Senior Bowl 2017 Interview – Davis Webb

Davis Webb – QB (California)

Measurables: 

Hgt: 6’4 ⅝”     

Wgt:   229 lbs.

Hand:  9 ⅛”    

Arm:  33 ¾”    

Wing:  79 ½”

PROFILE:  Webb played his first three years of eligibility (2013-2015) at Texas Tech and then moved on to California for his senior season as a graduate transfer. Began his collegiate career with a stellar season in 2013 when he helped lead Texas Tech to an 8-5 overall record including an upset victory over No. 14 Arizona State in the National University Holiday Bowl. He played in 10 games that season, and threw for 2,718 yards on 226-of-361 passing (62.6%) with 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions for a 139.1 passer efficiency rating. Webb started the first eight games of his sophomore season before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. Up to that point, he put up some impressive numbers, completing 211-of-345 passes (61.2%) for 2,539 yards with 24 touchdowns. He was replaced by freshman Patrick Mahomes (ironically, one of the other top-rated QB’s in the 2017 draft class), who retained the starting job for the 2015 season. Davis thus saw limited action during his junior season which prompted his transfer to California. At his new school, Davis was immediately installed as the starter and completed 382-of-620 passes for 4,295 yards with 37 passing touchdowns, ranking him in the NCAA FBS top ten in all three categories.

On what he felt about his time at California, playing in the PAC-12 and now being here at the Senior Bowl.

Yeah, I loved Cal. It was totally different from what I was used to growing up in Dallas, Texas and playing at Texas Tech. It was a complete 180 culture-wise. But I loved Cal, I loved the PAC-12. It’s a whole different conference, different players and different styles of play. It was fun to play for one season and I’m looking forward to spending this week with the best seniors in the country and just get better each and every day. … Jared Goff, who went Number One last year, he’s a god friend of mine, so I know Cal has a great history of having great quarterbacks and some really great offensive players so I’m just going to try and be one of them and do my thing.

On what he thinks about the rivalries in the PAC-12.

Cal – Stanford is my favorite rivalry. It’s the big game – everyone knows about it. Everybody knows “the play” as it’s called, where the band goes on the field. So that’s always a fun game. There are so many rivalries throughout the PAC-12, whether it be USC-UCLA, Washington – Washington State – it’s a great conference – different cultures, different from the south and the Big 12 – it’s a heck of a conference.

On whether he’s ever been to Mobile before.

I have not. I’ve driven through Alabama on my way to Disney World a couple of times. Never been to Mobile. Got here on Friday night and organized a little workout with a couple of South Alabama receivers on Saturday. Got to drive around a little bit and went to a couple of dinner spots. People here have been great – so polite. They’ve been welcoming and it’s just great to be here.

On what advice Jared Goff may have given him about preparing for the whole draft process.

I think the biggest takeaway is just having the ability to learn a brand new NFL system because it’s a whole different language – which it really is. This is brand new verbiage, the plays are longer. The concepts are similar so that’s probably the easy part. It’s just picking up on the verbiage and maybe it takes time. No one is going to get it right the first day so I’m looking forward to practice tomorrow and having another practice under my belt and getting better each and every day. Take all the information I’m getting from NFL scouts, the GM’s, the head coaches and even the players around me and just try to be the best I can be.

On what things he most wants to showcase to scouts during Senior Bowl week.

That I can play at the highest level and that I’m one of the top quarterbacks in this draft. I want to be playing this game for a really long time. I want to put in the work. That’s something that I never had an issue with. I’m a hard worker. I’m a coaches kid – so this is something that I love. I want to be a college football coach one day so I want to be around this game the rest of my life. I love football and I want the scouts, GM’s and coaches to go home and think about that.

On what he thinks is his biggest strength that he will bring to an NFL team and what he thinks is the biggest area that he will need to work on.

I think that the improvement to work on would be just learning an NFL offense, the verbiage and I think my biggest strength would be my leadership qualities and being a good teammate. I’m a hard worker, as I said before. I was voted a captain at two different schools and that’s something really important to being a great teammate. That’s something that you can control.

On how hard the process was transferring to a different school for his senior season.

It wasn’t easy – being at Texas Tech and starting for two years then being a backup my junior year. And then having to transfer to Berkeley, California which is more a culture shock unlike any other. It was awesome – the culture is great, the food is great, the people are very welcoming. My teammates were the best part. After being there for only eight weeks I was voted a captain. So my goal was to get to know my teammates, the area and just kinda get settled down as quickly as possible. And it led to us being the Number One offensive batch of all. The graduate transfer process is a stressful time. It’s a lot of fun. There’s a lot of it that’s not so good.

On which of his college highlights really stand out to him.

I’d say that the first game I came in, at TCU my freshman year, I had a chance to throw a game-winning touchdown pass. There’s been plenty of games. Got to beat Texas my senior year. Never had gotten an opportunity to play Texas, which is a team that I grew up watching. Colt McCoy is my favorite college quarterback. So just playing Texas, playing Utah, playing Oregon – just teams that you watched on TV that you never really think you’re going to play, whether you’re at Texas Tech in the Big 12 or growing up. It was a cool environment and I was really thankful for it.