Do you read? I made a list of young players who had prominent roles in the spring in response to the poster that said that young guys weren't getting opportunities.
Popo
Pruitt
Hayes
Bain
Damari
Zay
Lightfoot
McConathy
Scott
All true freshman and sophomores on defense that had significant roles in spring/will have roles in the fall. Absolutely delusional to say that young players aren't being given opportunities.
Game has changed. He has to win now, not wait for a backup LB to develop. I'm sorry this doesn't align with your philosophy but I doubt Mario cares what you think about it.
Do we know if he was even going to stick around regardless? We’ve brought in 5 talented LB’s the past two cycles and have 2 veteran starters. Was always going to be a numbers crunch
I think you're first and third points make sense. No offense to Willie Smith, but I highly doubt that Mario is applying nepotism to appease a legacy that played 4 years before he did.
It's path to playing time and portal value. Smith is an older and still relatively unproven player who's not going to command the same interest that Pulliam will
You can't have it both ways though. Smith has battled injuries and seemed to finally be coming on this spring now that he's healthy. Isn't the goal to play the best players?
You asked the rhetorical question and I answered for you. If you knew at all what you were talking about, you would recognize that Guidry plays multiple LB formations, so it's moot as far as who plays the middle vs. outside