People don’t know Alabama’s Jalyn Armour-Davis like they’ve known past Crimson Tide cornerbacks. Even after a second-team All-SEC performance, and a career-altering campaign, there’s still a sense that Armour-Davis is flying under the NFL Draft radar. But Armour-Davis isn’t worried about commanding the spotlight, and he’s not comparing himself to others. Armour-Davis cares about the process and nothing else. After all, the process has gotten him this far.
For Jalyn Armour-Davis, football has always been at the forefront
There’s a light chime, and Armour-Davis enters the video call. He’s soft-spoken, but there’s a quiet, steady confidence in his voice. He’s exactly where he wants to be, because being an NFL player is a dream he’s had as far as he can remember.
“Football was something I was always interested in as a child,” Armour-Davis said. “Obviously being from the state of Alabama, seeing Alabama play on Saturdays, it was something that you at least want to try. As a kid, I was fairly athletic, racing all the kids. I always liked to be a part of athletic events, so I was like, ‘what’s one way for me to go express it?’ And that was on the football field. And once I started playing, I just never looked back.”
Armour-Davis also played basketball and ran track, but there was something about the competitive nature of football that drew him to it. Living in Mobile only brought him closer to the sport, with the Senior Bowl rolling through each year — one of the top showcases for incoming NFL Draft prospects.
“Every year, my mom would allow one day out of the school week for me to go see the [Senior Bowl] practices. The games were always fun, but I was always way more interested in the practices, the 1-on-1’s, just the practice environment. I thought it was more competitive. Every single year, being from Mobile, it was definitely a part of my agenda to make sure I made the Senior Bowl practice and the game. Every single year.”
Each player that came through Mobile represented what Armour-Davis wanted to be. And soon enough, he’d get his chance to start climbing up the ladder.
Honing his talents in high school
It wasn’t long before Armour-Davis became a star at St. Paul’s Episcopal School. The Mobile native blossomed as a two-way standout, playing at both wide receiver and cornerback. Even to this day, Armour-Davis says his former experience as a wide receiver helps him at the cornerback position.
“Just kind of understanding what the guy on the other side is trying to do to you. The way he stems you on certain types of routes, why he may cut a split to run a certain type of route. Because I know when I was a receiver, I’m like ‘Okay, I wanna stem it down a little bit so I can create space on this side of the field, or run this type of route.’ When they cut their split, it can really mean something. Versus when they go wide, they don’t have as much room to play with. So I had a better understanding of why they were doing certain things.”
The recruitment process and coming to Alabama
Armour-Davis had offers to play receiver in college, but after talking with those in his circle, he chose to continue on his journey as a cornerback. As a four-star recruit and consensus top 250 national prospect, Armour-Davis drew interest from droves of Power Five programs. But if you’re a kid from Alabama, you simply can’t pass up a chance to play for the Crimson Tide.
Armour-Davis committed to Alabama in June of 2017, then officially signed his letter of intent in December. As it turns out, his final high school game — a Class 5A State Championship victory — was played in Bryant-Denny Stadium. It was surreal for Armour-Davis — as if he was looking at his future through a window.
“Yeah, it was really cool. In fact, that weekend was my official visit weekend. So I didn’t even leave the city for another four or five days. It was also a great environment because of the state championship game. Spending the entire weekend up there, it was really a picture-perfect scenario for me, transitioning from high school to college. I was just speaking on that with my mom not too long ago because she was just as shocked, seeing how well things were flowing that weekend. It’s something that we’ll never forget.”
Adversity and redemption at Alabama
Perfect moments, unfortunately, never seem to last. Armour-Davis enrolled at Alabama in June 2018 and took part in training in the lead-up to the new season. He was gearing up to live his dream and play football for the Crimson Tide when all of a sudden, that momentum came to a crashing halt.
During pregame warmups in Week 2, Armour-Davis suffered a non-contact knee injury, which was soon revealed to be a knee ligament tear. An entire offseason spent working toward something, and now it was gone. Armour-Davis commended Alabama’s training staff for their calm response and referenced his now-wife and mother as vital supporting figures who helped him keep a positive state of mind. But he admitted it was a difficult time. It would be for anyone.
“Being a young freshman, it’s easy to let your mind take you to all different places. So they did a good job to keep me pushing forward, not looking back or wondering why it happened — just understanding that it happened and figuring out how to get better from it.
“It could have been worse. I will say that. It can be a dark time for some people. It’s easy to fall into a hole when you go through something like that at a young age. I think it’s more difficult when you’re a young guy. When you’re older, you know how to bounce back, but when you’re a young guy and never been through something like that, it can be difficult. So I’m glad I had the people that I had in my corner, and I wouldn’t ask for it any other way.”
Building his way back
With hard work and support from those close to him, Armour-Davis was able to work his way back to good health. He re-entered the lineup as a redshirt freshman in 2019 but was still light on experience.
During the 2019 season, Armour-Davis was at times a rotational defender, but much of his work came on special teams. A highly touted recruit could be frustrated with that situation, but Armour-Davis was just happy to be on the field.
“Just getting the experience alone in any type of way — it’s going to give you some type of confidence. Even though it may not be as heavy as a defensive playbook or anything like that, special teams is about assignment football. So you still have to have that same amount of trust in your teammates and your coaches. I think some people look at special teams as a notch down because you’re not a starter or anything like that. But it’s still a phase of the game. So you still have to earn it, just like you would on offense or defense.”
Not only did special-teams work give Armour-Davis confidence, but it also instilled a trust between him and his teammates. Although he was never a starter through 2020, simply being on the field was the best thing for the Alabama CB. Whether it’s on special teams or defense, Armour-Davis emphasized the importance of live reps. “There’s nothing like it.”
Becoming a full-time starter in 2021
Rather than fixate on his lack of starting reps, Armour-Davis chose to use his chances to the fullest when they came. Eventually, that constant drive led to his first full-time starting opportunity in 2021.
It was a validating development after three long years. But it was difficult for Armour-Davis to be patient at times. At Alabama, you have to work, and you have to wait. But Armour-Davis knew what he’d signed up for.
“It was extremely hard,” Armour-Davis said on waiting. “Obviously, I had guys in front of me that were extremely good football players. But … you know what you can do. You know what your abilities are. And you know that you’re capable of going out and performing. It’s not necessarily a thing like ‘You’re not getting your chance’ or anything like that. You gotta do more to earn it. Even though I was earning time playing on special teams, I still had to dig deeper and figure out ‘What is it gonna take for me to become a starter?’
“Once that Miami game came around in Week 1 … I remember to this day the joy I felt waking up that Saturday, knowing that it was time. It was definitely tough [waiting], but you come to Alabama, it’s gonna be a part of it. There’s guys everywhere. Everybody’s good. You gotta find a way to stand out. It’s tough, but if you can find a way to do it there, you’ll find a way to do it anywhere.”
Armour-Davis found a way. And the work didn’t stop once he did. Armour-Davis excelled in his lone season as a starter, logging 3 interceptions and 4 deflections in 11 games. He also earned second-team All-SEC honors from the coaches — a sign that his strong play was finally being noticed.