Nebraska Football Spring Spotlight: Keona Davis

The Nebraska football team will wrap up spring practice with the Husker Games tomorrow. The Big Red heads into summer workouts with different offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinators than the coaches who were in place a year ago at this time, in addition to having dozens of new players on the roster. Even amidst all the change, optimism is high heading into year three for Head Coach Matt Rhule. 

So far during our spring spotlight series, we’ve highlighted running back Emmett Johnson and wide receiver Dane Key–both of whom are expected to be major contributors in Dana Holgorsen's revamped offense–as well as linebacker Vincent Shavers Jr., an exciting young talent who figures to be a big part of John Butler’s defense this fall. 

We’ll conclude our spring spotlight series by looking at another exciting young defender: defensive lineman Keona Davis. 

Today’s Spotlight: Defensive Lineman Keona Davis

From huskers.com: “Keona Davis played in 12 games as a true freshman, recording 10 tackles and 1.5 tackle for loss. He made a solo stop against Colorado for his first career tackle. Davis had two tackles against Northern Iowa. He finished with two tackles at Purdue, including his first career tackle for loss. Davis had one tackle against Rutgers. He also had one tackle at USC. Davis recorded two tackles with a half TFL in the win over Wisconsin. Davis ended his freshman season with one tackle and his first career quarterback hurry in the Pinstripe Bowl against Boston College.”

View from the Common Fans: It’s not easy to come into a major college football program and become a contributor on the defensive line as a true freshman, but that’s exactly what Davis did. He seemed to feature more prominently in the defensive game plan as the season went on, which is an encouraging sign as he heads into his sophomore season. Davis had Husker fans holding their breath when he briefly entered the transfer portal prior to Nebraska’s appearance in the Pinstripe Bowl. It was certainly understandable from the young player’s perspective: both defensive coordinator Tony White and defensive line coach Terrance Knighton departed for Florida State, and he was left in a state of uncertainty. When speaking to the media this week, Davis commented that he was scared and confused after the two coaches left Lincoln (props to the young man for the candor). Thankfully, Coach Rhule and the staff were able to convince Davis to stay at Nebraska, and it sounds like he has really taken to new defensive line coach Terry Bradden. 

Outlook for 2025: As Mitch Sherman recently told us on the Common Fan Podcast, the Huskers have “a very promising, big, really high ceiling pass rusher in Keona Davis.” Nebraska will need him to fulfill that promise in 2025, after losing several multi-year contributors on the defensive line. Ty Robinson and Nash Hutmacher are off to the NFL, and Jimari Butler hit the transfer portal. Rhule’s staff did a good job of re-stocking along the D line with multiple additions from the portal, to go along with the young talent on the roster that includes Riley Van Poppel and Cam Lenhardt. But any calculation of successful defensive line play includes Keona Davis taking his play to another level in 2025. 

Defensive coordinator John Butler has talked during spring ball about the importance of generating more turnovers and getting off the field on 3rd down. Similar to Vincent Shavers Jr., Davis’ talent and skill set seem to fit perfectly into that plan. Hopefully we’re watching him chase Big Ten quarterbacks all over the field this fall. 

As always, GBR for LIFE.

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