Jeremiah George has taken another step in his role as a leader.

With the departure of A.J. Klein and Jake Knott due to exhausted eligibilities, George will be the lone returning starter at the linebacker position with juniors Jared Brackens and Jevohn Miller filling the remaining two spots.

With two new starters on each side of him, George has exercised his verbal leadership and brought his experiences to the practice field and film room.

“I think I’ve always been a verbal leader. So just taking some of the on the field play, showing the guys this is the way we do it and this is the way we’re going to do it,” George said. “Applying that with my verbal skills makes it all the merrier.”

George was third on the team in tackles in 2012 with 87, including a career high 17 against Oklahoma. He made nine starts alongside Knott and Klein, who are both currently on preseason NFL rosters.

ISU coach Paul Rhoads believes his success last season was not just because he was playing alongside those two players.

“I don’t see a drop-off in Jeremiah,” Rhoads said. “I see him stepping up and being more of a leader and playmaker than he was a year ago.”

Brackens moved into the linebacker position this spring after previously being a nickelback. While he has learned a lot in 21 practices since the spring, defensive coordinator and linebacker coach Wally Burnham believes Brackens has progressed well in a short amount of time.

“He has really come along and is doing a great job,” Burnham said of Brackens. “He picked up right where he left off in the spring. I think we can win with him at that position if he keeps progressing and doing the things he needs to do.”

Miller will fill the final starting linebacker position after recording 22 tackles last season as a true sophomore. Now a junior, Miller feels expectations are much higher for him this season to perform well and lead by example, especially with the youth of the linebacker group as a whole.

George was selected as one of the six ISU captains this season and received more votes from his teammates than any other player to be a captain.

Brackens said those votes came purely out of respect for what George has brought to the team in his first three years at Iowa State, and throughout this offseason.

“[Jeremiah] earned his respect,” Brackens said. “It wasn’t one of those things where he was a senior now, everybody likes him. No, he earned his respect and that’s why he got all those votes.

“We respect him as a man off the field and as a player on the field with us.”