Meet Sooner Target Daymon David, Who Just Wants to "Tackle People Hard"

2021 DB from Reiterstown, MD earned offer from Oklahoma on Thursday

Daymon David’s Twitter bio is two words, rendered in all caps:

HEAD HUNTER.

“That’s how I go,” David told SI Sooners. “I always want to tackle people hard, even at practice.”

One look at his prep highlights and it’s quite clear why Alex Grinch went off the beaten path to offer this two-star defensive back from Reisterstown, Maryland.

Despite his slender 6-foot-1, 160-pound frame, this Class of 2021 prospect is just that: a violent, relentless head hunter.

And as David resides just an hour from the nation’s capital, the man he considers his role model shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. When asked whom he strives to emulate in his style of play, David answered without an inkling of hesitation.

“Sean Taylor,” he said decisively. “Sean Taylor for sure.”

It’s been more than a dozen years since Taylor was murdered in a home invasion just three years into a promising NFL career. He’d established himself as one of the most aggressive, hardest-hitting safeties in football. By any measure, Taylor was on the fast track to perennial All-Pro status, if not the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The late Washington Redskins legend would have turned 37 years old on Wednesday.

But even in death, Taylor is by no means gone for good. As Kobe Bryant lives on through the baseline jumpers of young shooting guards everywhere, so Taylor lives on through the contact-minded mentality of young prep safeties like David.

Moreover, that mentality is a hot commodity in Alex Grinch’s eyes, and David perceives that. The rising high school senior thrills to the idea of a future in crimson and cream.

“I get really, really good vibes from him,” David said of Grinch. “I feel as though I would really, really want to play for him one day. I feel like I’m at home and I haven’t even been there yet.”

Sooner Nation is acutely aware of Grinch’s great emphasis on turnovers and aggressiveness. That gung-ho philosophy is the kind of football that David lives for as a roving defensive back.

“When I’m back playing free safety, literally by myself, I can come down. I can check calls. Anything I really want,” David said. “And that’s what I’m looking for in a system.”

Many of David’s previous offers had come from East Coast schools such as Boston College, UConn, East Carolina and James Madison. Now all of a sudden, he has an opportunity to play in Norman for one of the most storied collegiate programs of all time.

“It’s crazy, man,” David said, struggling to put words together. “Like, dang.”

Extremely Blessed To Receive An Offer From The University Of Oklahoma !! #Big12 @CoachGrinch pic.twitter.com/6yQb9LPhgv

— SCOOP ♛ (@DaymonDavid_) April 2, 2020

To get the latest OU posts as they happen, join the SI Sooners Community by clicking “Follow” at the top right corner of the page (mobile users can click the notifications bell icon), and follow SI Sooners on Twitter @All_Sooners.