2023 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Texas football CB D’Shawn Jamison

Among the Texas football players in the 2023 NFL Draft class that is looking to hear his name called on Day 3 is senior cornerback D’Shawn Jamison. The 5-foot-10 and 190-pound Jamison is one of the more unique talents among Texas Exes in this draft class too.

Jamison was a five-year player for the Longhorns, who took more than 2,500 defensive snaps and more than 600 special teams snaps during his collegiate career. He even took 50 offensive snaps during his true freshman campaign in 2018, when he was still getting some reps as a wide receiver.

During his five years on the Forty Acres, Jamison started roughly three-dozen games, while playing in more than 50. He’s one of the most experienced and versatile players in this draft class among former Longhorns.

Let’s take a look at the background of Jamison, from his recruitment to Texas, all the way up through the draft scouting process in the last few months. We will also cover his strengths, weaknesses, and trajectory at the next level.

Texas football CB D’Shawn Jamison’s career as a Longhorn and his recruitment

Jamison was originally recruited to Texas as a highly touted four-star cornerback prospect out of Houston (TX) Lamar High School. He was recruited by former Texas cornerbacks coach Jason Washington and ex-offensive coordinator Tim Beck.

In the 247Sports Composite, Jamison ranked as the No. 115 prospect in the nation in the 2018 class, No. 15 cornerback, and the No. 12 prospect out of Texas.

Texas landed a commitment from Jamison out of Lamar High School over offers from the TCU Horned Frogs, Oregon Ducks, USC Trojans, and Michigan Wolverines, among many other schools.

Moreover, Jamison arrived on campus with the Longhorns 2018 signing class during what was an exciting period at the time for the program under the direction of former head coach Tom Herman. Texas entered the 2018 season with high expectations along with a multitude of true freshmen looking to make an impact on the program right away, including Jamison.

Jamison’s early-career position changes

Although, Jamison wasn’t even playing at the position he would finish out his collegiate career when he was a freshman in 2018. Jamison was moved to wide receiver in 2018 after being recruited as a cornerback out of high school.

On special teams, Jamison was able to make some valuable contributions, including a punt return for a touchdown in a big road win over the Kansas State Wildcats. That would be the first of many big plays that Jamison made as a returner for Texas’ special teams unit during his time on the 40.

During the 2019 offseason, Jamison was moved back to the secondary to play the position he was originally recruited at by Texas. Jamison went into the 2019 season competing for a starting job at corner as Texas was looking to replace the production lost by the senior duo of Davante Davis and Kris Boyd.

Jamison wound up playing in all 13 games for the Longhorns during the 2019 season, starting in nine of them. He proved to be a stout cover corner that had excellent quickness and some real playmaker instincts in the secondary.

During the 2019 campaign, Jamison nabbed a career and team-high three interceptions, three pass breakups, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. One of those interceptions was a highlight-reel snag he had in a road win over the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Jamison had a successful first year as a starting corner at Texas by most considerations. He finished the 2019 season as the highest-graded cornerback on the team, one of the five highest-graded defenders at any position for the Longhorns.

He also continued to make an impact on special teams in 2019, returning a kick for a touchdown in a Week 2 win over the Rice Owls. That would be the first of two kicks Jamison returned for touchdowns during his career at Texas.

Despite having high expectations heading into the 2020 season, Jamison took a step back in a few areas. He wasn’t making as many plays in terms of picking off quarterbacks as often as he was in 2019. Jamison didn’t register a single pick in 2020, after raking in three the prior year.

While Jamison wasn’t intercepting the ball as much, he was making strides in other areas quietly during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign. He doubled his number of pass breakups year-over-year, with a half-dozen in just 10 games played in 2020 (good for top 10 in the Big 12).

We also saw Jamison make some strides in terms of his tackling approach in space and his ability to keep the play in front of him. Jamison allowed fewer than 100 yards after the catch in pass coverage for the only time in his collegiate career in 2020 on nearly 40 targets.

The strides Jamison made contesting space were evident in the fact that he nearly cut his missed tackle rate in half year-over-year in 2020. He also posted one of the three best tackling grades on the team among defensive backs that season.

Jamison’s special teams contributions made history for the Longhorns during the 2020 season. He became the first Texas player since the Longhorns joined the Big 12 in 1996 to have multiple seasons with at least one kick return for a touchdown along with multiple pass breakups (per Sports Reference).

Change in defensive coordinators

Following the conclusion of the 2020 season, Texas underwent a coaching change. Steve Sarkisian took over for the fired Herman, which ushered in the third defensive coordinator in three years for Jamison at Texas.

Jamison, along with a multitude of other Longhorns players, was naturally slow at adapting to the new defensive scheme under DC Pete Kwiatkowski. That resulted in Jamison’s least productive season of his collegiate career as he struggled to keep the play in front of him, allowing a career-worst 448 receiving yards in pass coverage on 27 catches.

Heading into the 2022 season, though, Jamison was able to turn a corner. He started to figure out his role in the defense better. Jamison wound up having a bounce-back campaign as Texas’ starting field corner (at least for most of the season).

After posting just one interception and one pass breakup in 2021, Jamison returned to his playmaking ways last fall. He posted his first career sack, along with a career-best seven pass breakups, and two interceptions (one returned for a touchdown).

The 2022 season was Jamison’s highest-graded campaign of his collegiate career. He also posted the highest coverage grade of his career last season, proving to be a more consistent and reliable field corner.

Jamison capped his collegiate career as one of the most productive cornerbacks in the last 15 years for the Longhorns. He amassed a half-dozen interceptions, 17 pass breakups, 140 combined tackles, and six tackles for loss, during his five seasons at Texas on defense. He also registered more than 1,700 return yards and three return touchdowns on special teams.

Jamison’s strengths

• Versatility, impact on multiple sides of the ball
• Solid in punt and kick coverage
• Big-play potential as a returner
• Timing skills, playmaking in pass coverage
• Speed and agility

We’ve talked ad nauseam already about Jamison’s big-play ability on defense and special teams. He is an absolute playmaker that is capable of changing games as a coverage corner when he’s settled into his role on defense. And once Jamison gets the ball in his hands on defense, he is really dangerous in the open field.

NFL scouts shouldn’t overlook Jamison’s ability to time passes and make plays on the ball without necessarily coming up with a pick, though. Jamison does a nice job of timing routes and getting a good jump on the ball to separate receivers from the pigskin.

That’s not to mention Jamison’s field vision and explosiveness as a return man, proven by his three return touchdowns during his time at Texas. He’s proven that he is a more than capable special teams playmaker in the return game.

But another area where Jamison made valuable contributions on special teams during his time at Texas was in the coverage unit. Jamison played a part in blocking multiple punts in the last two seasons for the Longhorns.

Jamison’s flat-out speed and timing, along with his proven experience on the special teams unit at Texas, should translate to a coverage unit role at the next level.

Last but not least, Jamison’s speed will be considered a major plus at the next level. While we did not get a good read at his pro day workout last month, Jamison did run a 40-yard dash time of close to 4.40 seconds.

Jamison’s areas of improvement

• Tackling approach still needs work
• Inconsistent approach/technique in coverage and in the open field
• Size and physicality limitations

There are two big knocks against Jamison that will likely hold back his draft stock this week.

The first is something that did frustrate Texas fans over the course of his four years playing at the cornerback position for the Burnt Orange. Jamison’s tackle approach and technique in coverage always seemed to be inconsistent.

Whether it was poor reads and anticipation when contesting space or taking a bad approach to keep a play in front of him, Jamison did have issues crop up all throughout his career at Texas at different times. That will be something he has to work on to earn a role in an NFL secondary this year.

Something that is out of his control for the most part, though, is the potential for size mismatches in coverage matchups. Jamison stands at 5-foot-10 in cleats, which is definitely on the smaller end of corners in the modern NFL.

Projection

At best, I see Jamison getting taken off the board in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft. The size limitations and inconsistent approaches in coverage will limit the potential of him getting taken earlier on Day 3 of the draft.

If Jamison is ultimately signed as an undrafted free agent, I do think he’s got a clearer path to making an NFL roster than most due to his ability to make an impact on defense and special teams.

Verdict: Late 7th to UDFA