There is always room for improvement, and there’s room on a roster for someone that’s willing to work towards and show off that improvement whenever they can. Largo’s Javaris Sanders is someone that fits that mold and his numbers and film back that up.

The 5-foot-11, 280-pounder isn’t exactly ideal size to play at the position for some of the big dogs in the collegiate game, but his skills have developed very well over the past season and he’s going to make someone VERY happy at the next level once they shed the stereotype of him being “undersized” and watch what he can do with the pads on. Sanders also moves extremely well for that size and will hunt opposing QB’s and RB’s with the same aggressiveness.

Sanders finished his career for the Packers with 131 tackles in 23 games on varsity. Sanders played one game on varsity as a freshman, five as a sophomore, seven as a junior and started all ten games for Largo this season. Sixty-seven of those 131 tackles were solo and 18 of those were for loss in the four seasons. Sanders is also credited with 16 sacks in his career with five hurries.

That’s not all for Sanders–he’s also credited with a pass deflection, a fumble recovery, four caused fumbles, a blocked punt and a blocked field goal. Where does the improvement come into play? This past season, Sanders’ 77 tackles were just eleven shy of doubling his entire output from the previous three seasons–which was 44. When you watch his junior film, you see the potential–like his hard hitting and his strength–but you also see the lack of multiple moves and flexibility to make an impact anywhere else along the line.

Fast forward to the spring and summer between his junior and senior season and you see Sanders appear at offseason camps and you see him appear to dominate. Case in point, Sanders was the MVP of the D-line as BCP’s E7 Spring event in Lakeland.

Pop-in his senior film and you see a night-and-day difference where the teaching has sunk-in and he’s been able to apply that teaching to produce some eye-popping highlights. That strength and the ability to maul his match-up is still present, but he’s also got the–you guessed it–deceptive speed-for-his-size look as well. He’s chasing QB’s down and showing off agility with his frame. You can also see that he’s got multiple moves in his arsenal as well to beat offensive lineman to his intended target.

That’s the kind of trend and improvement that college coaches are looking for–no matter what the star rating or stat sheets say.