SIGNED LB Lavonte David

[dylan]

Well then that's freakin great news. I would hate to see pelini waste his first year by inserting him five or so games into the season. With Hagg being a senior and having the linebackers already in the system for at least two years I would love to see him redshirt and take over Hagg's position for the next two years, let Harvey Jackson redshirt and sit behind David for two years and take that over as a junior and start for two years. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but IMO that situation would be ideal. Unless we get some other athletic stud that can come in compete w/ David for the peso position right away.

there's certainly some reason to your argument, but i don't think the pelinis bring in jucos to redshirt them. they bring them in to make an immediate impact.

for example, see dejon gomes. conventional wisdom was that we were plenty deep at corner with prince, dennard and west (in addition to hagg and thorell at nickel/peso). gomes could have easily been shirted, and early in the season when he was getting spot minutes as the fourth corner, it was easy to say that he should have been shirted. lord knows i was saying it. of course, the coaches looked a lot smarter when he developed into a difference maker that won games for us.

i have no way of knowing whether david can have that kind of impact, but by all accounts he is a player. i fully expect to see him follow the same path as gomes (not to mention terrell farley) before him, spot minutes early turning into significant time later in the year.

 

[huskers1]

There's a massive difference between Gomes redshirting and the alternative being Thorell or West compared to David redshirting and the alternative being Hagg. The swap of Thorell for Gomes, IMO, translated to at least one extra win last year. I understand Pelini doesn't recruit a lot of Jucos and the ones that he does recruit end up being at a position of need so they play right away. With that said, Kinnie and Gomes were obviously an upgrade to what we had in their positions before them. That isn't necessarily the situation with David and I really think that he has the luxury to redshirt, the other two did not.

 

[dylan]

There's a massive difference between Gomes redshirting and the alternative being Thorell or West compared to David redshirting and the alternative being Hagg. The swap of Thorell for Gomes, IMO, translated to at least one extra win last year. I understand Pelini doesn't recruit a lot of Jucos and the ones that he does recruit end up being at a position of need so they play right away. With that said, Kinnie and Gomes were obviously an upgrade to what we had in their positions before them. That isn't necessarily the situation with David and I really think that he has the luxury to redshirt, the other two did not.

i'm not so certain the alternative is hagg. i know that it's easy to picture him playing the peso, but who's to say he can't play the other OLB? for that matter, what's the difference between that and what gomes did? gomes basically became a starter playing the dime like a second "peso" (read: a fast, 90's style WLB that can cover or blitz) and he's apparently the front runner at free safety now. so, we could have a wide open race for someone to play LB/peso#2/dime. i have yet to see any of our LB's take a strong hold of a job, nor do we have a sure fire dime back. there is definitely an opportunity for a talented kid to find his way on the field, regardless of position titles.

is he good enough? i think he might be, but i have no idea. i'm pretty sure though that the coaches will get him on the field early if they think he might be, too.

(also, i would largely credit gomes for one win (KU), playing a huge role in another (MU) and making one of the key plays in what should have been our biggest win against texas. he was a monster.)

 

[Minnesota_husker]

Funny to go back and read what people thought about Lavonte!

 

[Haspula]

He only has two games left in his career at nebraska. Good luck, lavonte

 

[Treand3]

Gonna miss this guy! Zaire hope ur ready to take the torch.

 

[BIG ERN]

One of my favorite Nebraska players of all-time. NFL teams better not miss on this kid. Wish him nothing but the best!

 

[Haspula]

He should be a top 10 pick in the draft.

 

[mitch7]

He should be a top 10 pick in the draft.

Yes he should be, he is the definition of a football player. Unfortunately, the scouts have him ranked as the No.6 LB and 51 overall, take that for what it is worth. I think he will prove them wrong and a team will take a shot on him early in the second round.

 

[Husker Richard]

One of my favorite Nebraska players of all-time. NFL teams better not miss on this kid. Wish him nothing but the best!

Agreed. This dude brought it every single game, every single play. Didn't matter the opponent, didn't matter the score, he showed up and he played his tail off.

 

[GM_Tood]

Definitely gonna be missed. Good luck at the next level LD!

 

[Mavric]

On Mel Kiper's list of the 25 best NFL Players under 25 Years Old:

Current: The 2012 draft will have a couple of great stories about players who dropped on a lot of draft boards because they were too small. There's the sub-6-foot QB in Seattle, and there should be the too-small linebacker in Tampa Bay. David bulked up to 233 pounds at the combine but played a lot lighter at Nebraska, and, despite fantastic tape, he fell to No. 58. That Tampa got him so low was one reason it got an A from me in the 2012 draft grades. David rewarded the Bucs with 16 starts and a team-leading 139 total tackles. He's already one of the better 4-3 outside linebackers in the NFL.
Future: David isn't big, but he's in a league where I think we'll see more linebackers who sacrifice bulk for the ability to run with tight ends and chase down slot receivers. I'm not sure he'll ever be a star, but David should be a reliable tackling machine for a long time and is worthy of being on this list for another season.