University of Georgia Athletics
A Quick Chat With ... Aaron Davis
October 13, 2016 | Football
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Georgia junior defensive back Aaron Davis is an achiever, both on and off the field. He's also a thinker, as he demonstrated during a conversation after practice Wednesday.
A three-year starter from Locust Grove, Ga., Davis is tied for third on the team in tackles with 27 (17 solo). He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Luella High School and has earned multiple academic honors since arriving at Georgia.
During our quick chat Davis talked about doing well in school, a great shrimp po'boy, doodling and learning Georgia's bus system. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: I was a big fan of the show "Key & Peele" and I have to admit that whenever I see your name, I say it like they would in the substitute teacher sketch: "A-a-ron." Have you heard that about a million times since that sketch first appeared a few years ago?
Davis: Still to this day I hear it. Even in high school I was hearing it, got to college and I hear it even more. All the time: "A-a-ron, A-a-ron." I laugh at it all the time, I love the skit, I watch it all the time, but ... (shakes his head).
Frierson: Looking over your bio, it's obvious that learning and excelling in the classroom mean something to you. Where does the drive come from when it comes to school?
Davis: That's just how I was raised. My parents were at the top of their classes growing up and education was always a big thing in the household. My brother, he graduated salutatorian from high school.
A lot of it is competition, really. My brother and I, we used to compete all the time to see who can have the best grades. I think that just carried over going into college; I compete in the classroom just like I compete on the field.
Frierson: Are you working toward something specific, for after your football days are done?
Davis: I'm in finance right now, that's my major, and I'm getting ready to finish that up pretty soon. There's a lot of options with finance, but I'm into a lot of different things, too, like I watch physics things, space things, engineering things, so I like a lot of different fields, except for English.
Frierson: Which is my wheelhouse. I've always loved reading and writing, which is what I spent much of my time in college doing. I love science way more now than I did in college and part of that was a lot of the math was just incomprehensible to me. And still is, frankly.
Davis: I'm a math guy.
Frierson: What's something from your childhood that you really miss?
Davis: Nintendo Game Cube — I just remember all the fun times I had playing with my friends. That, and going outside and playing. Now, I'm as big of a home-body as you can get. I go to practice and after that I go hang out in the room, but when I was young I was, "Can I go outside, mom? Can I go outside?" I was all about that.
Frierson: As football players, with some many academic and athletic demands on your time, do you ever feel like you get enough sleep during the season?
Davis: The weekend is when I catch up the most, but it's all about deciding what time I'm going to go to bed. You want to stay up and maybe play some video games or watch some Netflix or something like that, but sometimes you know you have a busy schedule the next day so you've got to take it in at 11 o'clock or 11:30.
Frierson: If you could have played with or against anyone in history, who would it be?
Davis: With: I would definitely love to play with Deion Sanders, for sure. Of course I would like to play against Jerry Rice.
Frierson: What's the best thing that's entered your life in 2016? It can be a movie, an album, food, music, a person — whatever.
Davis: Man, I struggle to remember what I ate for breakfast. ... The best thing to enter my life in 2016, I might have to say Fish Camp in Atlanta. They sell this shrimp po'boy and it is by far the best shrimp po'boy I've ever had. Every time I go to Atlanta, I have to slide by Ponce City Market and go to Fish Camp.
Frierson: What's the most creative thing you do? Or what's something creative you wish you could do?
Davis: I like to doodle, I'll say that. I probably shouldn't say it, but when I'm in class, a lot of the times when I'm taking notes I doodle, too. When I was young I thought I was going to be an artist and I draw all kinds of things — everything that brings back nostalgia for me, all the '90s and early 2000s cartoons that I used to watch.
Frierson: How often have you had a doodle where you were like, you know, that's pretty good?
Davis: I say that but I'm my biggest critic. I'll finish it and be like, oh, it's off a little bit, so I'll erase it and do it over.
Frierson: Are you drawing people or random shapes?
Davis: I draw real characters. I pick any and all of them that I can draw — The Jetsons, I think The Jetsons was the last one.
Frierson: Do you have any specific pre-game rituals or superstitions? Is there anything you and only you do before every since game?
Davis: I've never really been a superstitious guy and I don't really have any pre-game rituals. I just kind of go with the flow and do whatever. Almost everyone listens to music before the game, but other than that I don't have a ritual.
Frierson: If you could go back and talk to your 18-year-old self that was just arriving at Georgia, what would you tell him?
Davis: Take advantage of every day, really, freshman year. Every time, with anything, when you look back it's like it just flashed by. As a freshman I had to get up for 6 a.m. lifts and things like that; take advantage of every day.
Also, take the bus. When I was a freshman, man, I didn't know which bus to take, so I was just walking everywhere. And now that I know the bus system it's so much more convenient. Probably the biggest is find out the bus schedule so you don't have to walk all these hills at UGA.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
