10 crucial Aggies: No. 3 - Tavaris McMillian

It seems like a yearly tradition at this point for USU to have a freshman linebacker step into the college game and waste no time making a major impact.

For example...

2005: Jake Hutton
2006: Paul Igboeli
2007: Kyle Gallagher
2008: Bobby Wagner
2009: C-c-c-c-c-combo breaker!!!
2010: Jake Doughty
2011: Tavaris McMillian

And with the Kyler Fackrell hype machine running at full speed, it looks like he'll take care of 2012's entry on this list, making it seven of the last eight years a freshman linebacker was an impact player. But before we crown his ass, let's keep things within context of the sure things...

The bar for excellence here was obviously set by Wagner. Nobody in their right mind will dispute that. He was the cornerstone for USU's defense for the last three years as he earned first-team all-conference honors in each of those seasons (which will now be termed "Pulling a Wagner", formerly known as "Pulling a Harris" and possibly known in the future as "Pulling a Medlin")

Here's my prediction though: Of all the guys on that list from 2005 to 2011, McMillian will come the closest to having the impact that Wagner did. As a freshman last year, T-16 tied for the sixth most tackles on the team and was behind only Wagner, Levi Koskan and Bojay Filimoeatu in tackles for loss with 7.5. He finished the year strong too with 17 total tackles and four TFLs over the team's final three games.

As a recruit, Gary Andersen wanted T-16 bad enough that he basically told one of the top linebacker recruits in the nation to shit or get off the pot with his recruiting decision because he wanted to offer up that scholarship to McMillian. He came to USU as somewhat of a smaller linebacker with great speed and a nose for the ball, a lot like Wagner did.

He was listed at 6'1, 205 pounds in the media guide prior to his redshirt season. He's now added an inch and 25 pounds of bulk, while still having the speed instincts he had before.

Now it's time to prove that all the hype was real. T-16 impressed as a freshman, and even got some mad props from Wagner himself on Twitter once upon a time as the next great linebacker at USU. The defense needs him to step up and be the guy everyone can count on to be in on pretty much every play. He's got all the tools in the world to not only replace Wagner, but to carve out a hell of a legacy of his own.

While the whole linebacking unit, and really the entire defense look to be solid, McMillian needs to step up and be the new anchor of it all.