Jatavis Brown was a compact, explosive, and disruptive MAC star at Akron
Brown’s calling card at Akron was impact plays: in the 2025 season, he had not played college football, but his final college season in 2015 made him a blue-chip linebacker prospect, with 116 tackles, a school-record 20.5 tackles for loss, and a school-record 12.5 sacks, while earning MAC Defensive Player of the Year and three straight All-MAC first-team honors. He stood out for burst, closing speed, and a knack for forcing chaos in the backfield, but his smaller 5-foot-11 frame also made him a better fit for an aggressive, space-oriented defense than a heavy two-gap scheme.
