Speaker 1: Hey there, I hope everybody's enjoying their summer. Today, we're
Speaker 1: going to do something a little bit different and take
Speaker 1: you up behind the curtain here at One Jets Drive.
Speaker 1: The Jets twenty twenty four draft class was made up
Speaker 1: of seven players, as you all know, from Olu Fashion
Speaker 1: in the first round to the last pick in the draft,
Speaker 1: mister irrelevant Jalen Key. In the days and weeks after
Speaker 1: the draft, our entire reporting team talk to the Jets
Speaker 1: college scouts about their findings on each selection. We wanted
Speaker 1: to find out what was unique about each player and
Speaker 1: why do they have a chance.
Speaker 2: To succeed with the Jets.
Speaker 1: Today, we're going to start a two part series with
Speaker 1: a look at the scouting of Penn State tackle Olufashion,
Speaker 1: new running backs Braylan Allen out of Wisconsin and Isaiah
Speaker 1: Davis out of South Dakota State, and then finally Jalen
Speaker 1: Key out of Alabama. Let's get the conversation started with
Speaker 1: Jets Director of college scouting John Carr on Fashnu, the
Speaker 1: jets eleventh overall selection of the twenty twenty four NFL Draft.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, you know, Olu fashionu our primary area of
Speaker 2: scout is Thomas Whitty who handles that area in the
Speaker 2: northeast for US and Ja Mandalizi is the national Scout
Speaker 2: and we had a couple of people take a look
Speaker 2: at him as a third look. But Thomas did such
Speaker 2: a great job of identifying the traits of this young
Speaker 2: man and at the same time getting all the pertinent
Speaker 2: background information that we need on this guy. And Jay
Speaker 2: did a great job as well as far as in
Speaker 2: his evaluation and background information he gathered on this guy.
Speaker 2: But we were super excited about Olu. You see the
Speaker 2: success he's had as a left tackle plan in a
Speaker 2: high level conference in the Big Ten. I don't give
Speaker 2: up any sacks, but just from his quick initial quickness
Speaker 2: off the ball, it's contact balance, his anchor ability, plays
Speaker 2: with very good awareness, and we had him pretty high
Speaker 2: on our board, and that when we made the trade
Speaker 2: and we were at the eleventh pick, he was still there.
Speaker 2: I think it was a consensus in the room that
Speaker 2: he was our guy.
Speaker 1: All though, such a talented dude, I'm sure he could
Speaker 1: fit well in a lot of places, But what makes
Speaker 1: him the best fit for the Jets, And with that
Speaker 1: being said, what qualities stand out the most about him.
Speaker 2: Well, not only is he a good person, a good character,
Speaker 2: and he's smart, right, He's very intelligent. He's not a
Speaker 2: high rep type player. He's a guy that can play
Speaker 2: left tackle or right tackle and he works at it
Speaker 2: as well. So those things checked the box for him.
Speaker 2: But when you look at the size and the length
Speaker 2: and the athletic ability, his quickness off the ball, those
Speaker 2: things were very important in our style of offense. You know,
Speaker 2: we run a lot of zone scheme type runs and
Speaker 2: even in our pass pro drop back and movement in
Speaker 2: the pocket. This guy has the ability to do all
Speaker 2: of those things. He has a lot of range as
Speaker 2: a player as a pass protector, and so those things
Speaker 2: were pretty high on our list as far as the
Speaker 2: qualities that he checked that he can be successful in
Speaker 2: our scheme.
Speaker 1: For those avid listeners of the podcast We Salute You,
Speaker 1: you might remember that Penn State head coach James Franklin
Speaker 1: recounted the story of how he told Fashion he should
Speaker 1: enter the twenty twenty three draft. Fashio, of course, elected
Speaker 1: to stay, but he had been on the radar of
Speaker 1: National scout jamn Elisi and Aria scout Thomas Whittie for
Speaker 1: a long time.
Speaker 3: We've known about Oler for a couple of years now.
Speaker 3: He was a very highly coveted prospect last year. In
Speaker 3: my opinion, he was one of the best tackles last year.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think a lot of people were
Speaker 3: surprised when he decided to go back. But I mean,
Speaker 3: you talk about a young man that has his priorities straight,
Speaker 3: and you know, I know his mom wanted him to
Speaker 3: go back to school and get his degree, and he
Speaker 3: saw an opportunity to refine some of his game. And
Speaker 3: you know, he's he wasn't looking to just jump to
Speaker 3: the league, and he knew what he had to do
Speaker 3: to get a little better. So he decided to go
Speaker 3: back for this past season. And you know, we're glad
Speaker 3: he did because it gave us an opportunity to draft
Speaker 3: him here this year. But I mean, an outstanding young
Speaker 3: man as we went through this process, very few holes
Speaker 3: in terms of the person the player. You know, he's
Speaker 3: played at a high level, he's been productive, he's smart,
Speaker 3: it's tough, he's everything we look for, you know, to
Speaker 3: bring into our organization.
Speaker 4: So going through the school and I guess it was
Speaker 4: twenty twenty two, it's Oulu's true junior year, and you
Speaker 4: get out to the practice field and see big number
Speaker 4: seventy four, and I mean right away you're like, all right,
Speaker 4: who's that guy? And then you know, you see him
Speaker 4: play games. You turn on the tape and you see
Speaker 4: him move, and you get really excited about the player,
Speaker 4: and then you hear about the person too, and just
Speaker 4: couldn't say enough good things about him. Definitely try not
Speaker 4: to scout the helmet, that's number one, but but just
Speaker 4: seeing his his sheer size, his athleticism, that just that
Speaker 4: transcends everything you're looking at there. So so I think
Speaker 4: with a with a guy like him, you know, maybe
Speaker 4: not doing what we're asking to do in terms of scheme,
Speaker 4: but when you see him move, when you see him
Speaker 4: get out in space, it's something that that he can unlock.
Speaker 4: And then you see him run the forty at the
Speaker 4: combine as well and really get out there. It's definitely
Speaker 4: something he might have not shown as much on tape,
Speaker 4: but but it is in his body.
Speaker 5: All right.
Speaker 1: So it's agible's off the charts. He's so impressive. Like
Speaker 1: you said, he comes from a tremendous family, but you're
Speaker 1: talking about smarts and toughness and people get on me
Speaker 1: and say, Okay, well it's.
Speaker 5: More than that.
Speaker 1: When you look from a scouting perspective, this guy playing
Speaker 1: left tackle, what does he.
Speaker 3: Bring to the table consistency? Right, Like, he's athletic, he's big,
Speaker 3: he's strong. I mean, like he just checks the box.
Speaker 3: From a traits perspective, Yeah, you know he can play left.
Speaker 2: He could.
Speaker 3: I personally think he could play right. You could maybe
Speaker 3: play guard, Like I wouldn't bet against the kid, you know,
Speaker 3: playing anywhere on the offensive line. So you know he's
Speaker 3: done it at a high level. He gets it. You
Speaker 3: know they rave about him at the school. He just
Speaker 3: kind of checks every box.
Speaker 1: From that standpoint, key talk about creates it. You guys
Speaker 1: are looking at whether that be hands, length, feet, all those.
Speaker 3: Athletic obviously long, right, he's only he's only twenty one
Speaker 3: years old. He's got the frame that you look for,
Speaker 3: he's got the feet, he can pass protect, he's really strong.
Speaker 3: I mean you look at some of the stuff online
Speaker 3: with him in the weight room getting after it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I mean he can do it all. He can.
Speaker 3: He can slide, he can mirror, he can he can run, block,
Speaker 3: you know, he can position, he knows angles, you know,
Speaker 3: all that stuff checks off.
Speaker 4: As you go in and through the process, you have
Speaker 4: about a year or two years worth of data there
Speaker 4: that eventually the player is going to tell you who
Speaker 4: he is. So I think with Olui, he's someone that
Speaker 4: everything came up, came up, he checked all the boxes,
Speaker 4: and he continued to check those over his two years
Speaker 4: as he started there. I think his size, length, his
Speaker 4: pass protection, his ability to anchor and doing it at
Speaker 4: the Big ten level, all all really stood out this
Speaker 4: year especially just really impressed with the player and the
Speaker 4: person and his ability to pass protect would really be
Speaker 4: the calling card. I just think, I mean, everything he's
Speaker 4: shown so far, he's calm, he's cool, he's collected, doesn't
Speaker 4: get too high, doesn't get too low, always onto the
Speaker 4: next rep, and just ready to dominate his one on ones.
Speaker 2: That's what he does.
Speaker 1: So when you guys are in pre draft meetings, do
Speaker 1: you actually discuss, okay, more than just the prospect. I imagine,
Speaker 1: what's the fit here and can you explain why you
Speaker 1: think this is a good fit. Because what stood out
Speaker 1: to me during all his post raft interviews is that, hey,
Speaker 1: I looked up to Tyron Smith. Basically my whole life.
Speaker 1: When I was grown up in Maryland, I was watching
Speaker 1: tapes in high school this guy play and what a
Speaker 1: prototypical left tackle he was, and I see similarities in
Speaker 1: terms of my body type. Do you guys talk about Okay,
Speaker 1: not only can can he come in and he's a
Speaker 1: good player, but he can learn from these folks we
Speaker 1: already have in the Billy Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, just like with Olu, We've we've been working on
Speaker 3: him for a couple of years, right, so having Tyrone
Speaker 3: is awesome, but like we've been we've been evaluating him
Speaker 3: before Tyron got here. And ultimately, when you evaluate these guys, yes,
Speaker 3: it matters what our depth chart looks like, but we
Speaker 3: want to just get the player right, like what do
Speaker 3: we see the player being? And the cool thing about
Speaker 3: Oloo in my mind is yes, Tyron and Morgan are
Speaker 3: great guys to learn from. But in my mind, I'll
Speaker 3: lose the perfect guy to learn too. Like he's gonna
Speaker 3: he's gonna soak it all in, he's gonna be a professional,
Speaker 3: he's gonna wait his turn, and ultimately, like you can
Speaker 3: never have enough offensive lineman, and when you have a
Speaker 3: twenty one year old left tackle, like you jump on it.
Speaker 1: Braylan Allen, a fourth round selection in the Jets, taken
Speaker 1: with the one hundred and thirty fourth overall pick, had
Speaker 1: twenty one hundred yard rushing games at Wisconsin. Car College
Speaker 1: scout Drew Morris and senior regional scout Jonathan Stiegel broke
Speaker 1: down the youngest player in the NFL draft, the twenty
Speaker 1: year old Allen, who's a monster at six foot one,
Speaker 1: two hundred and forty five pounds.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So Braylen Allen and the three man look that
Speaker 2: we normally do with some of the top schools. Drew
Speaker 2: Morris was the primary for that area, followed by Jonathan
Speaker 2: Stiegel as a second look, and I was actually the
Speaker 2: third look. I visited Wisconsin, So tell us about your visit, John.
Speaker 2: It was a great visit, and Wisconsin's always a great visinits.
Speaker 2: They're always going to have tough minded young men that
Speaker 2: played there. The type of football they played, obviously being
Speaker 2: able to be tough and playing that kind of weather
Speaker 2: that they play in the season, the style of play
Speaker 2: they you know, downhill, physical, dig ten type back. And
Speaker 2: he checked all the boxes from sitting down with the
Speaker 2: coaches there as far as his character, you know, his
Speaker 2: love for the game, his competitiveness, and you know when
Speaker 2: you see him in person, you know, you when you
Speaker 2: first go there, you're thinking, well, this guy's gonna be
Speaker 2: six two two thirty five. Is he's gonna be a
Speaker 2: little chubby, you know. And when you saw this kid
Speaker 2: in person, he looked like a grown man. You could
Speaker 2: see the work he's put in in the weight room
Speaker 2: and for that size for him to run with such
Speaker 2: good balance and body control, and he has such quick feet,
Speaker 2: and you know he's a finisher. He's a positive yard
Speaker 2: type runner, and he's going to get you those tough
Speaker 2: yards from the short yards goal line. And I think
Speaker 2: he has the play speed where I call those explosive
Speaker 2: plus twenty type runs. He's not gonna be that home
Speaker 2: run hitter, but he'll get you those plus twenty runs.
Speaker 2: And he showed that. And you look at his twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two tape where he played in a more conventional
Speaker 2: pro style offense, wheever more downhill one cut, you saw
Speaker 2: a lot of the traits that got not only myself excited,
Speaker 2: but you know the scouts that visited the school along
Speaker 2: with our coaches as well.
Speaker 6: Oh gosh, as a seventeen year old freshman, maybe even
Speaker 6: a little before that, because I'm tied in a little
Speaker 6: bit with some of the high school coaches around here,
Speaker 6: and you know, kind of the guys from a local.
Speaker 6: He's actually just right down the street from me in
Speaker 6: Fondilac where he grew up. And then the first time
Speaker 6: you go out to practice and you see this guy
Speaker 6: and how big he is, and then he's just continued
Speaker 6: to get bigger over the last three years. I mean,
Speaker 6: he's built like a like a Mac truck. I might
Speaker 6: be dating myself a little bit, but he looks like
Speaker 6: he should be on the cover of the old video
Speaker 6: game NFL Blitz.
Speaker 7: I mean my first interaction was, you know, seeing him live.
Speaker 7: I'm like, you could see the video that he had sized,
Speaker 7: but when you walk up on him and practice, you're
Speaker 7: kind of amazed of how big and how well built
Speaker 7: he is. You know, through his body. You know he's
Speaker 7: got freakings traits, and I think he's shown that, you know,
Speaker 7: this season per se, I think the switch of offense
Speaker 7: from what was viewed in the past, I don't think
Speaker 7: he really showed everything that's in his body. I thought
Speaker 7: he did the year before, it was in a different offense.
Speaker 7: You know, they've done a really good job at Wisconsin,
Speaker 7: you know, filling that stable of running backs, and they've
Speaker 7: had production at Wisconsin, they've had production.
Speaker 2: In the league.
Speaker 7: I think if he would have stayed in that same
Speaker 7: inside zone, the downhill scheme or outside zone more, I
Speaker 7: think it would have been you know, he would have
Speaker 7: had more stats. And I think that's why he was
Speaker 7: overlooked a little bit. I think we got a really
Speaker 7: good value and a really good player.
Speaker 6: I think first off, like watching him as a seventeen
Speaker 6: year old rushing for almost thirteen hundred yards, I believe
Speaker 6: in the Big ten is is absolutely wild. And in
Speaker 6: terms of his frame, like he came in as a
Speaker 6: big kid and he just continued to get bigger in
Speaker 6: their weight room. You talk to those guys over at
Speaker 6: Wisconsin and they never limited it in terms of that
Speaker 6: because he really has the frame to carry it. Like
Speaker 6: when I was there, he was about two hundred and
Speaker 6: forty five pounds in August. He was about two forty
Speaker 6: three I believe when I came back in October, and
Speaker 6: he carries that weight extremely well. In terms of him
Speaker 6: as a player, Like obviously the size is going to
Speaker 6: stand out, the strength the power, the ability to break contact.
Speaker 6: I think that's something that he was able to do
Speaker 6: from freshman on. Outside of that, when you look at it,
Speaker 6: he's improved a ton in the passing game, both as
Speaker 6: a pass protector and as a as a receiver catching
Speaker 6: the ball out of the backfield. I think that's one
Speaker 6: of the most evident things that you see from watching
Speaker 6: him as a freshman to watch him now is how
Speaker 6: much better he's got in terms of pass protection. And
Speaker 6: as you mentioned, being the youngest guy in the draft, Like,
Speaker 6: there's still a lot of growth potential in this guy
Speaker 6: in terms of his skill set. I mean, he's twenty
Speaker 6: years old. Most of the guys you're seeing get drafted
Speaker 6: are twenty two, twenty three years old. Like, there's still
Speaker 6: a lot left on the bone for a guy who
Speaker 6: is an extremely productive college player. I mean, he was
Speaker 6: five semesters at Wisconsin. That's it. A lot of these
Speaker 6: guys are ten plus semesters now with everything going on.
Speaker 6: So I think there's a ton of upside and still
Speaker 6: room for him to grow and even get better from
Speaker 6: what she saw at Wisconsin.
Speaker 1: Would you find out about him from the people on campus,
Speaker 1: because that's a big part of your job as well
Speaker 1: as not just to valuate the tape, not just to
Speaker 1: watch these guys at practice or games, but actually do
Speaker 1: the research on the ground to find out who they
Speaker 1: are and how they're gonna fit in your program.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I mean he's he was raised in a good home.
Speaker 7: He's a Wisconsin kid. You know, there was no red
Speaker 7: flags off the field or any issues or concerns that way.
Speaker 7: You know, he was a guy like you know I
Speaker 7: just said before, you know, the character stuff all checked out,
Speaker 7: that was not going to be an issue. Everybody likes
Speaker 7: the person you know in the building, out of the building,
Speaker 7: and then you know through the process of combine and everything,
Speaker 7: you know he's a good person, responsible, accountable, all that stuff.
Speaker 7: You know, it was just you know, like I said,
Speaker 7: the production this year, playing or playing in that passing
Speaker 7: offense and not seeing you know, all of his skill
Speaker 7: set being used.
Speaker 1: Do you think about December and January when you're looking
Speaker 1: at a guy like this, because you guys have a
Speaker 1: star running back in the backfield in Brice Hall. But
Speaker 1: obviously you can't give him every rep out of the backfield,
Speaker 1: So how much does that factor in the equation where
Speaker 1: you guys are the division that kind of stuff.
Speaker 7: This is especially playing in his division, playing in Buffalo,
Speaker 7: you know, New England, especially later in the year when
Speaker 7: it's cold and you need to run the ball. I mean,
Speaker 7: obviously we saw that last year with Breese. You know,
Speaker 7: having a big back that can handle the load and
Speaker 7: adding another one to the stable, especially for a long season,
Speaker 7: is a really good problem to have.
Speaker 6: I like to see the Braylen Allen where it's third
Speaker 6: and three, third and two and you see him get
Speaker 6: that extra yard and be able to run through contact.
Speaker 6: I think that's the skill set that really projects well
Speaker 6: in terms of the NFL and what he's going to
Speaker 6: be able to do there. The guys obviously scored a
Speaker 6: lot of touchdowns throughout the years, but I think the
Speaker 6: most fun is watching him run through guys and the
Speaker 6: other stuff too. I think when you go through his
Speaker 6: tape is that he's got really impressive feet, like his
Speaker 6: foot agility working through the bags. I mean, just watching
Speaker 6: him float through the agility bags at Proday is one
Speaker 6: of the more impressive things I've seen. For I believe
Speaker 6: he was two hundred and thirty six pounds at PRODA.
Speaker 6: For a guy that size being able to move through
Speaker 6: the bags and change direction that the way he is.
Speaker 6: I think that's probably one of the most underrated parts
Speaker 6: of his game, is how good his feet truly are
Speaker 6: at that size. But he's also done a lot of
Speaker 6: things like outside of that. You know, obviously he said
Speaker 6: the weight room to size, the ability, the highlights on
Speaker 6: the field, like those are extremely impressive things. But I
Speaker 6: think the growth of him, you know, talking to those
Speaker 6: coaches that are in there, from seventeen years old to
Speaker 6: nineteen years old last year, has really been in terms
Speaker 6: of like his diligence, his classroom study, his ability to watch. Hey,
Speaker 6: those type of things have really come a long way.
Speaker 6: Those aren't necessarily things that you learn in high school.
Speaker 6: Those are things that you have to learn, have to
Speaker 6: dedicate yourself to at the college level. And he's done
Speaker 6: a really good job of getting himself prepared from a
Speaker 6: mental standpoint and being mentally ready for the NFL as
Speaker 6: much as he has physically.
Speaker 1: The Jets added even more depth behind star Breesall with
Speaker 1: the addition of Isaiah Davis in the fifth round, the
Speaker 1: number one hundred and seventy three overall selection in the draft.
Speaker 1: A stud at South Dakota State. Here's a kid who
Speaker 1: rushed for four five hundred and forty eight yards and
Speaker 1: fifty touchdowns in forty six games. While Carr and Morris
Speaker 1: will recount their unique scouting experiences in regards to Davis,
Speaker 1: national scout Don Green also touched upon the adversity he
Speaker 1: overcame to get to this point.
Speaker 2: Cool story with Isaiah. You know when we got when
Speaker 2: I got there, they practiced like I think the price
Speaker 2: at four point thirty or five o'clock and one of
Speaker 2: the coaches told me, he said, he's one of those
Speaker 2: kids that's you know, he's always first one to get
Speaker 2: out and he goes to his little routine before practice,
Speaker 2: and you hear that a lot of times, and you
Speaker 2: know sometimes you saw talk right, And so I went
Speaker 2: out to practice. Sure enough, there's Isaiah Davis out there
Speaker 2: doing footwork drills. He's got two other players with him,
Speaker 2: and the strength coach told me, this is an everyday thing.
Speaker 2: Is genuine. This guy loves football. He's going to be
Speaker 2: the last one to leave. And I was just super
Speaker 2: impressed with that and the success he's had on the
Speaker 2: FCS level again, a winner, they won the national championship,
Speaker 2: and you know he has a crazy stat where you know,
Speaker 2: the last two years, I mean, this young man had
Speaker 2: over four hundred and eighty carries and just one fumble
Speaker 2: and that's a that's a big stat, especially at the
Speaker 2: running back position. So super excited about Isaiah. He was
Speaker 2: a Red Star candidate, which is one of our top
Speaker 2: guys that fits the cad gory from a character and
Speaker 2: football player for us. And he's going to be a
Speaker 2: course special teamer and he's going to be another good
Speaker 2: addition to that running back rome.
Speaker 6: Yeah, he actually was put on my radar a little
Speaker 6: bit as a freshman. It's kind of an interesting story.
Speaker 6: So in twenty twenty one, they played in the spring
Speaker 6: because of COVID, So South Dakota State played sam Houston
Speaker 6: State in the National Championship Game, and that was when
Speaker 6: we were still mostly at home scouting. I was actually
Speaker 6: at my in law's house watching a game with my
Speaker 6: father in law and that was the only football on
Speaker 6: really at the time in the spring. Right, So I'm
Speaker 6: watching South Dakota State play sam Houston State in the
Speaker 6: National Championship Game and there's this big freshman out there,
Speaker 6: Isaiah Davis. He's returning kickoffs, he's running a ton of
Speaker 6: explosive runs. That was really the time where I was like, Wow,
Speaker 6: this guy's got something to him, and then been able
Speaker 6: to follow him for the last basically that spring of
Speaker 6: twenty one. Then they played again in the fall of
Speaker 6: twenty one, and then really kind of honing in on
Speaker 6: in the last two years and two twenty two and
Speaker 6: then twenty twenty three. So it's interesting because a guy
Speaker 6: like that. South Dakota State is a big time FCS program,
Speaker 6: and they actually had a running back that he split
Speaker 6: time with those first two years, Pierre Strong, who was
Speaker 6: I believe a third round pick with the Patriots. So
Speaker 6: for him to be able to step in and compete
Speaker 6: right away at a program like South Dakota State where
Speaker 6: most of their guy's red shirt have to kind of
Speaker 6: wait their turn, and to be as productive as he
Speaker 6: was as a freshman is also extremely impressive. Like this
Speaker 6: guy really, like I said, I'm sitting there, you know,
Speaker 6: drigging some beers with my father in law, and this
Speaker 6: guy's jumping off the tape. In terms of that, like, Okay,
Speaker 6: this is a name. I believe I might still have
Speaker 6: it somewhere, but I just kind of make notes in
Speaker 6: my phone there's one that says Isaiah Davis South Dakota State,
Speaker 6: interesting or something like that. Going back to it. So,
Speaker 6: you know, usually at the FCS level, there aren't guys
Speaker 6: that like, oh, wow, this guy's on my radar as
Speaker 6: a freshman. But with a guy like Isaiah Davis, just
Speaker 6: in that moment and how he jumped off the tape,
Speaker 6: like that's the guy that you put on your radar
Speaker 6: right away of hey, this is going to be an
Speaker 6: NFL player in a couple of years.
Speaker 5: Drew was really excited about this player and again watched
Speaker 5: him over the summer and you know, came away feeling
Speaker 5: the same way. I mean, Isaiah is another great kid,
Speaker 5: a small town guy. Joppling, Missouri's been through him and
Speaker 5: his family. He's been through a lot of adversity over
Speaker 5: over their life. He went whether to Tornado, Tornado and Joplin,
Speaker 5: Missouri when he was nine, Him and his family lost everything,
Speaker 5: had to overcome that, you know, wound up being Missouri's
Speaker 5: Gatorade Player of the Year his senior year. Didn't have
Speaker 5: a lot of offers, was a small school guy. You know,
Speaker 5: I think he had two offers coming out of high school.
Speaker 5: So he wasn't like highly touted mister five star or anything.
Speaker 5: But he's just a guy that's just got great makeup, consistent, tough,
Speaker 5: you know, everything you want, and a jet Isaiah Davis
Speaker 5: is it.
Speaker 6: So a lot of that information into of like work
Speaker 6: ethic and things like that you're going to get from
Speaker 6: talking to coaches and building relationships with those coaches, and
Speaker 6: then you really just want to see it like reinforce,
Speaker 6: Like when I go out to practice and hey, this
Speaker 6: guy has tremendous work ethic, and I know it to
Speaker 6: be true that Isaiah Davis has tremendous work ethic. He's
Speaker 6: extremely focused, he's driven, and when you're out there scouting it,
Speaker 6: you want to see it. Like you want to see
Speaker 6: that he's out there early to practice. You want to
Speaker 6: see that he's the first in line out there in reps.
Speaker 6: You want to see that he's going all out in
Speaker 6: all of his indie periods. You want to see that
Speaker 6: he's doing little things off to the side to get better.
Speaker 6: You want to see at the end of practice that
Speaker 6: he's got a couple of things that he's working on
Speaker 6: or he's working on with other guys. I think you're
Speaker 6: taking the information and then every time that you have
Speaker 6: a chance to see a player, whether that's in person
Speaker 6: to practice, whether that's in an All Star game, Isaiah
Speaker 6: was at the Senior Bowl, whether that's talking to him
Speaker 6: at a pro day at again Isaiah talking to at
Speaker 6: the Senior Bowl. You're trying to reinforce all that information
Speaker 6: and just stamp it in terms of, Okay, everything I've
Speaker 6: heard about this guy, now I've seen it with my eyes,
Speaker 6: I've heard him talk about it. All of those things
Speaker 6: are true, and Isaiah checks every single box in that regard.
Speaker 6: I think the other thing about Isaiah is in terms
Speaker 6: of his versatility. And he's a bigger back. Obviously, he
Speaker 6: can run through contact, He's strong. I think the physicality
Speaker 6: piece of Isaiah Davis is a big thing, not only
Speaker 6: as a runner but in pass protection, and I think
Speaker 6: that transitions really well to being a special teams player
Speaker 6: for us. He's returned kicks in the past, punts, kickoffs.
Speaker 6: You go back and you watch him at the Senior
Speaker 6: Bowl and you watch him play on punt team and
Speaker 6: you're like, all right, this guy can cover kicks at
Speaker 6: the NFL level. I think that's where he can come
Speaker 6: in and immediately help us as a special teams player.
Speaker 5: Isaiah's got great balance and body control and got good
Speaker 5: quickness and strength and power to him. So those are
Speaker 5: the things that I really liked about him. He was
Speaker 5: again he was my Red Star for this year, so
Speaker 5: I can't speak enough on him. He's a great, great,
Speaker 5: phenomenal person.
Speaker 1: So background there on the Red Star. Don Green's Red
Speaker 1: Star player, of course, was former South Dakota State standout
Speaker 1: Isaiah Davis. As Jets senior football advisor Phil Savage told
Speaker 1: us earlier on the podcast, the tradition is every scout
Speaker 1: should be able to nominate a Red Star from the
Speaker 1: area or group of schools. That is, a player who
Speaker 1: checks every box from an intangible standpoint. The twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four NFL Draft covered seven rounds and two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty seventh picks, with the Jets owning the final selection.
Speaker 1: Alabama defensive back Jalen keys family was watching Day three
Speaker 1: of the draft in the living room when he exited
Speaker 1: to the garage with nerves as the final selections were
Speaker 1: made and Key got a call from the Jets and
Speaker 1: got the news that he's headed to New Jersey to
Speaker 1: start his NFL career. Here's College Scouting Director John Carr,
Speaker 1: College scout Andy Davis, and National scout Dom green On
Speaker 1: what's relevant to mister irrelevant.
Speaker 2: All came back in the room there to talk about
Speaker 2: the seventh round pick there mister irrelevant, and Jalen's name
Speaker 2: just kept coming up. You know. He was a guy that,
Speaker 2: you know, very mature young man that kind of bet
Speaker 2: on himself right, transferred from UAB after graduating there and
Speaker 2: was kind of a laid out on at Alabama. And
Speaker 2: you know, anyone knows Nick Saban's defense can be very
Speaker 2: difficult to learn right away, you know, and for him
Speaker 2: to come in and quickly pick up that defensive scheme
Speaker 2: and and kind of become the communicator in the back end,
Speaker 2: and this kid has wired the right way. It was
Speaker 2: kind of a no brainer throughout the room, especially the
Speaker 2: guys that covered that area with Andy Davis being the primary,
Speaker 2: with Don Greenby in the National and Phil Savage with
Speaker 2: his relationship at Alabama, you know, you know at one
Speaker 2: time working there, those guys were all on board. And
Speaker 2: I watched the kid on tape as well. You got
Speaker 2: a guy that's good, good in his key and diagnosed
Speaker 2: and you know, got good short air quickness, recovers well
Speaker 2: in coverage, and he's got a really good clothes and
Speaker 2: he's not afraid to throw his body around. So that's
Speaker 2: gonna be a good addition to our defensive room.
Speaker 1: How interested are you to see what actually unfolds during
Speaker 1: training camp? And we could use the safety position as
Speaker 1: an example, because you guys resigned Chuck Clark. We know
Speaker 1: Tony Adams was an undrafted free agent that you guys found.
Speaker 1: Now he's in the starting lineup. Bring back Ashton Davis,
Speaker 1: but you got two young guys he took in consecutive
Speaker 1: years there late in the draft.
Speaker 2: JBC.
Speaker 1: I think people often forget about him because of his
Speaker 1: first year, and then also obviously bringing in Key as well.
Speaker 2: I think it's important that we have good competition. It's
Speaker 2: going to make our team better, right. You know you
Speaker 2: spoke of a Cook and Adams and Ashton Davis being
Speaker 2: resigned as well. Those guys are going to definitely help
Speaker 2: us on deep has been proven on tape. And then
Speaker 2: you know, with the addition of JBC, another versatility guy
Speaker 2: that can play corner, he can also play safety. We're
Speaker 2: going to see how he does at both positions this year.
Speaker 2: And then bringing in these two young guys, again, it
Speaker 2: just makes our team more competitive. And we want these
Speaker 2: guys because they're hungry. They got the character that they're
Speaker 2: going to come in and they want to start, and
Speaker 2: so that's what you want. And they're intelligent that we
Speaker 2: can move them around. So I'm really excited to see
Speaker 2: how all those guys compete on the back end. And
Speaker 2: we got a good safeties coach and coach Manuel that
Speaker 2: does a great job with those guys, and coach Obrick
Speaker 2: puts us all in the right put those guys in
Speaker 2: the right position to have success. So I'm excited to
Speaker 2: see when they all get there and get working together
Speaker 2: and OTAs on how these two young guys will pushing
Speaker 2: some of the other guys.
Speaker 8: Two seasons ago at UAB, going through there, they had
Speaker 8: some players that were prospects and you see Jalen on
Speaker 8: the field. He obviously looks the part and you're like,
Speaker 8: all right, that looks like an NFL player. And again
Speaker 8: you start talking to position coaches and staff there and
Speaker 8: they love him and he's a great kid. They ended
Speaker 8: up having staff change and I think late in the
Speaker 8: summer or during the summer, Jalen was a late transfer
Speaker 8: for Alabama, and it was really like a remarkable situation.
Speaker 8: He's obviously transferring to a huge program defenses and emphasis there,
Speaker 8: and Jalen didn't have another year, so for him, like
Speaker 8: that's a big gamble to go make that move, and
Speaker 8: it's like, hey, I'm either going to play or I'm
Speaker 8: gonna waste a year of my eligibility here. So I
Speaker 8: thought it was remarkable that he made the transfer, got there,
Speaker 8: and was able to earn the trust of the coaching
Speaker 8: staff and coach Saban to get on the field right away.
Speaker 5: So that's how I've initially found out about him. I
Speaker 5: was asking questions about the guys to the guys there
Speaker 5: at UAB about Jalen again, same type of demeanor, person, toughness,
Speaker 5: all that stuff, wired like you want them, all that stuff,
Speaker 5: And I circle back, go back to Alabama to see
Speaker 5: this guy. And he's a great looking kid, big, strong,
Speaker 5: rocked up lean, you know what I mean. You tell
Speaker 5: he's been working, he's taking care of his body, really smart.
Speaker 5: He's started learned Nick Saban's system really fast, which is
Speaker 5: really hard to do because it's complicated, and you know,
Speaker 5: wound up being a good player for them. And had
Speaker 5: a great season for him. Couldn't be more impressed was
Speaker 5: Jalen's overall character, his passion, and his smarts, because, like
Speaker 5: I said, Coach Saban's system is really difficult. Normally it
Speaker 5: takes guys, you know, two sometimes three years to pick
Speaker 5: it all up. He picked it up a matter of
Speaker 5: a couple of months. So it's a feather in his
Speaker 5: cap going to Alabama and learn it and not only
Speaker 5: learn it, but learn it to the point to where
Speaker 5: he could start for him and make an impact on film.
Speaker 8: You see a good athlete. He's versatile, he's big, he's strong,
Speaker 8: has good arm length. I think, just really for him,
Speaker 8: like he's a physical kid. He plays under control, he
Speaker 8: can play the deep part of the field, he can
Speaker 8: play near the line of scrimmage because of his frame
Speaker 8: and allows him to do both. And really he's a
Speaker 8: high motor, smart player.
Speaker 5: We have a meeting on the Saturday, and we you know,
Speaker 5: he asked for you know who the guys are excited about,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean? And so you know, guys,
Speaker 5: you know, the guys that we took were guys that
Speaker 5: we were excited about, you know. So just so happened
Speaker 5: Jalen was the last pick, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: So it's like I told him on the call, doesn't
Speaker 5: matter if you're the first pick, last pick, you know
Speaker 5: your job's come in here and you know whoop some
Speaker 5: tail and take some names and earn a spot, right,
Speaker 5: So that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1: On our next pot, we'll take a deep dive on
Speaker 1: the Jets scouting of wide receiver mail Kai Corley, quarterback
Speaker 1: Jordan Travis, and defuse it back Quantza Stickers