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Combining size, speed Offensive tackle Davis shows scouts the big picture
INDIANAPOLIS -- Leonard Davis made a big impression at the NFL Scouting Combine this weekend. But then, what else could he make? Davis, the gargantuan University of Texas offensive tackle, stands 6-5 3/4 and goes 370 pounds. He has a 46-inch waist and a 36-inch wing span. He lists his shoe size as "18 Nikes," and talks with glee of how he first hit 300 pounds at the age of 13. You can't even start to discuss Davis, whose nickname is the wonderfully apt "Big," without focusing on his size and his growing legend. "That kid is a monster," said an awed Vikings offensive line coach Mike Tice, just moments after working out Davis for the first time. "He's a man." He's also a top-five draft pick waiting to happen. And by the end of this weekend, he was a big fan of the Scouting Combine, which some draft prospects treat like a trip to the dentist. "I came to put on a show," Davis said. "Everyone else, from what I heard, they gripe about how tedious it is. To them it was like, 'Man, you've got to do this, you've got to do that.' I'm having fun. "I feel like you should go out and perform here. If you don't, you're wasting an opportunity to be seen by the entire league." Davis did not disappoint this weekend. He would tend to stand out in any crowd, but if anything, he only deepened the widely held conviction that his talents measure up to his sizable hype. His 33 bench-press reps at 225 pounds was a personal record, and he ran 10-yard dashes of 1.83 and 1.84 seconds -- excellent times for an offensive lineman. As anyone who works with a tape measure and a stopwatch can tell you, size and speed will get you a lot of love in the NFL. "I feel like I've moved up," said Davis, ignoring the reality that there is precious little ceiling room above him in most first-round draft projections. "I really feel like the coaches and scouts and general managers, I think they're really interested in me." In a big way. Quality left tackles don't grow on trees in the NFL. And they don't grow to the size of Davis anywhere. Except, apparently in Wortham, Tex., Davis' hometown. That's why teams like Cincinnati, Arizona, New England, Atlanta and Cleveland all have Davis firmly in their sights in the first round's upper echelon. Davis is not the same player as last year's third-overall pick, Washington offensive left tackle Chris Samuels, but he's the closest version this draft offers. Whereas Samuels was a dominating pass blocker from his first day in the league, Davis' calling card is his smothering, mauling style of run blocking. Scouts say he clears out his running lane so effectively that the only question is whether his running back will be able to navigate around him. Rather than run from reputation for girth, Davis embraces it. He relishes the chance to talk about his size and kept reporters captivated Friday with tales of his, uh, formative, years. Like how he was big enough to drive the tractor on the family farm at the age of 3. Or how he ran over five guys to score a touchdown on a kickoff in the seventh grade. And even the recounting of eating entire chickens in one sitting. "To me, [my size] is an advantage," Davis said, smiling. "People are intimidated, not just in football, but in every day life. Sometimes it's funny. You walk by people and they look up, and they'll wait until you get past them and they'll be like, 'Wow.' Some of them come up and and just say, 'Wow, you're big.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, I know.'" Davis, who also answers to "Big Len," "Big Monster," and "Big Wortham," maintains -- with a straight face -- that he has never been classically overweight. Just 7 pounds, 12 ounces at birth, his growth has been exponential after that modest beginning. "I was just big," he said. "I was never the big, fat guy who couldn't keep up. I never had a big gut I had to lose. I could run and I was athletic. I ran over people in junior high and high school.'' Davis has played as heavy as 381 pounds in college, but his normal playing weight is in the 360-365 range, he said. But whoever drafts him will be getting a well-rounded individual. After showing a propensity for the fast life early in his college career, Davis has slowed things down even as his NFL chances continued to pick up speed. "[Scouts] think I'm a great person," Davis said. "They probably feel like I'm someone they don't have to worry about off the field. I think that helps a lot, having character. My dad taught me a lot of things growing up. One thing he always told me was you can't do everything everybody else does. That didn't hit me until probably my freshman year in college. "I really learned from that. When I first got to UT, I went out a lot partying and all that. I realized I couldn't do all that. Ever since then, I slowed things down and I was more about taking care of business." Come April 21, and the first round of the NFL draft, Davis will once again take care of business by separating himself from the pack. For Davis, it has all the makings of another big success. Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.
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