STARKVILLE — Benardrick McKinney and P.J. Davis have a lot in common.
Both were unheralded two-star recruits out of high school who escaped the attention of most major college football programs. Both have blossomed into all-conference players, McKinney as an All-Southeastern Conference middle linebacker at Mississippi State and Davis as an All-Atlantic Coast Conference linebacker at Georgia Tech. Both will be the centers of attention in the Orange Bowl, when each player leads his defense into the Dec. 31 showdown between the Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets.
That’s where the similarities end.
McKinney, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound physical force, is immediately noticeable on film. Blessed with size and speed to burn, McKinney wrecks opposing offensive lines and hits ball carriers with abandon, leading the Bulldogs with 61 tackles this season.
Davis doesn’t jump off the screen the way McKinney does. At 5-11, 218 pounds, the sophomore can get lost in the shuffle when talking about the country’s best linebackers.
But when the ball is snapped, all Davis does is tackle, tackle, and tackle. He did that 108 times this season, more than any other player who will take the field in the game.
“I just try to leave it all out on the field,” said Davis in Georgia Tech’s press conference prior to the ACC Championship. “Show my coaches and my teammates I’m going to leave it all out there and sacrifice for the team.”
The differences — and similarities — between Davis and McKinney epitomize the differences between the defenses, particularly between the groups of linebackers.
MSU’s group, like McKinney, is long, big and physical. There’s 6-1, 205-pound outside linebacker Matthew Wells, dubbed “The Cheetah” by his teammates because of his 4.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash. Then there’s the cerebral Beniquez Brown, the heir apparent to McKinney in the middle, who finished second on the Bulldogs with 59 tackles. That leaves McKinney, who could enter the NFL draft following the game. Most experts project the Tunica native to be a first-round pick.
But first things first. Before he decides about his future, McKinney is worried about the Orange Bowl.
“That will come in time,” McKinney said. “I will take a look at it and make a decision then. Right now, we’re focused on Georgia Tech.”
For Georgia Tech, the leader on the defense and at linebacker is Davis, A lightly regarded recruit two years ago, the sophomore from Cairo High in south Georgia has blossomed into one of the ACC’s best defensive playmakers. He has 108 tackles, a total that included eight tackles for loss and four sacks. He also led the team with three forced fumbles and had an interception.
“P.J. has made a lot of big plays, no question,” Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said. “He’s a guy who is a pretty good hitter.”
Davis isn’t alone. Georgia Tech employs a 4-2-5 defensive scheme that relies on defensive backs and has two linebackers, Davis and Quayshawn Nealy, a fifth-year senior who plays on the outside. Nealy has 90 tackles and a team-leading three fumble recoveries.
Davis and Nealy are vital to a defense that struggled against the run and has an undersized defensive line. The Yellow Jackets finished 71st in the country in rushing yards allowed and yielded an average of 5.1 yards per carry, which is 107th in the country.
For the Bulldogs, the linebackers have served as the heart of a defense that finished ninth in the nation in scoring defense and No. 1 in red-zone defense.
“They kind of embrace we are a big, long defensive football team,” MSU defensive coordinator Geoff Collins said of his team’s linebackers. “They just have to understand that (Georgia Tech) is going to come at you at all different angles. They know what they are doing and they do it at a high level.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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