Ahh the fond memories....... I like the book reviews on this site: http://www.greatest-shop.com/0880117974#
Sam, Mike and Will. Sam and Will patrol the outside and cover the flats on passing situations and roll up the corner on the run. The Mike position is up the middle and must jam holes very quickly before blocking schemes have time to fully develop on running plays. A good, football-savvy Mike LB is worth their weight in gold in the NFL and can make a defense look better than it is - it's like he's the glue that holds the front 7 together though the Saftey is most often considered the QB of the defense. Sam is the strongside LB (towards the TE or overloaded formation side) Will means weakside LB (away from the strength of the formation) Mike is middle as a previous poster indicated.
Mike linebackers whose names you might recognize: Dick Butkus Mike Singletary Brian Urlacher Jack Lambert Ray Lewis
I will never forget the look in Singletary's eyes when he was on the field waiting for a snap. I have never to this day seen anyone look so tuned-in and ready for what was going to happen like Singletary was. Those eyes should be in the hall of fame by themselves.
The terms are just easy one syllable nicknames for the positions. It's just lingo. I have a question though, why is an interception called an osky (oskie, oskee?)? When we were on D and there was an interception our coach would tell us to yell "osky" so that everyone knew to turn around and block someone. Where did that come from? Also, I see people using the abbreviation MNC a lot when talking about national championships. What does the M stand for? My assumption was always major.
The M stands for Mythical. Since the NCAA in its infinite wisdom dosen't hold a playoff for the D1A football national championship as it does for every other sport at every level including D1AA football, all D1A national championships are mythical.
We yelled fire after an INT.. coaches' preference... ahh.. the memories.. nothing like hearing "FIRE!" then going to find a QB to block.. heh
We yelled fire if the holder muffed the snap on an extra point. Fire tells the TE to release for a pass. Memories :thumb:
Mike and Middle both begin with M, Sam and Strongside both begin with S, and Will and Weakside both begin with W. Hence, Mike is an acronym for Middle Linebacker, Sam is an acronym for Strongside Linebacker, and Will is an acronym for Weakside Linebacker.
Its been called sam will mike for most teams for 30 yrs or more, Im sure teams add some of their own names , but you have heard things like sam will blitz forever(bringing the outside backers)