David Dowell

Senior safety for Michigan State. 2019: 1 interception, 2 pass breakups, 55 tackles.

S · Michigan State · Sr. · #6

6′1″ · 209 lb · North Ridgeville, OH

Michigan State 2019 alumnus

The story

4 safety for Michigan State. 2019: 1 interception, 2 pass breakups, 55 tackles.

The record fills in as he plays.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at Michigan State, 163 tackles — his college career is complete.

Career arc

Recruit

—

No recruit profile

CFB

College

Michigan State

2016–2019

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2016–2019

1 coach

2016–2019

Mark Dantonio

Michigan State

Played his entire career under Mark Dantonio.

2019 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

4 seasons under Mark Dantonio — 27-24 over that span.

2016Michigan State3-9HC: Mark Dantonio · Run-leaning

2017Michigan State10-3HC: Mark Dantonio · Run-leaning

2018Michigan State7-6HC: Mark Dantonio · Balanced

2019Michigan State7-6HC: Mark Dantonio · Balanced

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

8 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: solo tackles (86th percentile). Concern: tackles for loss (17th percentile).

Box-score production (8)

Solo tackles#365 / 2688 · 86th pct

Tackles#549 / 2688 · 79th pct

Passes defended#749 / 2688 · 66th pct

Forced fumbles#78 / 721 · 45th pct

Interceptions#301 / 779 · 31st pct

QB hurries#1337 / 2688 · 25th pct

Sacks#1426 / 2688 · 23rd pct

0.0

Tackles for loss#2141 / 2688 · 17th pct

0.5

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2019 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home7g	4.3	0.1	0.0	0.3
Road6g	4.2	0.0	0.0	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-78g	4.4	0.1	0.0	0.1
Weeks 8+5g	4.0	0.0	0.0	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Pat Fitzgerald

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2019

Part-time starter

Splitting first-team reps — starts some weeks, rotates others.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career stats

Season	Team
2019	Michigan State	55	39	0.5	2	1	--
2018	Michigan State	59	29	0.0	2	2	--
2017	Michigan State	46	29	0.0	4	5	--
2016	Michigan State	3	1	0.0	--	--	--
Career		163	98	0.5	8	8	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 5 · 2019

W 40–31

vs Indiana

8 TOT · 6 SOLO

Edged out Indiana at home in a shootout.

With B. Lewerke — 300 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 85.1 · 78 rush yds (12 car) · J. Hartbarger — 54 AVG · 60 LONG · 4 NO

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week