Georgia had the most dominant defense in college football last season, and perhaps of the last 10 years, and the face of it — the jovial, smiling face — was Jordan Davis, who will now be the face of the draft class for the Eagles.
What is Philadelphia getting? A mammoth of an individual, 6-foot-4 and 340 pounds (give or take), a popular character who ingratiated himself with the Georgia fan base (and marching band). But also someone who will now face questions about whether he can be an every-down lineman, as dominant on third down in the NFL as he was on first and second down at the college level.
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Davis came to Georgia initially as a three-star recruit, overlooked coming out of North Carolina because some saw him as an offensive lineman. But Georgia put him at nose tackle, inserted him in the lineup midway through his freshman season, and he took off from there.
By his senior year — which Davis surprised people by remaining in college, rather than turning pro — Davis was a Heisman candidate, the most renowned player on the best defense in the country. The stats never told the story, mostly by virtue of his position: Offenses generally knew to run away from him, and because Davis didn’t play as much on third downs he didn’t get the chance to post as many sacks. (He only had seven in his career).
But those who watched Davis at Georgia saw a guy who made the entire defense better, eating up blockers and freeing up teammates to make plays. Georgia’s defense ranked second, first and second in the nation in run defense the last three years, and Davis was a major reason why.
Dane Brugler on Jordan Davis (No. 2 DL, No. 24 overall prospect in The Beast)
A four-year starter at Georgia, Davis lined up at nose tackle in former defensive coordinator Dan Lanning’s 3-4 base scheme. After up-and-down play over his first three seasons, he was the anchor of the Bulldogs’ 2021 National Championship team and was recognized with the Chuck Bednarik Award, which goes to the best defensive player in college football.
Despite high pad level, Davis is a hard-to-move space-eater with the point of attack strength to reestablish the line of scrimmage and overwhelm ball carriers as a tackler. He is a talented athlete for a player his size and his motor expand his tackling range, but he was also helped by fewer defensive snaps in 2021 (25.2 per game) compared to 2020 (32.9). Overall, Davis offers limited pass rush value, but he has the size, functional power and block recognition to be a dominant run defender. He projects as a starting NFL nose tackle in multiple fronts.
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Top College Highlight
When South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer was asked to recount something about Davis he cited this play early in the 2021 season, when Davis ran down the UAB quarterback from behind, something you don’t see a nose tackle do often.
One of the top plays from studying Jordan Davis on tape this year came against UAB. His range at 6-6, 341 pounds is ridiculous. That showed up during his 4.82 40-yard time. Special athlete. pic.twitter.com/lR9Ha8k6Ct
— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) March 5, 2022
Media Moment
After his final home game, Davis was invited by the Georgia band to lead them in a song, and he took the moment seriously, getting on a step-ladder and conducting the school song. Teammates also came over to take in the moment, showing how much they liked Davis.
Jordan Davis is directing the Georgia pep band. Really. pic.twitter.com/5cjbOkqGT4
— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) November 20, 2021
Coachspeak
The one concern about Davis is that Georgia only used him on 15.5% of its third downs last season. The presence of Jalen Carter — then a sophomore, next year probably a first-round pick — was a big reason why, as it allowed Georgia to rest Davis. When Kirby Smart was asked if Davis could be an every-down NFL lineman, he answered: “Absolutely. He could have been a three-down lineman for us here. It’s more about conditioning. When he’s at his top level of conditioning and his best weight, he can play on third down. We’ve got pass rush ability out of the guy. We didn’t ask him to do that because we had the luxury of Jalen Carter and Devonte Wyatt and Travon (Walker) to go in there and do it. He did it for us in practice all the time.”
(Top photo: Mackenzie Miles / UGA Athletics)
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