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Alabama returns what could be the most dominating defensive end in college football in 6-foot-7, 315 pound Raekwon Davis. It’s surprising that Davis is back for his senior year considering most college football experts expected him to have a monster junior season then declare for the NFL Draft. Last year was an underachieving season for Davis, to say the least as he recorded 24 solo tackles which was 10th on the team and recording just 1.5 sacks.
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Before the Orange Bowl this past season we caught up with Craig Kuligowski, the former defensive line coach at Alabama to get his thoughts on Davis.
“Raekwon Davis has been a guy that, going into the preseason everybody knew about him, he draws a lot of blockers, he does a great job of being physical, setting edges, knocking people back and even though his numbers are not quite as good as last year, he’s played better than last year.”
Since Davis has arrived in Tuscaloosa, he has played in 31 games recording 129 tackles and 11.0 sacks, in 2017 during his sophomore season, he recorded 8.5 sacks and 10.0 tackles for loss. Davis even recorded an interception as a sophomore during the national championship game against Georgia which he displayed his athleticism returning the pick 19-yards.
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When we look at the defensive grade outs provided by Pro-Football Focus over the last two seasons, we see that in 2018 Davis had a pass rushing grade of just 68.5, his grade against the run was an impressive 90.4, his tackle grade was a 69.5, he put pressure on the quarterback 29 times, and overall his defensive grade was an 81.9 which was sixth on the team.
If we compare these numbers to his sophomore season, his pass rush grade is 62.7, his grade against the run was a 61.3, his tackle grade was a 75.9, and he had 19 quarterback pressures, so the numbers back up what Kuligowski said about Davis, he did actually play better grade wise year over year.
With that said, it felt at times that he was not as imposing of a player that he could be and that contributed to Davis returning for his senior season instead of heading for the NFL Draft. The reason I feel that Davis has his “monster” season in 2019 is because of the instant impact new defensive line coach Brian Baker will have in coaching up Davis.
Baker is a 19-year NFL coaching veteran that most recently comes from Mississippi State where he turned the Bulldog’s defense into a defensive masterpiece. In 2017, the Bulldogs had multiple defensive linemen named first-team All-SEC for the first time in school history and in 2018, the Bulldogs won the SEC Defensive Linemen of the Week award five out of 13 times. Mississippi State also finished the 2018 season ranked number one in the nation in total defense.
Baker’s past coaching experience should help Davis transform into a 1st round NFL Draft pick by the season’s end. In the past, Baker has coached DeMarcus Ware, Julius Peppers, Leonard little, and many additional defensive players that were eventually named to the pro-bowl. Most recently, Baker transformed Montez Sweat, into a pass rusher machine having recorded 12 sacks during the 2018 season and is now projected as a 1st round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.
Kyle Henderson is the managing editor of BamaInsider.com. E-mail him at Kyle@Bamainsider.com
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