Davis' Unlikely Route To Canton
October 17, 2017 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Flip through the pages of the Georgia football media guide. You'll see page after page of names and stats and legends — lots of legends.
But not all Bulldog legends are born between the hedges. For some, legendary status comes from what they do after they leave Athens.
Which brings us to former Bulldog running back Terrell Davis, who received a hero's welcome while he was in town last weekend for Homecoming. When he enthusiastically called out the Dawgs before the game, Davis was wearing his gold Pro Football Hall of Fame blazer. He's one of just three former Bulldogs enshrined in Canton, Ohio, joining Charley Trippi and Fran Tarkenton.
A select group, a legendary trio.
Keep thumbing through the media guide, watching out for his name in the records section. You'll have to look closely, because Davis' name isn't in there very often.
The records show the Davis led Georgia in rushing in the 1993-94 seasons, but he's not in the top 10 in any career or season categories. Of course, when you're a program that's had the likes of Herschel Walker, Nick Chubb, Todd Gurley, Garrison Hearst, Knowshon Moreno, Sony Michel and Trippi back in the 1940s, it's not easy to make a top 10 list.
"For a long time when I came to Georgia, man, I felt like I held myself back, because I was afraid to be successful here," Davis said in an interview last Friday. "It sounds crazy, but with success comes responsibility, obligations, pressure, expectations, and I felt like I didn't want that. I came to Georgia, I wanted to play here, but this thing was a lot, it was big, it was overwhelming being here."
On page 200 of the 2017 media guide, Georgia lists its SEC Player of the Week award winners going back to 1985. As you might guess, there are a lot of them.
Scan through the early '90s ... Terrell Davis? Terrell Davis? Nope. Then it hits you: Terrell Davis got to the Pro Football Hall of Fame without ever being an SEC Player of the Week during his three seasons at Georgia. Could there be even two other guys in the past 20 years that made it to Canton without being a conference player of the week?
"I had some games that were good, but I was never that guy," Davis said.
It's extraordinary to think that someone could be a pretty good running back in college and an extraordinary one in the pros. But Davis was a different player in the NFL, just like quarterback Tom Brady is with New England versus his collegiate days at Michigan. After battling a lot of injuries at Georgia, Davis was healthy for the first part of his career with the Denver Broncos and produced four stellar seasons, before a major knee injury derailed his career. And when you watched Davis in the pros, from the very beginning, it was easy to see how much leaner and stronger he was.
"I'm glad you noticed that," he said.
Back to the media guide for a second. Thumb to page 173, which features a list of Georgia's assistant coaches over the years. Under P is the name Bob Pittard, without whom Davis would never have come to Athens. Pittard was Georgia's recruiting coordinator from 1986-93, under Vince Dooley and then Ray Goff.
A San Diego native, Davis started his collegiate career 100 miles north of home, at Long Beach State. He was a scout teamer while redshirting his first year and played well when he could play the next fall, beating out several returning backs for the job. And then Long Beach State killed off its football program after the 1991 season.
"That season I only played in five games, because I severely damaged my ankles," he said. "That's my career at that point, five games. The end of that season, the program folds. What makes me think, after that, what makes anybody think, after that, that Georgia, a school in the SEC, known for running backs, will come across the country to get me?"
Davis, who ran for 262 in those five games, said he later found out that Pittard had contacted Long Beach State after it was announced that the program was being shut down. Pittard spoke to someone, Davis said he never found out who, and asked if the program had any guys that could play in the SEC.
"And the person said, yeah, we have one person, Terrell Davis," he said.
A heck of a compliment and a pivotal moment for Davis on the road to Canton.
Another came late in the 1994 season, when he was a senior hampered by injuries. He'd played behind Hearst in 1992 and then led the team with 824 yards rushing as a junior, averaging 4.9 yards per carry. With four games left in his final season at Georgia, Davis said he had a talk with himself.
"I asked myself a question, internally: Were you giving this game all you can give it? Did you study hard enough? Were you practicing hard enough? Did you commit yourself to this game? I was like, no," he said. "And I was faced with only four games left in my career; I didn't care about the pros, I just wanted to leave this game knowing that I was able to give everything I had to it. That no matter what happens in the future, I could look back and say, you know what, I'm proud that I put it all out there, and whatever happens, happens."
Another pivotal moment. Determined and motivated, Davis finished his career well — 113 yards versus Auburn and 121 against Georgia Tech — and was drafted in the sixth round by Denver. Even though he was later a star as a rookie, things didn't start out well with the Broncos.
Way down on the depth chart, Davis was a sixth-rounder just trying to make the team. Of course, to do that he had to impress some folks in practice, but he wasn't getting many chances to do that, he said.
Then came a preseason trip to Japan for a game. Frustrated by how things were going, Davis decided he'd had enough and was going to quit.
"It's clear to me that I'm not making this team, I'm just not," he recalled. "There's too many backs in front of me and I'm just frustrated because I know that I should be getting more reps than that guy, that guy and that guy, and I'm not getting them. So I decided to leave — couldn't get out of Tokyo, Japan."
Unable to figure out how to get home, Davis returned to the team and played in the game. It was another pivotal moment. Playing on special teams against San Francisco, Davis ran down on kickoff coverage and leveled the return man. On the one play, without the ball in his hands, Davis showed his speed and drive and athleticism. It was, essentially, the beginning of his Hall of Fame career.
"I got down and make that nice tackle, and that was it," he said. "From that play on (laughs), it's like things just went from there and all of the sudden you're hoisting trophies. It happened so fast."
As a rookie in 1995, he rushed for 1,117 yards. Then came 1,538 yards and 13 touchdowns in 1996 (he was named the Offensive Player of the Year) and 1,750 yards and 15 TDs in '97. And in 1998, his MVP season, he rushed for 2,008 yards — the fourth player in NFL history with a 2,000-yard season — and 21 touchdowns. During his third and fourth seasons the Broncos won back to back Super Bowls, and he was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXIII, after rushing for 157 yards and three touchdowns against Green Bay.
Davis rushed for 7,607 yards and 60 touchdowns in his seven-year career, which amounted to just 78 games. In his four years of college football, Davis rushed for a combined 1,919 yards and 16 touchdowns. In eight career playoff games with the Broncos, he rushed for 1,140 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was named to the NFL's All-Decade team for the 1990s.
While in Athens for the weekend, Davis spent some time with the Bulldogs, who comfortably beat Missouri on Saturday to improve to 7-0. His message, according to defensive back J.R. Reed, the son of longtime NFL receiver Andre Reed: "He just told us we've got to keep doing it; it's been a long time since Georgia's been at this level and we've got to keep working, keep working and elevating our game."
Just like Davis did, once he got going in the right direction.
A nose guard and fullback in high school, an oft-injured running back at Long Beach State and Georgia, and then one of the best running backs the NFL has ever seen during a short but brilliant career. It was a "bizarre" journey, Davis said, and it ended up in a place he never would have imagined.
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.
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UGAAA Staff Writer
Flip through the pages of the Georgia football media guide. You'll see page after page of names and stats and legends — lots of legends.
But not all Bulldog legends are born between the hedges. For some, legendary status comes from what they do after they leave Athens.
Which brings us to former Bulldog running back Terrell Davis, who received a hero's welcome while he was in town last weekend for Homecoming. When he enthusiastically called out the Dawgs before the game, Davis was wearing his gold Pro Football Hall of Fame blazer. He's one of just three former Bulldogs enshrined in Canton, Ohio, joining Charley Trippi and Fran Tarkenton.
A select group, a legendary trio.
Keep thumbing through the media guide, watching out for his name in the records section. You'll have to look closely, because Davis' name isn't in there very often.
The records show the Davis led Georgia in rushing in the 1993-94 seasons, but he's not in the top 10 in any career or season categories. Of course, when you're a program that's had the likes of Herschel Walker, Nick Chubb, Todd Gurley, Garrison Hearst, Knowshon Moreno, Sony Michel and Trippi back in the 1940s, it's not easy to make a top 10 list.
"For a long time when I came to Georgia, man, I felt like I held myself back, because I was afraid to be successful here," Davis said in an interview last Friday. "It sounds crazy, but with success comes responsibility, obligations, pressure, expectations, and I felt like I didn't want that. I came to Georgia, I wanted to play here, but this thing was a lot, it was big, it was overwhelming being here."
On page 200 of the 2017 media guide, Georgia lists its SEC Player of the Week award winners going back to 1985. As you might guess, there are a lot of them.
Scan through the early '90s ... Terrell Davis? Terrell Davis? Nope. Then it hits you: Terrell Davis got to the Pro Football Hall of Fame without ever being an SEC Player of the Week during his three seasons at Georgia. Could there be even two other guys in the past 20 years that made it to Canton without being a conference player of the week?
"I had some games that were good, but I was never that guy," Davis said.
It's extraordinary to think that someone could be a pretty good running back in college and an extraordinary one in the pros. But Davis was a different player in the NFL, just like quarterback Tom Brady is with New England versus his collegiate days at Michigan. After battling a lot of injuries at Georgia, Davis was healthy for the first part of his career with the Denver Broncos and produced four stellar seasons, before a major knee injury derailed his career. And when you watched Davis in the pros, from the very beginning, it was easy to see how much leaner and stronger he was.
"I'm glad you noticed that," he said.
Back to the media guide for a second. Thumb to page 173, which features a list of Georgia's assistant coaches over the years. Under P is the name Bob Pittard, without whom Davis would never have come to Athens. Pittard was Georgia's recruiting coordinator from 1986-93, under Vince Dooley and then Ray Goff.
A San Diego native, Davis started his collegiate career 100 miles north of home, at Long Beach State. He was a scout teamer while redshirting his first year and played well when he could play the next fall, beating out several returning backs for the job. And then Long Beach State killed off its football program after the 1991 season.
"That season I only played in five games, because I severely damaged my ankles," he said. "That's my career at that point, five games. The end of that season, the program folds. What makes me think, after that, what makes anybody think, after that, that Georgia, a school in the SEC, known for running backs, will come across the country to get me?"
Davis, who ran for 262 in those five games, said he later found out that Pittard had contacted Long Beach State after it was announced that the program was being shut down. Pittard spoke to someone, Davis said he never found out who, and asked if the program had any guys that could play in the SEC.
"And the person said, yeah, we have one person, Terrell Davis," he said.
A heck of a compliment and a pivotal moment for Davis on the road to Canton.
Another came late in the 1994 season, when he was a senior hampered by injuries. He'd played behind Hearst in 1992 and then led the team with 824 yards rushing as a junior, averaging 4.9 yards per carry. With four games left in his final season at Georgia, Davis said he had a talk with himself.
"I asked myself a question, internally: Were you giving this game all you can give it? Did you study hard enough? Were you practicing hard enough? Did you commit yourself to this game? I was like, no," he said. "And I was faced with only four games left in my career; I didn't care about the pros, I just wanted to leave this game knowing that I was able to give everything I had to it. That no matter what happens in the future, I could look back and say, you know what, I'm proud that I put it all out there, and whatever happens, happens."
Another pivotal moment. Determined and motivated, Davis finished his career well — 113 yards versus Auburn and 121 against Georgia Tech — and was drafted in the sixth round by Denver. Even though he was later a star as a rookie, things didn't start out well with the Broncos.
Way down on the depth chart, Davis was a sixth-rounder just trying to make the team. Of course, to do that he had to impress some folks in practice, but he wasn't getting many chances to do that, he said.
Then came a preseason trip to Japan for a game. Frustrated by how things were going, Davis decided he'd had enough and was going to quit.
"It's clear to me that I'm not making this team, I'm just not," he recalled. "There's too many backs in front of me and I'm just frustrated because I know that I should be getting more reps than that guy, that guy and that guy, and I'm not getting them. So I decided to leave — couldn't get out of Tokyo, Japan."
Unable to figure out how to get home, Davis returned to the team and played in the game. It was another pivotal moment. Playing on special teams against San Francisco, Davis ran down on kickoff coverage and leveled the return man. On the one play, without the ball in his hands, Davis showed his speed and drive and athleticism. It was, essentially, the beginning of his Hall of Fame career.
"I got down and make that nice tackle, and that was it," he said. "From that play on (laughs), it's like things just went from there and all of the sudden you're hoisting trophies. It happened so fast."
As a rookie in 1995, he rushed for 1,117 yards. Then came 1,538 yards and 13 touchdowns in 1996 (he was named the Offensive Player of the Year) and 1,750 yards and 15 TDs in '97. And in 1998, his MVP season, he rushed for 2,008 yards — the fourth player in NFL history with a 2,000-yard season — and 21 touchdowns. During his third and fourth seasons the Broncos won back to back Super Bowls, and he was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXIII, after rushing for 157 yards and three touchdowns against Green Bay.
Davis rushed for 7,607 yards and 60 touchdowns in his seven-year career, which amounted to just 78 games. In his four years of college football, Davis rushed for a combined 1,919 yards and 16 touchdowns. In eight career playoff games with the Broncos, he rushed for 1,140 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was named to the NFL's All-Decade team for the 1990s.
While in Athens for the weekend, Davis spent some time with the Bulldogs, who comfortably beat Missouri on Saturday to improve to 7-0. His message, according to defensive back J.R. Reed, the son of longtime NFL receiver Andre Reed: "He just told us we've got to keep doing it; it's been a long time since Georgia's been at this level and we've got to keep working, keep working and elevating our game."
Just like Davis did, once he got going in the right direction.
A nose guard and fullback in high school, an oft-injured running back at Long Beach State and Georgia, and then one of the best running backs the NFL has ever seen during a short but brilliant career. It was a "bizarre" journey, Davis said, and it ended up in a place he never would have imagined.
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.
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