety to linebacker, returns after he was one of three players to tie for the defense’s lead in tackles for loss (5.5). He even got his first career interception against Bowling Green.

Linebackers are kind of like tight ends in that they generally have two responsibilities they could do at any time. They could either sit back in coverage with the defensive backs to guard, oftentimes, sub-200-pound receivers. Or, they can go in and fight through 300-ish-pound linemen in the trenches to rush the passer or provide help against the run.

Lots of responsibility, but what are these linebackers going to major in? Mowchan’s current health status seems positive, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement in both areas. In 536 career snaps played, Mowchan has just two career tackles for loss and one pass breakup. Of all the defenders to receive a coverage grade from PFF, Mowchan had the third-poorest mark on the team in 2025 (41.1).

Granted, it could be argued that he wasn’t as agile and able then as he is now, another year recovered from injuries, but it’s not a great starting place for him on paper.

Of all the players last year with at least 70 recorded snaps in coverage, Manning (260, 2nd-most coverage snaps), the converted safety, had the team’s 8th-best coverage grade (60.1).

Behind the green and gray M & M’s, this position group features two new junior college transfers, two fourth-year players with the team, a Syracuse transfer who missed most of last year, a third-year high school signee, a second-year signee, and two freshmen.

Elgin McDuffey, the third M-name on the depth chart and JUCO transfer listed as Manning’s backup LB during the summer, has a promising career stat line through his first couple of seasons (20 games, 86 tackles, 5 for loss, 3 interceptions). Jonah Flowers, from Butte C.C., is a smaller player (5’11”, 215ish lbs.) who was a go-getter in the TFL department last year (11 games, 83 tackles, 10 TFL, 1.5 sacks).

Bryce Eliuk, an in-state signee who played in five games as a true freshman and 12 games last year (missed 2024 to injury), is Mowchan’s immediately-listed backup as the weakside. Solomon Bell, also in his fourth year with EMU, had two seasons in the JUCO system before he transferred over. Bell has been a defensive back up to this season, now grouped with the LBs.

Kadin Bailey, the Syracuse transfer who missed basically all of last year, should be back this season, too.

EMU’s biggest strength for its team is its togetherness and returning faces across the field. Defensively, that’s why its secondary looks so strong headed into 2026, and the D-line’s depth looks good this year because of it.

Manning’s done an impressive job so far of making drops for loss after he moved away from safety. Here I thought he was going to stand out more as a coverage linebacker. The WLB spot seems like it’s Mowchan’s to win through the season. With as many older linebackers this team features, there’s bound to be a deeper rotation of players used through the first five games of the year before league play restarts in October.