There's more to Davis now
May 7, 2006
By Brett Borden
Panthers.com
Day by day, and practice by practice, the game of football is slowing down for second year linebacker Thomas Davis, and that is a big difference from one year ago.
Drafted as a safety out of Georgia in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft, Davis started out there in mini camp. He stayed there for summer school sessions and then the beginning of training camp. But when a rash of injuries hit the linebacker position, he was shifted closer to the line of scrimmage. Then, when the linebackers got healthy again, Davis was moved back to the secondary.
Davis, who recorded 28 tackles, 1.5 sacks and two forced fumbles as a rookie, struggled early on learning where to be at what time, and thus spent much of the 2005 season watching and learning from the sideline. He says that wasn't all bad.
"Last season, watching everybody from the sideline helped me more than anything else," said Davis. "I felt like I was a guy who could come in and compete, but I wasn't as prepared for this League as I needed to be. This year I'm really trying to maintain a good focus to make sure I'm ready."
When Carolina originally selected Davis, the coaching staff had envisioned him playing linebacker down the road anyway. With the departure of stalwart Will Witherspoon, that road got a lot shorter, and so Davis has spent this offseason getting a little bigger.
"You have to get your weight up to get down in that box and play with these guys," said Davis. "That's one thing I've been focusing on this offseason. Last year I had to weigh in at around 227. Right now I'm up to about 235. It was a target weight that the strength and conditioning coach (Jerry Simmons) and I set, so I'm going to try to stay around this weight. I'm just trying to make the transition a lot easier for myself."
While the shifting around last season made if more difficult to pick up the defense for Davis, it is helping him now that he has had time to absorb it, he says.
"The stuff that I did last season, coming in with different packages, really helped me out a lot," he said. "I'm a lot better (at pass coverage). I learned a lot last season from Mike Minter. We have Ken Lucas and Chris Gamble that helped, too. I feel like I'm going to take that knowledge with me to linebacker and make it work for me."
Davis' weight isn't the only thing that has increased. His jersey number has gone from 47 to 58. He was asked if the new number might mean a permanent home at linebacker, since there aren't any safeties wearing 58 in the NFL.
"There weren't any 47 linebackers, either," said Davis, laughing. "I wasn't able to wear 47 this year, so (58) was the next best thing. We still consider Mark Fields a part of the team around here, though, so I had to make sure it was okay with him for me to wear this number. I'm just going to go out there and try to play something like he did."
Davis says he still has a way to go before feeling like he has the new position down, but he has a plan to ask for some friendly advice in achieving that goal.
"I'm not as ready as I need to be, but by the time the season starts, I definitely feel like I'll be ready for it. I've been talking with Dan (Morgan) a lot. When we break after summer school, I'll be meeting with (fellow Georgia native and Buffalo linebacker) Takeo Spikes, too, just to try to take some pointers from him."
Sshhh...this signing puts a little scare into me. If Adams was indeed signed to start at OLB, I would be shocked to see the 5'11" 223lb former Eagle at SLB.
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I don't know but until Mr Davis actually shows that he can handle the duties and until the coaching staff actually says Davis is the starting WLB then most of this thread is spinning things to meet what they want done.
Figured that there was just to much man love going on here and needed to break it up a bit with some reality.
