Former Michigan football coach Fielding Yost established the linebacker position, but it is Iowa senior Pat Angerer who is making it look good.

The All-Big Ten linebacker ranked second in the conference (28th nationally) in interceptions and led the Hawkeyes in tackles with 107 stops (45 solo). The Bettendorf native was one of 42 players named to the watch list for the Lott Trophy, which recognizes both a student-athlete’s character and academic success.

With the departure of former Hawkeye leaders Mitch King and Matt Kroul, Iowa linebacker coach Darrell Wilson sees Angerer stepping up to captain the defense.

“I think Pat has always been a leader, but he may of thought, ‘OK, Matt and Mitch are here. I’m just going to play football,’ ” Wilson said at the team’s media day earlier this month. “But he is a natural leader, and he has shown that through the summer. He’s really done a great job with being a leader on the field and getting his teammates rallying behind him.”

While Penn State is famously dubbed “Linebacker U,” the caliber of Iowa’s linebackers marks the Hawkeyes’ defense as one of the most dangerous in the country. And it is easy to see why.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz began his football legacy as a linebacker at the University of Connecticut in the mid 1970s. Ferentz’s mastery at developing college football’s most potent field surveyors has produced some of the program’s greatest successes — Abdul Hodge, Chad Greenway, Bryan Mattison, Mike Humpal, and Mike Klinkenborg.

This year should be no different.

“You look at guys who have been in roles similar to this when they were juniors and seniors at Iowa, and those are definitely big shoes to fill,” senior linebacker A.J. Edds said. “You don’t get there by just falling into that position. You work hard, and you earn the respect of your teammates and coaches by doing stuff the right way over an extended period of time.”

Edds, an academic All-Big Ten honoree and an All-Big Ten honorable mention last season, forced two fumbles and posted 59 total tackles (18 solo) in 2008. He returns this year as Iowa’s top outside linebacker, listed on the first-team roster following spring practice.

But with the firepower the Hawkeyes possess at the position, including Angerer and a fully healthy Jeff Tarpinian, Wilson expects near-flawless performances from his linebackers this season.

“It’s a situation where your expectations are a little bit higher,” Wilson said. “You expect these guys to be more mistake-free. You expect them to be a lot more fine-tuned, and it also gives you a little more time to work with some of the other young men that you’re trying to catch up.”

Junior Jeremiha Hunter is proof of Wilson’s and Ferentz’s fine-tuning. Last season the York, Penn., native ranked second on the team with 80 tackles (22 solo). With Hunter’s results last year, he is tapped to be Iowa’s best weakside linebacker and is arguably the fastest in Iowa’s pass coverage scheme.

When Angerer, Edds and Hunter are all locked in at their two-point stance come kickoff, the Iowa linebacker unit has the ability to be better than it was a year ago.

“I don’t know if we’re going to be the greatest thing ever,” Angerer said. “But hopefully, we all improve from last year.”