So, out go curiosity and for the sake of argument, I went to Gatorzone.com and looked at the team’s defensive statistics. I very much expected to be as very impressed with his team stats as I was with his presentation at SEC Media Days. What follows are some of JD’s totals and team rankings in a number of categories. Don’t worry there will be a point to this at the end.
Games played: 14, tied for 1st with a host of other players.
Total tackles: 98, 2nd to Morrison’s 103
Solo: 46, tied for 2nd with Maye behind Neal with 51
Assists: 52, again 2nd behind Morrison’s 61
TFLs: 11, 3rd behind Bullard w17.5 (pretty remarkable) and again Morrison w/12
Sacks: 3.5, which tied him for 3rd on the team with 3 other players and was the only LB in the top 7, unless you consider Cox and McCallister LBs,being hybrid Bucks-. Morrison was 8th`
and finally QB hurries: 7, Tied with McCallister for 1st on the team.
He was also tied (with VHIII BTW) for 5th on the team in pass break ups with 4 and added an int. and forced fumble to an already impressive lineup of stats.
Finally to the point. If you’re looking for the reason for the perception that he maybe occasionally over ran plays that it possibly comes from those QB hurries and if he turns 1 or 2 of those into sacks, that perception disappears.
Unfortunately, there is no stat for tackle overruns and the only stat that even comes close is the QB hurry one and I don’t see him as a Shannon coaching problem. Right now, there aren’t many college LBs in the country I would trade JD for and I’m glad to see he’s taking national criticism, even it it is pretty much nit picking, to heart and looking to improve his already remarkable talent level up a notch or two. Just imagine if if he had taken 1, 2, or even 3 of those hurries into sacks what it would have done for the team.
I see this as a net gain and not a coaching negative.
I could pick out a few more other observations, but will let it go at that. I’m just glad we have some smart, articulate and talented players like Jared Davis who are constantly trying to improve thiergame and and those around them. My hat is off to you Jared Davis.