Jamal Adams: Trying to make NFL Draft history while building on the 'DBU' legacy

BATON ROUGE, La. — For past three seasons, the LSU faithful have binge watched  ‘The Jamal Adams Show.”

From his antics getting the Tigers hyped up for games to his electrifying plays on special teams and defense, Adams has captivated Tigers fans with his personality and unquestioned playmaking ability.

“Really, he likes cameras,” said George Adams, Jamal’s father and No. 19 overall pick in the 1985 NFL Draft. “That’s what me and my wife said when he was here playing for LSU, we always see him on the camera. …We’ll come to every game … I’ll go home and watch the replay. I’ll call my wife, ‘There he is again.’ He finds the camera.”

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Along with his jubilant and excitable personality, Adams embodies the confidence and the competitiveness inherent in the Tigers’ “Defensive Back University” culture while standing out in his own right.

From the outside, LSU’s “DBU” tradition can seem a bit overdone, but to the defensive backs who have come through the program, it represents a family atmosphere, where excellence is the expectation and nothing less is acceptable.

“When we all came in, we were freshman and young players at once, and we just had that confidence about ourselves that we wanted to be the best,” former LSU safety Brandon Taylor told Saturday Down South. “We wanted to be remembered after we were finished playing at LSU and still be talked about. That’s the way we played. … Those kids can go as far as they want to if they put their minds to it.”

Adams has never lacked confidence.

While many would-be top draft picks shy away from the history of the caliber of DBs who came before them as top picks, Adams confronted the history during his Pro Day on Wednesday.

Sean Taylor and Eric Berry hold the NFL record for the highest drafted safety in NFL history at No. 5 overall.

“There’s tons of talent in the draft, but hopefully I make history,” Adams said. “Sean Taylor and Eric Berry were the highest safeties to ever go at No. 5, so hopefully I go top four.”

For Adams, being a Top-4 pick is just the beginning of his aspirations.

“Now that I’ve moved on from high school and college, I’m turning the page,” Adams said. “I plan to be a Hall of Famer at the end of the day. That’s my main goal is to be a Hall of Famer and put on a yellow jacket. That’s my main goal, but as a rookie coming in I just want to earn the respect of my teammates and my coaches.”

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Along with the ever-present confidence throughout the defensive back room comes a competitiveness with each other that catapults LSU’s secondary to another level as top corners compete against each other in practice to be the best.

Adams fully embraces this tradition of “DBU,” according to Taylor, who rehabbed at LSU after suffering a knee injury during his lone NFL season in 2012 and worked out with Adams frequently.

“He’s a competitor,” Taylor told Saturday Down South. “He competes about any and everything, and that takes him a long way. You don’t see many players like that. The ones that have that competitive nature like that go a long way. He will go a long way because he competes about everything.”

Along with confidence and competitiveness, the most distinguishable trait within the Tigers’ network of former and current defensive backs is the ability to handle constructive criticism and use it to improve.

“You can shoot it straight with any of us,” Taylor told Saturday Down South. “Nobody’s ego is too big. If one person is messing up, I or anyone that played at DBU can tell them, ‘Look you’re doing wrong and you’re messing up.’ We all take criticism very well. That goes a long way when you actually care about somebody. That you can criticize somebody and they can take it, and improve on what you are criticizing about. That just shows that it’s a family more than football or anything. We all talk to each other. … It’s really more than three letters.”

While Adams shares many traits with his “DBU” brothers, the Lewisville, Texas, native sets himself apart from any other Tiger in recent memory with his rare versatility and athleticism. He ran a blistering 4.33 in the 40 on Wednesday.

“Just the length that he has and the speed that he plays with (sets him apart),”  Taylor told Saturday Down South. “If you watch his film, you never see him in the wrong place. He’s always at the right place at the right time.”

For most defensive backs who come through Baton Rouge, there is a former Tiger great that they are constantly compared to throughout their time at LSU.

For example, former LSU defensive back Tre’Davious White has been compared to current Dallas Cowboys corner and LSU alum Morris “Mo” Claiborne.

White and Claiborne greatly resemble each other with their smooth style of play and quiet personalities. The duo earned First-Team All America honors during their final year at LSU and collected many other accolades during their stints at LSU.

However, Adams’ style of play does not fit into any mold.

While the energy he approaches the game with and his relentless effort on special teams resembles Tyrann “Honey Badger” Mathieu, Adams’ sizable 6-0, 212-pound frame dwarfs Mathieu’s 5-9, 186-pound frame.

Adams’ dependability in the run game is comparable to former LSU safeties Eric Reid and Taylor, who loved come down into the box and combined for 359 tackles during their LSU careers.

But Reid and Taylor don’t have the versatility that makes Adams special.

“I can play everything in the back end,” Adams said. “I can blitz. I can cover in the slot.  I can sit at 20 yards and go sideline to sideline. I feel that is what separates me from the other defensive guys in the draft.”

This draft, and perhaps previous ones, too.

LSU DBs selected in the first round of NFL Draft