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Combine Profile:
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 216 lbs
40 Yard Dash: 4.62
Vertical Jump: 31.5 in
Broad Jump: 124 in
Positives
Kearse is an absolute physical specimen. For comparison, he has a good 4 inches on Clemson legend and retired NFL star safety Brian Dawkins. Earning a starting spot during his freshman year, he held on to it for 3 seasons, totaling 164 tackles and 7 interceptions for his career. He earned first team All-ACC honors and second team All-American honors this season. He has shown the ability to catch speedy receivers from behind as well as lay big hits, remember the Louisville game in 2014. He has a very good pedigree, as his uncle is Javon "the Freak" Kearse, who was a star defensive end for the Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles after having an All-American, award winning career for the Florida Gators, and his cousin is Phillip Buchanon, a former first round pick out of Miami who had a 10 season career for the Oakland Raiders, Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Detroit Lions, and Washington Redskins.
Negatives
A lot of people have noted that Kearse's play may have tailed off toward the end of this past season. A lot of that most likely has to do with the long stretch of play without an off week beginning with the Notre Dame game on October 3rd and ending after the ACC Championship victory. Kearse also gets knocked because of his thin frame. He's only 214 pounds with a height of 6'4". That can be a big problem in the NFL where he's going to be asked to go up against some much larger players. The question will be how much weight can he add while maintaining his speed and how he uses his height to negate his weight.
Overall
The positives outweigh the few negatives with Jayron Kearse. Easily one of the best athletes I have seen come through Clemson. I think there any defensive back coach would be ecstatic to have the opportunity to work with him. In my opinion, one more season could have solidified him as a first round pick. However, I can't fault him for not wanting to risk injury seeing that he should be a pretty good pick. I feel like this could end up like a Martavis Bryant situation, meaning that if he gets picked up by the right team, they'll utilize him to his full potential. Kearse looks like he could have a long, successful career in the league.