Penn State Recruiting Spotlight: Safety Derrick Davis Jr. Set to Announce

Penn State looks to deliver a positive finish to its 2021 recruiting class, which certainly would get a boost from top in-state prospect Derrick Davis Jr.

The 6-1 safety from Gateway High in Monroeville made SI All-American's SI99 list of the nation's top 2021 prospects. Davis has narrowed his list of contenders to Penn State, Ohio State and LSU. He is scheduled to announce his decision Saturday.

Davis Jr. is a dynamic player, which his film clearly shows. One play in particular showcases how he can change a game:

Davis, the No. 4 player in Pennsylvania according to 247Sports, will make any college defense better, as his SI All-American evaluation notes.

"As he continues developing his man coverage skills and consistent tackling technique, Davis has a chance to become a core contributor to a collegiate defense," according to his evaluation.

Though coaches can't discuss unsigned recruits, Penn State's staff clearly places a big emphasis on adding Davis to the 2021 class. Tyler Bowen, Penn State's offensive recruiting coordinator, recently said that the team still has "a lot of our top targets on our board" and plans a strong finish to the recruiting cycle.

Davis would help secure that. Want to know more about him? Check out his film above and read on from his SI All-American breakdown.

Projected Position: Safety, and potentially as a linebacker on certain big nickel and dime packages.

Frame: Athletic frame with excellent body definition and composition. Big shoulders and good-looking calves, with a fair amount of room to add even more mass.

Athleticism: Smooth movement skills and athletic ability when on the move. Very good quickness to close and finish when driving on underneath routes, validated by 4.14 shuttle time at The Opening Regionals 2019. Displays a subtle burst that allows him to climb to top speed naturally with good open field stride. Speed and closing quickness compensate for adequate transition footwork at this point. Solid leap timing (35-inch vertical jump) and ball skills.

Instincts: Displays alertness and awareness for crossers and drags underneath from safety position. Good peripheral vision of receivers when working as single-high defender and speed allows him to play with range to reach outside of numbers. Tough when asked to play on edges of box and stack tight ends to set the edge and maintain outside leverage. Doesn’t allow himself to get lost in traffic/trash and chases ball-carriers well in pursuit; will strike with good force as a tackler.

Polish: Has the size, speed and play strength to contribute fairly early in his college career. Will need to improve transition quickness and footwork out of his break/pedal, which will allow him to get off hashes with more urgency. Not asked to perform much man coverage.

Bottom Line: Davis has the traits to develop into a very good starting college back-end defender. He has enough instincts and ball skills to go along with play speed, range and toughness in the box to play both free safety and strong safety, while also having the size to potentially even contribute as a linebacker on sub-packages. As he continues developing his man coverage skills and consistent tackling technique, Davis has a chance to become a core contributor to a collegiate defense.

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