Let's take a look at a couple fast-rising local football players – both at the linebacker spot and both suiting up for traditional state-powers – following in the footsteps of greatness on the gridiron this season:

Mike Ojemudia (FH Harrison) – Little brother of former Harrison defensive menace Mario Ojemudia, who is currently playing in the Big 10 at Michigan, the new M.O. is the same as the old M.O. HARD 2 HANDLE with a chippy edge on the field and what looks to be a honing device imbedded in his DNA that allows him to get to the ball-carrier as jet-quick as his big bro!!

Riley Maher (Birmingham Brother Rice) – For years, Brother Rice has been a virtual linebacker factory and Maher, a superstud of a sophomore, this is the new model. And it's or shall I say he is primed for GREATNESS. The only sophomore on the Warriors varsity and he starts at the WILL and is showing the same tools and intangibles that all the one-time TEAM FRACASSA epic LBs of the past

*Sadly, Orchard Lake St. Mary's FAB FROSH Josh Ross, one of the top middle linebacker prospects in the NATION in the Class of 2017, went down last week with a season-ending injury.