In the Deion Sanders era, there’s a pretty evident correlation between good linebacker play and overall team success.

In 2023, production wasn’t nearly consistent enough and the Colorado Buffaloes defense struggled on the whole to keep the team in games during a 4-8 season.

In 2024, transfer Nikhai Hill-Green was a revelation, finishing second on the team in tackles with multiple sacks, multiple interceptions and multiple fumble recoveries to lead a unit that came alive during a nine-win campaign, using that season to elevate and transfer to Alabama.

Last year, the linebacker position hit rock bottom, with all of the newcomers failing to earn consistent playing time, leaving veteran Jeremiah Brown, who played sparingly in his first two seasons in Boulder, as the only player CU could trust at the position.

This winter, the linebacker room was again overhauled and Chris Marve, since promoted to defensive coordinator, was brought in to coach the position with Andre’ Hart, who has been with Coach Prime since his high school coaching days.

Let’s meet the new-look room that could once again play a large role in how successful the Buffs are as a whole:

The transfers

Outside of wide receiver, there might not be a more talented group of transfers at a single position than the trio of newcomers who should lead the linebacker room.

The headliner is Liona Lefau, who played in over 40 games across three seasons at Texas with nearly two dozen starts. The Kahuka, Hawaii, native started all 12 regular-season games in 2025, registering 69 tackles, eight for loss, to go with a sack and a fumble recovery, which he returned for a touchdown.

Multiple years of starting production for a high-level SEC program usually gets a player a ton of national interest and a large name, image and likeness payday, so Lefau choosing CU was a big win for the recruiting staff.

The two other transfers at linebacker are more common with what the Buffs have been able to find in the portal recently, although that doesn’t mean they won’t be just as productive, if not more, than Lefau.

Gideon Lampron, whose nickname is ESPN (seriously), is coming off a really good season at Bowling Green, where he racked up 119 tackles, 17.5 for loss, while being credited with four quarterback hurries, 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles, earning first-team All-Mid-American Conference honors in the process.

As the only player in the country with over 100 total tackles and 15 tackles for loss, he validated his jump up to the FBS level after spending three seasons at FCS Dayton and he’s hoping for similar production in the Big 12.

The other newcomer is also part of a separate trio of New Mexico State defenders to join the Buffs. Tyler Martinez played three seasons with the Aggies, with the last getting cut short after four games due to injury. Martinez was a preseason all-conference honoree in 2025 after leading his team in tackles with 96 the previous season. 

Expect all three of these transfers to see significant playing time this fall.

The freshmen

While the veteran transfers should see the bulk of the snaps barring injuries, there are two freshmen who can’t be discounted, especially given Sanders’ lack of hesitation to put young players on the field if there’s a chance they can help the team win.

The Buffs’ top incoming high school recruit and a top-400 player nationally, per On3, is linebacker Carson Crawford, who was a part of a Carthage team that won back-to-back Texas 4A Division II state championships to close out his career. 

The other freshman to watch is three-star recruit Rodney Colton Jr., who was rated by On3 as a top-65 player in Georgia, where he played four seasons at Newnan High School, about an hour southwest of Atlanta.