Maryland Football: A look at the Senior Bowl

Saturday marks one of the biggest measuring sticks of the draft process in the Senior Bowl.

The Maryland football team has two players aiming to stand out.

Cornerback/safety Sean Davis and defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson are two of 18 players that will be representing the Big Ten on the North and South teams. Both Davis and Jefferson are on the South team, but Jefferson won’t be suiting up on Saturday due to a lower back injury.

Regardless of what happens on Saturday, both players have had a great week of practice, according to reports. This is very important to their future draft prospects, especially with all of the NFL teams watching the practices.

Let’s take a look at Davis and Jefferson and see what their game is all about and what they need to do in order to boost their draft stock.

Sean Davis

Davis certainly had an interesting career during his time at Maryland. The Washington D.C. native made the first 15 starts of his collegiate career at safety during his freshman and sophomore seasons. During his junior campaign in 2014, Davis was forced into a pair of starts at the cornerback position due to injuries. Heading into 2015, Davis made the position change official and started all 12 games opposite William Likely at cornerback.

The Maret School (D.C.) product had his most productive season as a junior. Davis recorded 115 tackles (80 solo), had eight passes defended, and forced a fumble. His 115 tackles were good for fifth in the Big Ten, just behind the likes of teammate Cole Farrand and Penn State’s Mike Hull. Davis’ best game came against Wisconsin when he registered a whopping 17 tackles.

Davis’ senior season may not have lived up to the hype of his junior campaign. With the switch to the cornerback position, his numbers dipped as he accumulated 88 tackles (70 solo), three interceptions, three passes defended, and five forced fumbles. It was really a chance for Davis to showcase his skills from a pass coverage aspect.

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When you watch the tape of Davis, one of the first things that jumps out is his sound tackling ability. It’s rare that an opposing ball carrier shakes off a tackle attempt from Davis. This is a very physical defensive back that is able to lay the big hit quite frequently. Obviously, Davis had more opportunities to register jaw-dropping hits as a safety. However, regardless of where he is lined up on the field, he can run an opposing ball carrier down. Quickness and combined with his tackling ability are the major parts of Davis’ game and certainly will be selling points to NFL teams.

One of the biggest question marks surrounding Davis is his pass coverage. Davis struggled at times throughout the 2015, including surrendering 15 receptions for 200 (two touchdowns) to Bowling Green’s Roger Lewis this past season. Davis was burnt on several occasions, including on a 58-yard touchdown by Lewis to tie the game at the time. While he may be a work in progress, Davis definitely has the size and speed to be a productive corner at the NFL level. He’s already had a solid week of practice, but holding the wideouts that he’s covering in the Senior Bowl in check could go a long way towards his standing in the 2016 NFL Draft.

Quinton Jefferson

Jefferson has been one of the more productive defensive linemen that Maryland has had in recent years. He began his career as a highly-touted defensive end out of the Pittsburgh area. Despite his pedigree, he didn’t see a ton of playing time as a freshman due to Maryland still having guys like A.J. Francis and Joe Vellano in the fold on the defensive line. The best seasons of Jefferson’s collegiate career turned out to be his sophomore and redshirt junior campaigns. He started the last 28 games as a Terp, including all 12 games this past season as a redshirt junior. 2015 was easily the most productive of Jefferson’s career, which led to him throwing his name in the ring for the 2016 NFL Draft.

As was mentioned above, Jefferson had a phenomenal redshirt junior season in 2015. The Woodland Hills (Pa.) product only played in the first games of the 2014 season due to a season-ending knee injury. Jefferson bounced back and was a key force on Maryland’s defense line, which was third in the Big Ten with 35 sacks (2.9 per game). He registered 39 tackles (12.5 for loss) to go along with 6.5 sacks, an interception, and a forced fumble.

While he may not be playing on Saturday, Jefferson still have make an impact as the draft process furthers. There’s still the NFL Scouting Combine and his Maryland Pro Day where he can make an impact. As far as his NFL prospects, Jefferson is a very athletic defensive linemen. Similar to Davis as a defensive back, Jefferson’s versatility is one of his major selling points. While Jefferson is more of a tackle than an end, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he played both at the next level. Jefferson has a very high motor that can get penetration into the opposing team’s backfield very easily. It looks like Jefferson could go much like Darius Kilgo did in last year’s NFL Draft. Kilgo went to the Denver Broncos in the sixth round.

Next: Maryland Basketball:Who's on your Mount Rushmore of Terps

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