If you like linebackers who run downhill, live around the football and make tackles in bunches, the Suburban One League has plenty of them coming back in 2026.
This group is loaded with proven production.
There are multiple First Team All-SOL selections, several players returning with 70-plus tackles, two linebackers who topped 100 last season and a group of younger players who are already making an impact.
For this list, we looked at 2025 production, All-SOL recognition, experience, projected role and what each player brings back to his defense in 2026.
Here are the Linebackers
Blake Landherr — Pennridge — ’28 — LB
Let’s start with this:
135 tackles as a sophomore.
Landherr set a Pennridge single-season record while adding 14 tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception and earning First Team All-SOL National honors.
Again — sophomore.
He already produces like a veteran linebacker, and he still has two seasons left.
That’s scary.
Nick Milleto — Central Bucks West — ’27 — LB
Milleto didn’t just earn First Team All-SOL National honors in 2025.
He put up numbers that explain exactly why.
The CB West linebacker finished his junior season with 115 tackles, nine tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and four quarterback pressures.
And that came after recording 76 tackles as a sophomore.
191 tackles over the last two seasons.
Milleto enters his senior year as one of the most proven linebackers in the Suburban One League.
The middle of that CB West defense is in very good hands.
Dan McGarrity — Neshaminy — ’27 — LB
McGarrity finds the football.
A lot.
He finished 2025 with 95 tackles, 32 solo stops, eight tackles for loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery.
There wasn’t much postseason recognition attached to that production, but 95 tackles are pretty difficult to ignore.
McGarrity returns for his senior season as one of Neshaminy’s most productive defensive players.
The kid finds the football.
Tyler O’Sullivan — Upper Dublin — ’27 — MLB/FB
O’Sullivan was all over the field for Upper Dublin last season, finishing with 85 tackles.
That’s the kind of production you want from the guy standing in the middle of your defense.
He returns as a senior middle linebacker and one of the Cardinals’ most experienced defensive players heading into 2026.
Eighty-five tackles already on the résumé.
Expect to hear his name plenty again this fall.
Justin LaRue-Madison — Pennsbury — ’27 — LB
Pennsbury has plenty of experience returning at linebacker, and LaRue-Madison headlines the group.
He recorded 80 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, two pass breakups, a fumble recovery and a blocked punt last season.
That résumé earned him Second Team All-SOL National honors.
Tackles. Negative plays. Pressure. Special teams.
He affects the game in a lot of different ways.
Brody Blomgren — Pennridge — ’27 — LB
Landherr isn’t the only linebacker making plays at Pennridge.
Blomgren recorded 75 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, four sacks and an interception last season on his way to Honorable Mention All-SOL National honors.
Put him next to Landherr and you’ve got a linebacker combination that accounted for 210 tackles in 2025.
Yeah.
Good luck blocking both of them.
Ben Myers — Council Rock South — ’27 — LB
Council Rock South went 10-2 last season, and Myers was right in the middle of what the Hawks did defensively.
He finished with 73 tackles, nine tackles for loss and three sacks while earning First Team All-SOL Continental honors.
The Hawks return several experienced defenders in 2026, and Myers gives them a proven senior presence at linebacker.
Liam Hoey — Central Bucks East — ’27 — LB
Hoey led Central Bucks East with 61 tackles and 14 tackles for loss last season.
Fourteen TFL tells you plenty.
This isn’t just a linebacker cleaning up plays five yards downfield. Hoey is getting into the backfield and disrupting things before they ever get started.
He earned Second Team All-SOL National honors and returns as one of the leaders of a CB East linebacker group that should be a strength of the defense.
Alex Kriebel — Plymouth Whitemarsh — ’27 — LB
Kriebel returns for his senior season after earning First Team All-SOL American honors in 2025.
He averaged 7.6 tackles per game and also forced two fumbles, giving Plymouth Whitemarsh a proven playmaker in the middle of its defense.
PW has plenty of experience returning, and Kriebel is one of the guys who sets the tone.
First Team All-SOL. Senior leader. Easy inclusion.
Andrew Rowen — Wissahickon — ’27 — LB
Wissahickon brings back plenty of experience at linebacker.
Rowen is the guy in the middle of it.
The returning starting middle linebacker earned First Team All-SOL American honors and gives the Trojans an experienced voice in the center of the defense.
Get everybody lined up.
Read it.
Go hit somebody.
Sounds like a middle linebacker to us.
Mike Giangiulio — Plymouth Whitemarsh — ’27 — MLB/RB
Giangiulio already proved last season that he can impact a game on either side of the football.
He earned Second Team All-SOL honors at linebacker while also being selected First Team All-SOL at running back.
That tells you pretty much everything you need to know.
PW can hand him the football on one series and ask him to go find it on the next.
Chase Hart — Souderton — ’28 — LB/TE
Hart is another young linebacker who already looks like he belongs with the veterans.
He recorded 50 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception as a sophomore while earning Honorable Mention All-SOL Continental honors.
He’s also around 6-foot-1, 240 pounds.
That’s not exactly a small sophomore.
With two seasons still remaining, Hart is one of the more intriguing young defensive players in the league.
Brett Pollock — Souderton — ’27 — LB
Pollock led Souderton with 57 tackles last season while adding four tackles for loss and two sacks.
He returns as a senior starter for a team coming off a nine-win season.
With Pollock’s experience and Hart’s upside, Souderton brings back a linebacker combination worth watching closely.
Jacob Garrett — North Penn — ’27 — MLB/FB
Garrett emerged as an important piece of North Penn’s defense during its run to the District 1 championship.
After moving into a larger role at middle linebacker late in the season, Garrett earned praise from head coach Dick Beck for the way he handled the middle of the Knights’ defense. He also flashed some playmaking ability, including a 67-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Downingtown East.
Now a 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior, Garrett enters 2026 as one of the experienced pieces North Penn will lean on as it replaces several starters.
The defending District 1 champs need new leaders on defense. Garrett looks like one of them.
Javin Kube — Central Bucks South — ’27 — LB
Kube earned Honorable Mention All-SOL National honors last season and returns as one of CB South’s experienced linebackers.
The Titans have pieces to replace defensively, which makes returning veterans like Kube even more important.
Expect him to take on an even bigger role in 2026.
Henry Garlits — Pennsbury — ’27 — LB
Here’s another reason Pennsbury’s linebacker room caught our attention.
Garlits recorded 44 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and a sack last season and returns as a senior.
Put Garlits alongside LaRue-Madison and Depew and the Falcons aren’t exactly starting from scratch at linebacker.
There is a lot of varsity football in that group.
Quinn Fulmer — Hatboro-Horsham — ’27 — LB
Fulmer earned Second Team All-SOL American honors as a junior.
That alone gets our attention.
Now he enters his senior season as one of the more accomplished returning defensive players for Hatboro-Horsham.
The next step?
Turn Second Team into First Team.
Joe Casalinuovo — Wissahickon — ’27 — LB
Casalinuovo earned Honorable Mention All-SOL American honors last season and returns at outside linebacker for Wissahickon.
He also handles long-snapping duties.
The Trojans have veteran linebackers all over the field in 2026, and Casalinuovo gives them another senior who already understands the system.
Damarion Melvin — Harry S. Truman — ’27 — LB
Melvin returns for his senior season after earning Honorable Mention All-SOL Continental honors at linebacker in 2025.
He gives Truman an experienced presence in the middle of the defense and enters 2026 with a chance to build on the recognition he earned as a junior.
The All-SOL résumé is already there. Now comes the senior season.
Owen Grotz — Central Bucks East — ’28 — LB
Grotz recorded 40 tackles as a sophomore and enters 2026 as another returning piece of CB East’s deep linebacker group.
Forty tackles as a sophomore is a good starting point.
Now add another offseason of strength, experience and varsity reps.
This could be a breakout year.
Quasir Sampson — Wissahickon — ’27 — OLB/RB
Another Wissahickon linebacker.
Seeing a pattern yet?
Sampson returns at outside linebacker while also playing a significant role at running back.
Like several players on this list, he’s a true two-way athlete who can be asked to carry the football on one side and chase it on the other.
La’Rod Potter — Wissahickon — ’28 — OLB
Potter is one of the younger members of Wissahickon’s experienced defensive group.
He returns as a starting outside linebacker entering his junior season.
The résumé isn’t as long as some of the seniors on this list.
That’s the key word.
Yet.
He still has two full seasons to change that.
Tommy Seiler — Central Bucks East — ’27 — OLB
Seiler recorded 37 tackles, two fumble recoveries and an interception last season and returns at outside linebacker.
He’s part of a CB East linebacker room that has multiple experienced options coming back.
Hoey gets plenty of attention — deservedly so — but he’s far from alone.
Chase Ingram — Central Bucks East — ’27 — OLB
Ingram gives the Patriots another senior returning at outside linebacker.
He recorded 28 tackles and an interception last season and enters 2026 with another year of experience in the defense.
When you’re returning this many linebackers, having options isn’t exactly a bad problem to have.
Final Thoughts
This linebacker group has some serious production coming back.
Landherr had 135 tackles as a sophomore.
Milleto had 115.
McGarrity had 95.
O’Sullivan had 85.
LaRue-Madison had 80.
Depew had 77.
Blomgren had 75.
Myers had 73.
And that’s before getting into the returning First Team and Second Team All-SOL selections, veteran starters and young players who haven’t come close to reaching their ceilings yet.
That’s a lot of tackles coming back to the middle of these defenses.
As always, this list isn’t supposed to be the final word.
Who did we miss?
The SOI 2026 Top Returning Players Series continues with the defensive line and edge defenders.