Have Kiper and McShay even watched Lavonte David play?

The NFL is becoming more and more passing oriented, so LaVonte being "undersized" at 225 lbs will not be much of an issue since wherever he goes, he will be asked to drop into coverage a great deal. Whatever team he lands with, his size will not be an issue and they will be thrilled with the athlete they get. I think the 4th Round grade may not be far off though. NFL scouts fall in love with height/weight/speed combos, and an LB who is 6'4" 250 that runs a 4.5 is usually going to be perceived to have more potential than David. Not saying that is right or that Kiper/Mcshay are right, but scouts/GM's fall in love with potential as opposed to observed production.

 
I've commented on both of their Big Boards every week and tweeted at Kiper. Not one response.

You can't teach heart and instincts, and I don't think any other LB in the nation has more than him in those two categories.

 
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That's the nature of the beast. These know-it-alls almost always look at the criticals of size and speed (with size being paramount)and downgrade/ignore intangibles and inate playmaking ability. They are not always right and never will be. They have to play the odds to keep their credibility so they limit their exposure by holding a very tight line on body type. We know David is a beast but his size will hurt his ranking. Some athletes can overcome the mold and Lavonte is probably one of those players. Just don't expect the "experts" to come out and predict it.

 
coverage skills will be the key. If Vonte can progress in his cover skills, he is going to be a fantastic LB. All the NFL teams are looking for backers who can run with and attack the pass catching tight ends and the all purpose RBs.

 
Lavonte David is a great LB.

I just don't know if he will be taken as a LB in the NFL. But his career at the professional level looks very bright.

 
The NFL is more about "measureables".....height, weight, 40 (which is one of the dumbest measurments of a football player), 225 Lb bench, vert, etc.

I see David more as a nickel back in the league.

 
I think David is going to be an NFL linebacker, but it's going to be more situational. I don't see him as an every down backer, necessarily, but more like an outside backer in pass situations like other people have mentioned.

 
when they say undersized in David's case it has to do with his weight, Zach Thomas was undersized because of his height (5' 10" IIRC), Thomas was more of a Sam Mills type "undersized" LB, either way, I think he could become a really good pro, he's the best LB I've seen play against us this season, these draft guys get too caught up with the "prototypical" size at positions, if a guy can play, he can play...period, there are a ton of undersized players in the NFL at their positions, we had two guys that were about Lavonte's size play in the NFL (one played safety [Cato June] and the other played LB [ian Gold] at Michigan)...

that said, the kid from BC is probably gonna clean up on the LB awards, he can ball too...

 
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Drew Brees is the slap in the face to every prototypical quarterback out there. People like to put him on a pedestal below guys like Rodgers and Manning, and maybe he isn't as good as them, but he's without question a top five NFL quarterback and he's 'undersized' by the standards presented to us today.

 
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I remember another guy who played defense and was deemed "undersized". His name is John Randle. He turned out alright, didn't he?

 
I like to picture my Lavonte David in a tuxedo t-shirt. Because it says I wanna look nice but I'm here to party.

But in all seriousness, I could kinda see Lavonte being used a lot like how Clay Matthews is used if he were to bulk up a little bit.

 
tmfr15 said:
coverage skills will be the key. If Vonte can progress in his cover skills, he is going to be a fantastic LB. All the NFL teams are looking for backers who can run with and attack the pass catching tight ends and the all purpose RBs.
Click to expand...

This. I think with the development of the Hybird TE David's draft position was going to be hit or miss. I think the combine will be huge for him but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter if he is drafted in the first or the fifth and he will make a team next season.

 
I frankly don't care how David does in the NFL. Sure, I hope he does well for him, but whether he is a smashing success or a total flop there, it won't diminish what he did here one bit.

In two years he's proven to be one of our best LBs ever. He's in some seriously good company. As a Husker fan, that's all I care about.

 
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