Lavonte David --- Overlooked

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robsker

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Amid all the gnashing of teeth and wailing cries of agony of the Husker faithful over this season --- most of which is, by the way --- unnecessary... anyway with all these distractions, a phenomenal performer has been largely overlooked.

Lavonte David has just absolutely rocked the place this season. He has nearly 140 tackles! He has been outstanding --- in every game. This guy is as good as we have seen since Terrel Farley. He is off-the-charts excellent at reading the play. he is w/o fear. He has great wrap-up ability. He covers well. All American performance --- no doubt.

Also worth pointing out. Alex Henery. Awesome. Jared Crick --- had a great season... did not draw the attention that some thought he would... but he played great.

Guys like Mike Caputo, Keith Williams, Cam Meredith... each had excellent seasons.

We all hear of Amukamara, Dennard, Gomes, Hagg, Burkhead and Helu... rightly so, but David (in particular) and Crick, Henery, Caputo, Williams, and Meredith deserve some accolades. These kids played their hearts out and performed well.

In closing, I should have done the research.. and did not. But isn't David near (or perhaps has already) eclipsed Barrett Ruud's single season record for tackles?

Lets all focus in on congratulating these kids for their great performance... especially David

 
David is an absolute beast! I think much of our success on Defense is because of him. HIs ablilty to read and react to Offenses really did well on the run D. I haven't seen a LB like him in Lincoln in many many years.

 
I watched David almost all night from high above Jerry World the other night and he is an absolute beast. He will be a phenomenal player next year as we go back to a more traditional 4-3 D.

 
I promise you, David hasn't been overlooked on HB. Numerous posts have been made about him being a beast, a phenomenal players, etc, all of which I agree with 110%. Even the media has started to pick up on him.

 
To me, David is a lot like Burkhead. The first time I saw Burkhead play (Mizzou, '08) I knew he was going to be special. Same deal with David. What I have been most impressed by is his ability to pick up the game so quickly. He had a lot of raw talent coming in, but was rough around the edges w/r/t managing the defense. But he picked that up incredibly fast. To me, his mastery of the mental side of things is the most impressive part of his game, IMO.

Looking forward to the future, I suspect that you'll see Fisher, Compton, and David on the field at the same time, with David playing the role of the smaller, hybrid LB/S spot. We'll need a bit more size in the Big Ten, me thinks.

I am excited about having Crick, Meredith, and Martin up front, Fisher, Compton, and David as 'backers, with Dennard and Evans at the corners. Whoever settles at safety will likely contribute as well. Should be fun!

:bonesflag:

 
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17 tackles in any CCG is impressive. 140+ tackles in a given season is even more impressive. Interesting to think this never would've happened if both Fisher and Compton hadn't gone down with injuries just before the season started.

Looking back now, our LBs have done incredibly well considering their youth, relative inexperience and the many question marks surrounding that position.

Martin and Whaley had their moments early on, but David and Compton proved their worth, becoming the cream of the crop. Of course there's no doubt Gomes and Hagg played huge roles in that hybrid LB position as well.

 
I recall one play in particular in the CCG:

OU had just gotten the ball back in the late 3rd or early 4th, they were running at a very high rate, they ran a toss sweep on 1st or 2nd down and La Dav just absolutely crushed through the block of a huge o-lineman and steamrolled right through the tackle without once stopping his feet. It was so textbook and so tough and so straight up legit, they showed the replay only once, but it was seriously, one of the most singular efforts I have seen ALL year at any level. He is good, and he is coached amazingly to just instinctively play and bust heads. :throwdabones1:

 
Hujan said:
To me, David is a lot like Burkhead. The first time I saw Burkhead play (Mizzou, '08) I knew he was going to be special. Same deal with David. What I have been most impressed by is his ability to pick up the game so quickly. He had a lot of raw talent coming in, but was rough around the edges w/r/t managing the defense. But he picked that up incredibly fast. To me, his mastery of the mental side of things is the most impressive part of his game, IMO.

Looking forward to the future, I suspect that you'll see Fisher, Compton, and David on the field at the same time, with David playing the role of the smaller, hybrid LB/S spot. We'll need a bit more size in the Big Ten, me thinks.

I am excited about having Crick, Meredith, and Martin up front, Fisher, Compton, and David as 'backers, with Dennard and Evans at the corners. Whoever settles at safety will likely contribute as well. Should be fun!

:bonesflag:
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Burkhead was in high school in '08.

 
also, i dont think anyone (except for the voting media) is overlooking Alex
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He was First Team on the Medias All Big 12. The coaches are the ones that had him 2nd Team.

Also how can anyone say David, Crick, Meredith, Caputo, and Williams didn’t receive the accolades they deserve? Caputo and Williams were both Honorable Mention All Big 12 (which is all they deserved if you ask me). Meredith was 2nd Team and Honorable Mention All Big 12. Crick and David were both 1st Team All Big 12 on both the coaches and media teams. I don’t think they were overlooked.

 
David was the player I was most looking forward playing at the start of the season and he has lived up to all the expectations. He is a stud and I have a huge Husker man-crush on him. He may be the best tackler on the team and he should give a clinic to the other players. He is the perfect combination of heart and ability.

 
Boy did he prove me wrong, I really thought he would struggle due to his size, but he seems to have terrific instincts to slip tackles and find the ball. And when he finds the ball, he finishes the play.

I wonder as me move into the bigger but maybe a tad slower Big 10 if he will move into a role a little bit similar to Haag, move him around quite a bit on D and let him cover backs out in space. Something just to maybe keep him from being tied up with the big O linemen.

Should be an impressive LB corps next year.

 
LaVonte needs five tackles against Washington to eclipse Ruud's record. David has 145, Ruud's record is 149.

Five tackles in a game would tie for his lowest single-game total. He recorded only five tackles in one game - September 18th, at Washington. That was the third game of his Husker career.

In LaVonte's last seven games, he's had 8, 8, 10, 10, 14, 8 and 17 tackles.

I think there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that he doesn't break the record.

 
While I think Lavonte is great, and has contributed far more than I thought he could in year one in the system, keep in mind that his numbers are just as much because of the system as they are because he's the greatest linebacker since sliced bread.

 
knapplc said:
LaVonte needs five tackles against Washington to eclipse Ruud's record. David has 145, Ruud's record is 149.

Five tackles in a game would tie for his lowest single-game total. He recorded only five tackles in one game - September 18th, at Washington. That was the third game of his Husker career.

In LaVonte's last seven games, he's had 8, 8, 10, 10, 14, 8 and 17 tackles.

I think there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that he doesn't break the record.
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Thanks Knapplc.

Yeah... he should own the record soon.... until next year when he breaks it!

 
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