NFL Draft Dog

Fred Davis, 2008 NFL Draft Prospect

Fred DavisTight End

6' 4" 248 lbs.

USC

Senior

Yes tight end Dustin Keller (Purdue) is fast (4.53), but he is a tad small (6’ 2” 242 lbs), and isn’t quite the blocker that Fred Davis is. Regardless, it will be a toss up to see which one of these undersized, but talented tight ends are drafted first in the 2008 NFL Draft. If you look at the various NFL Draft Player Rankings around the internet you will see either Keller or Davis ranked number one.

This year, like last, is not considered a good year for tight ends, there were only 12 tight ends drafted and only three drafted in the first three rounds last year: Greg Olsen (Bears) at 31 (1st round), Zach Miller (Raiders) at 38 (2nd round) and Matt Spaeth (Vikings) as the 77th (3rd round) overall selection. This year, Fred Davis and Dustin Keller will probably be the only tight ends drafted on day one. Don’t forget about the changes to the format for the NFL Draft.

But back to Fred Davis, even though he is slightly undersized, he is an excellent NFL Draft prospect, he is a decent, not great blocker, but he is very adept and getting downfield, running down the seam and getting open, he has great hands, is very athletic and is strong and tough to bring down in the open field. In 2007 he ranked 3rd in the PAC 10 in receiving yards per game with 67.8 and amazingly, the next best tight end didn’t show up in the rankings until 17th. Overall in 2007 while starting all 13 games, he had 62 receptions for 881 yards (14.2 avg.) and 8 TDs, all team highs.

Fred Davis outperformed both highly ranked NFL receiver Prospects from Cal Berkley, DeSean Jackson and LaVelle Hawkins. Davis also was a standout at the 2008 Senior Bowl and all week in practice consistently getting open and finding soft spots in the zone. He really understands the game of football and played in an NFL style offense under Pete Carroll at USC.

Fred Davis was a key member of the most winning senior classes in college football history. Davis participated in four straight BCS Bowl Games, a National Championship and four straight Pac-10 Championships. Fifth year seniors enjoyed five Pac-10 Championships, two National Championships and five BCS bowl appearances. Said Davis, “It’s a great accomplishment, you don’t even think about it till you start hearing about it.”

CAREER: His 117 career catches (12th on USC's career receptions list), 1,408 career receiving yards and 13 career touchdown receptions are records for USC tight ends. He has 3 100-yard receiving games in his career (all in 2007). He has caught a pass in 17 consecutive games (including all 13 in 2007).

 

Major accolades:

  • Won the 2007 Mackey Award as the nation's top tight end (USC's first-ever recipient)
  • Named to the 2007 The Sporting News All-American first team
  • Phil Steele's All-American first team, AP All-American second team
  • SI.com All-American second team
  • Collegefootballnews.com All-American second team
  • Pro Football Weekly All-American honorable mention
  • All-Pac-10 first team
  • ESPN.com All-Pac-10 first team
  • Collegefootballnews.com
  • All-Pac-10 first team, Rivals.com All-Pac-10 first team and Phil Steele's All-Pac-10 first team