...The past four months have been rough for Davis, 21. When he left Ball State following a record-setting junior season, he seemed destined to follow Ben Roethlisberger, Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich as the next great Mid-American Conference quarterback to enter the NFL. Now -- thanks to a couple late-season losses, a mediocre combine showing and a pro day that attracted just one team -- Davis' stock has dropped so fast it feels like somebody has latched a Ford F-150 to it. Some reports project Davis -- who as recently as November was forecasted by some draft gurus as a possible first-round pick -- as a mid- to late-round selection, at best.
But what really might be compromising Davis' draft stock is the issue surrounding his smarts. He has a learning disability (often referred to as LD) that makes it harder for him to learn by reading information. It's a problem that has been documented since he was in junior high school.
"I do have a disability, but it's not an issue in football," he said. "I just learn differently than other people. I'm more of a visual learner."
The problem, however, is that Davis hasn't done enough in his pre-draft workouts to mitigate concerns. The 6-foot, 1⅜-inch, 226-pound prospect has a powerful right arm and instinctive feel for the game, but there are fears about how he'll process an NFL playbook.
As one AFC assistant coach said: "Some teams will rate him as a third- or fourth-rounder, but I just didn't like him very much. I love his passion, but it's hard to feel good about a guy with his size who's not a quick-twitch athlete. You'd like to see him have better accuracy or touch or some kind of intangible. I really didn't see that in him. Plus, I had a guy tell me he isn't smart enough to play in this league."
That last remark really peeves Davis and his supporters. He can accept the nitpicking of his physical traits, but Davis fails to understand the notion that he might not grasp an NFL offense. The people who know Davis understand that he's spent the past nine years proving that his learning disability never affected his play. So they argue it shouldn't be such a discouraging red flag at this point in his career.
The Davis camp said teams need to watch more film and see how Davis competed during three record-setting seasons at Ball State.
"His learning disability was never mentioned when Ball State was 12-0 last season and it wasn't mentioned when he was throwing 50-yard strikes at places like Nebraska [in 2007]," said Jose Davis, Nate's older brother and a former quarterback in the Canadian Football League and Arena League. "But now it's apparently a problem"...
