Jake Spavital heard about the legend of Davis Webb — the quarterback who grew up a coach’s son in suburban Dallas and developed an obsessive work ethic — but thought, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Not long after Webb arrived at the University of California as a graduate transfer from Texas Tech, Spavital became a believer.
Webb would routinely work in Cal’s football building from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
“There were times when I wanted him to leave so I could go home, like in the summer,” Spavital, the former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Cal who now holds the same title at West Virginia, said in a recent phone interview with the Beacon Journal. “He’s a very driven kid.
“I had so much trust in him. I even let him run my Friday meetings at times. Normally, college coaches have two meetings they do the night before the game. I let him do one of them, and then I’d do the last one. Never done that before.”
Webb’s intense preparation is one reason some analysts believe he could be selected as early as the first or second round in the April 27-29 NFL Draft.
MVP of Senior Bowl
The Browns coached Webb in January at the Senior Bowl and could target him if they don’t use an earlier selection on one of the presumed top four quarterbacks — North Carolina’s Mitchell Trubisky, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes and Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer.
Webb completed 11-of-16 passes for 165 yards and threw a 39-yard touchdown pass in the Senior Bowl, earning the college all-star game’s most valuable player award.
“In our system, we demand a guy has to be able to throw the ball [downfield] like that,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said at the NFL owners meetings. “He demonstrated that at the Senior Bowl. He was the MVP of the Senior Bowl. Had a good week of practice, did well, another candidate in this draft we’ll continue to look at and dig on and find out more about.”
Spavital said NFL talent evaluators are mostly attracted to Webb’s big arm and size (6-foot-4⅝ and 229 pounds), but his college coaches rave about his penchant for hard work above all.
It helped him earn the respect of his new teammates at Cal, and they voted him a captain a couple of months after he joined the program.
He was a captain at Texas Tech, as well, but shoulder and ankle injuries opened the door for Mahomes to replace him in the starting lineup in 2014. The next year, Mahomes won the starting job in camp.
Webb eventually transferred to Cal for his final season of eligibility. And even though he’s often knocked for not being able to beat out Mahomes, Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury doesn’t think his decision should reflect poorly on Webb.
“Davis is a tremendous talent, tremendous player, big, strong, athletic, very, very smart, football savvy, incredible mind for the game, same big-time type arm [that Mahomes has], and then Davis had got hurt,” Kingsburgy said by phone. “That’s really what it came down to.
“His sophomore year, he hurt his shoulder. Then he hurt his ankle, and Pat slid in and played really well. We just kind of rode the hot hand. But it wasn’t anything Davis did really, except Pat played at an extremely high level and we stuck with him.”
Driven to start
The it’s-not-you-it’s-me rejection from Texas Tech fueled Webb.
“I know it did,” Sonny Dykes, Cal’s former head coach who’s now an offensive analyst and consultant at TCU, said by phone. “Davis is one of those guys, he likes to find things that are going to motivate him. I know Tom Brady has kind of the same mentality and likes to find criticisms or things in his life that didn’t go maybe the way he wanted them to and refer to those and gain motivation from them.”
Webb started all 12 games in his only season at Cal and completed 382-of-620 passes (61.6 percent) for 4,295 yards and 37 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. He nearly matched the production Jared Goff, the No. 1 overall pick last year who struggled as a rookie with the Los Angeles Rams, had during his final season at Cal.
But Cal had weaknesses elsewhere on the roster, went 5-7 last season and fired Dykes.
Nobody seems to be blaming Webb for his coach’s downfall, but there are legitimate concerns about his accuracy and footwork.
Spavital said it would be typical of Webb to be in rhythm passing and then suddenly make an erratic throw, usually too high.
“At times, his elbow would drop underneath and would force him to sail the ball,” Spavital said. “I think if you went and looked at all of his bad throws, that would probably be the common thing. There’s times when his footwork was out of whack on certain plays, but I’d say probably consistently it would be his elbow dropping.”
Dykes said taller quarterbacks like Webb often struggle with footwork and need to develop it.
“The guys that are highly consistent throw off a balanced platform,” Dykes said. “ ... Peyton Manning was a work in progress when it came to his feet, and he worked incredibly hard and became somebody who is known for his footwork. But Peyton’s a bigger guy, and I think that was a process to get to that point.”
Time and patience
Both coaches insisted Webb is hellbent to fix his problems, but it’ll take time.
His ability to call plays in a huddle and get his timing down while taking snaps from under center will require patience, too. Spavital said the Browns asked Webb to call 15-word plays at the Senior Bowl. At Cal, which used virtually the same Air Raid offense as Texas Tech, Webb would look to the sideline for a signal, yell a couple of words to his teammates to call the play and take the snap out of the shotgun.
So there will be significant adjustments in the NFL.
“If Davis can find the right organization, where he’s going to have an opportunity to grow, which all young quarterbacks need to do, where he’s not going to be judged on the very first pass he throws as a pro and has a chance to develop and learn and grow and has consistency in the coaching staff, I have no doubt he’ll be a heck of a player,” Dykes said.
“And if he goes to an organization that doesn’t provide him with that, I think he’ll be like all the other quarterbacks that go to those organizations that don’t provide those things — he’ll struggle. That’s just the nature of the business.”
Dykes said one factor that should aid Webb is he played in a full-field progression read offense at Cal.
NFLDraftScout.com analyst Dane Brugler wrote in his draft guide Webb is “too willing to challenge heavy coverage, leading to frustrating decisions” and “relies on his preordained reads and doesn’t consistently anticipate defenders.”
Dykes argued Webb seemed too aggressive at times because Cal’s defense struggled mightily.
“If Davis played somewhere where they had the No. 1 defense in the country, I could assure you he wouldn’t have thrown into coverage,” Dykes said. “That’s what happens when you play in an offense that has to score points to have a chance to win.”
Varying projections
The evaluation of Webb is reminder that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Brugler gave him a fourth-round grade. ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said during a recent conference call he’s heard Webb could go in the second or third round, but that would be too rich for his taste.
After Webb’s pro day last month, he told reporters the number of teams that have told him he’s a first-round talent is in the double digits.
An unnamed NFL player personnel executive recently told NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah he believes two quarterbacks will be drafted in the first round.
“Watson and Webb,” the executive said, according to Jeremiah. “I am sticking to my Webb guns. He’s the second-best QB in this class. I have read the Trubisky and Mahomes buzz. Not sure if I believe it.”
Senior Bowl Executive Director Phil Savage weighed in on the report via Twitter.
“The Davis Webb talk is legit as far as 1st round,” Savage, a former Browns general manager, tweeted. “Have had several NFL people tell me that he is the guy they would want to coach.”
Time will tell whether Jackson is one of those people.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.