James Davis RB 5'11 218 Clemson 4.60

James Davis gave Clemson fans a lot to look forward to as a freshman, when he rushed for 879 yards and nine touchdowns in 2005. The past two seasons he has teamed with CJ Spiller to form one of the most exciting backfield duos in college football. He ran for 1,187 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2006, and followed that up with 1,064 yards and ten touchdowns last year. Clemson disappointed as a team and the stats were not as high as many players would have hoped, including Davis. The numbers dipped a bit, but he still ran for 725 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Strengths

Davis has a nice blend of skills rushing the football. He has thrived as an interior runner, picking up tough yardage and being very difficult to bring down on first contact. Davis is a strong runner, and is determined to keep moving forward, no matter who is in his way. He runs much tougher than his size would indicate. He also has the speed and quickness to get to the outside, turn the corner, and pick up big chunks of yardage.. Davis has the quick feet to make a cut and make the defender miss and get into open space. Sharing the load with CJ Spiller may limit his touches, but that may be a good thing about his longevity in the NFL. He will likely enter the league with a relatively low number of rushes for a four year player that has been as successful as he has.

Weaknesses

The presence of Spiller may have limited Davis’ ability to be a factor as a receiver .He caught 19 balls as a freshman, but just 32 the past three seasons because of Spillers big play ability out of the backfield. Maybe his development has just been hidden, but it is a trait that he will have to prove to teams he has. His size is merely average, and while it may not cause him problems in the NFL, it could limit his success as an interior runner.

Future

Davis is a player that college football and draft fans know all about. He declared for last years draft, but decided to return to school later on. Spiller is the more exciting of the two Tiger backs because of his speed, but Davis could actually be underrated because of the attention Spiller gets. Davis has been deemed the ‘Thunder’ in the Thunder/Lighting combo, but that is selling him short. He is a playmaker capable of breaking off big runs as well. There are a few second tier backs that had a chance to separate themselves from the pack in the post season, and Davis was one of them. Davis didn’t do anything to really hurt himself, but he needed great workouts to make scouts forget about the down year as a senior. He ran a respectable 4.6 40 and 218lbs, but that isn’t enough to elevate him out of the mid rounds that he is likely to be selected in. Despite that draft grade, Davis is a player that could have a very productive NFL career because he has a lot of talent.