How Appalachian State’s Davis-Gaither went from afterthought to a top LB in NFL Draft
Akeem Davis-Gaither wasn’t good at football.
During his freshman and sophomore years of high school in Thomasville, North Carolina, Davis-Gaither was playing football because that’s what people in his family did. His father, Keith Gaither, played football at Elon and has been a football coach since he graduated from college.
Gaither would get calls about his son’s performance in football games because things were going so poorly. But in his junior year of high school, everything started to click for Davis-Gaither.
Fast forward to 2020 and the linebacker is coming off a senior season in which he was named Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year, helped Appalachian State to a 13-1 record and then had a strong performance at the Senior Bowl with an NFL Scouting Combine appearance less than two weeks away.
But getting here was far from guaranteed.
Not only was Davis-Gaither not that good at football at first, but also he actually preferred baseball initially. But once he got to high school, he decided to shift to the sport his town and family was known for.
“Going into high school, my baseball team wasn’t as good, so I still played it and we tried our best to perform, but I started leaning more towards football, kind of more opportunities and better, better chances,” Davis-Gaither told the Observer. “My high school is known for winning state championships and things like that. And then my dad is well-known football player there. So it kind of definitely pushed me toward that.
“... Once I started playing football, I definitely fell in love with it, just being out there, being able to do things you couldn’t you in trouble for like hitting guys. It definitely became ... I guess you can call it (my) meditation.”
During his junior year of high school, he had 93 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, three sacks and three forced fumbles. He only improved in his senior year, finishing with 115 tackles, 33 tackles for loss, five sacks and two forced fumbles.
His performance resulted in offers from Division I schools, the first coming from Boston College. But App State was the right fit and close to home.
After a redshirt year to start his college career, Davis-Gaither shined once again in his junior and senior years, totaling 258 tackles, 28 tackles for loss, eight sacks, 18 passes defended, two forced fumbles and one blocked field goal in his four years playing at App State.
The 6-foot-2, 219-pound linebacker may be on the smaller side at the position, but he fits the direction that many defenses are going with more agile and speedier linebackers — players who can be fast on their feet and play a variety of roles.
Playing in the Sun Belt Conference and at App State, Davis-Gaither didn’t have the opportunity to go up against the top talent in the country. But what he put on tape was enough to earn him an invitation to this year’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. And, boy, did he impress.
He was voted as one of the top defensive players on the Senior Bowl’s South team by opposing players and left many scouts and draft analysts with positive impressions.
Pro Football Focus has him as its fourth-best linebacker prospect in the draft, pointing out that he “more than held his own in the one-on-ones against running backs and tight ends at the Senior Bowl.” Multiple draft analysts have him currently among the top-five linebackers in the 2020 class heading into the Combine. He’s expected to go somewhere in the middle rounds.
Having success in Mobile didn’t come as a surprise to Davis-Gaither.
“I didn’t really know what to expect because I’m the first guy from my town to go, so I didn’t really have too many people to really ask and get some feedback from. So I was really going in blind,” Davis-Gaither said. “I definitely enjoyed the process, especially setting a new standard for my family. Raising the goal for my nephews, just showing them that you can achieve whatever you set your mind to, you know, show them that we are destined for whatever we want.
“And the week (itself)? It went pretty good. I went down there knowing I could play with those guys.”
He may be undersized, but the linebacker has shown an ability to play well despite that, priding himself on being able to recognize plays and for his durability. He envisions himself playing all over the field and not coming off of it.
On top of preparing for the Combine, which will be a big opportunity for him to even improve his draft stock more (alongside fellow former App State teammate and running back Darrynton Evans), Davis-Gaither started a cleaning business while he was still in a college and has a young daughter, Camilla Joy Davis, who he says changed his life.
“She changed my look on a lot of things, definitely, knowing that I want her to look at me and see a man, and somebody that she could look up to,” Davis-Gaither said. “I definitely wanted to change to be a better person for her.”
During the Combine, he will be giving back to his community through his vertical jump with a donation drive for Communities in Schools of Thomasville, the leading dropout prevention organization in his hometown.
He was the first in his family to go to a D-I program, and his talent and hard work brought him to this level now.
“A guy you can count on, trustworthy, a leader on and off the field,” Davis-Gaither said when asked what any prospective team would be getting in him. “A guy that’s energized and always pushing himself to get better.”
What comes next will be worth watching.
