6. Akeem Davis-Gaither, Appalachian State
Height: 6’1″ Weight: 224
40-Yard Dash: N/A
Bench Press: 21 reps
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
60-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Bio: Akeem Davis-Gaither was a multi-sport athlete in high school, lettering in baseball, basketball, football and track-and-field for Thomasville High School in North Carolina. He received multiple offers as a two-star recruit, including from Charlotte and Boston College. But Davis-Gaither chose App State. He got the starting job as a redshirt junior in their overhang defender role, and registered 59 total tackles. Last year he was allowed to be more of a weapon as a blitzer, and on 190 pass rush chances he generated 25 pressures. He also tallied 67 total tackles from his overhang spot.
Stat to Know: Something to watch with Davis-Gaither are the 15 or more missed tackles he tallied in each of the past two seasons.
Strengths: For what he does, Davis-Gaither is one of the best at in the class, and what he does is play as that overhang defender in space or in the slot for a majority of his snaps. He has a quick trigger with good burst when he identifies the play and comes downhill in response. He has a powerful jam which he puts on receivers, re-routing them or even throwing them to the turf with his hands. He is comfortable playing in curl/flat or hook zones and buzzing between targets. He can play sideline-to-sideline both against the run, and in coverage. We mentioned in the discussion of Kenneth Murray the ability to diagnose and explode downhill on screen plays, and Davis-Gaither checks that box as well. He had a play against UNC where if it were not for the pass getting tipped, he might have intercepted the screen pass given the read and jump he had on the play.
Davis-Gaither does prefer to evade blocks rather than taking them on, but he manages to do this well. On this play against South Carolina he is defending against a potential screen to the boundary, but when he reads the inside give, he manages to get to the ball-carrier:
What I love about this play is not that he gets to the ball-carrier, but how he almost uses a jump-stop move at the end to avoid the bodies in front of him, and get to the running back. That is impressive change-of-direction ability, something we would covet from an offensive player.
When he gets down near the line of scrimmage, he manages to have a feel for getting to the football. This was a tremendous play to see from him, and it is actually the very next snap against South Carolina:
Davis-Gaither walks down into the box before the snap, and cuts across the line of scrimmage as the play begins. The Gamecocks run a power design here and pull the guard and H-Back in his direction. But the linebacker ducks around them both, showing the kind of bend that would make an EDGE defender jealous. He stops this play in the backfield before it gets going.
He also takes very good pursuit angles, and always seems to be ahead of the play rather than behind it.
Weaknesses: He is undersized, which leads to why he tries to evade blocks rather than take them on. His bench press numbers from the Combine speak to perhaps more play-strength than he showed on film. He does have those missed tackle numbers, which show up on film when he actually overruns plays either working down the line of scrimmage or in pursuit. Then there is the matter of his scheme fit. Playing the overhang position does not have a one to one transition to the NFL, although as we will talk about in the “Comparison” part of this report, there is a roadmap for him – and his NFL team – to follow. Projecting him to playing in the box for the bulk of his snaps is just that – a projection.
Conclusion: Davis-Gaither fits the mold of a hybrid linebacker-safety player who can contribute on all three downs in the NFL for a defense that is creative in how they employ him. Right now he does not look like someone you can align as a inside linebacker and count on to stuff the run, but he has the play-making ability, coverage skills and nose for the football that will be helpful for any defense in the league. He has flashed the ability to stop the run on the edge, the ability to be effective as a blitzer, and the coverage skills to shut down receivers in man coverage while also faring well in zone schemes. That is a really good starting point.
Comparison: When watching him I see a Fred Warner type of player. Fred Warner type player. PFF wrote that he “plays an overhang role that is not necessarily translatable to the NFL,” and while that might be true, Warner is an example of a player that has made the transition and I believe Davis-Gaither can as well. Yes he is undersized, and he can get overwhelmed when he sticks his nose inside against the run. But he plays so well in space as that overhang defender, he is the perfect player for today’s NFL. Find ways to use him as he adjusts to the league and see how he develops. I promise you will not be sorry.