Mike McLaughlin Scouting Report

Without Mark Herzlich leading the Boston College linebacker corps during the 2009 campaign, many expected Mike McLaughlin to step up and pick up the slack. While there is no denying that McLaughlin has had a very productive career with the Eagles, he did not turn into the team's leader in the middle of the field during his senior year. Instead, a freshman did. It certainly did not help that Herzlich missed four games during the regular season, but the play of freshman Luke Kuechly has overshadowed the rest of the team, including McLaughlin. McLaughlin started playing a significant role on this team in 2007 after seeing spot duty as a redshirt freshman the previous year. Despite only starting three games, McLaughlin was fourth on the team in tackles with 64. As an upperclassman in 2008 he started all 14 games at middle linebacker and moved his tackle total up to 89. He also recorded 4.0 sacks and 12.0 tackles-for-loss. In 2009 those numbers dipped; McLaughlin only recorded 49 tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss during the regular season. His lack of production in 2009 has hurt his draft stock. While McLaughlin was still a leader on the team, he was not the producing player. Injuries are to blame for some of that, but he still has a lot to prove during Senior Week to work his way up to the mid-rounds of the draft.