Rookie’s football mentality big hit with Raptors
Davis making his presence felt with fearless play
Terence Davis II hunts rebounds like a homeless dog going after table scraps in a back alley.
Trust me, that’s a compliment. The size of the opponent with designs on those same scraps or rebounds doesn’t matter. He’s coming away with the prize.
It’s a football mentality brought to the basketball court and while Davis isn’t the first NBA player to own such a mentality — or even the only member of the Raptors to possess such a mindset — it does help explain his rapid ascent from fringe bench guy to rotation player.
It’s part physical play, part confidence, part fearlessness — and it’s been working to Davis’ advantage since he left the football field behind and put all his eggs, so to speak, in his basketball basket.
Davis was a highly sought-after wide receiver and special teams demon coming out of high school.
More than 20 major college football programs came calling with scholarships. Davis took a pass on all of them. Instead, he sifted through the five basketball offers he received and settled on Ole Miss. It wasn’t a popular decision among his friends and fellow football fanatics, but Davis didn’t see it as a group decision.
As good as he was at football, basketball was his first love and he was determined to make a career of it.
Fred Vanvleet, who played some football himself growing up in hard-scrabble Rockford, Ill., said he can always pick out the football player on the court.
“It’s just a physicality,” said Vanvleet. “It’s nothing crazy, but the fear of somebody hitting your chest or getting hit in the ribs, the fear of that is a lot worse than the actual hit you take and you don’t really learn that unless you play football.
“So you can see the guys that go up there for rebounds with two hands, who aren’t afraid to dive for the ball or afraid to throw his body around. He’s been hit before — like hard, for real — playing football. On the basketball court, it’s not that bad. You can always tell the guys who have been through that.”
Davis has a receiver’s hands, which measure 10.75 inches from the tip of his pinky to the tip of his thumb, and they come in handy on a basketball court.
“I caught whatever (was thrown my way),” said Davis, spreading his hands out for full effect as he talks about his football days.
Davis still watches football. He keeps up with Ole Miss alumni in the NFL, including DK Metcalf in Seattle and Evan Engram in New York with the Giants. He crossed paths with Raiders safety Johnathan Abram, whom he played against growing up, when the Raptors were in Dallas last weekend. Abram is one of the guys who couldn’t understand why Davis would go the basketball route when football seemed like such a sure thing for him.
But basketball was always the No. 1 choice for Davis and with the support of his mother and father, he stayed true to his first love and he’s doing just fine.
The naysayers just give him more motivation.
“I would just say that the doubters and people like that, it really motivates guys like me, like
Fred (Vanvleet) — they motivate guys like me to prove them wrong, honestly,” Davis said. “When I committed to college, when I was in high school, I chose basketball. I wanted to prove that everyone who thought that I chose the wrong sport was wrong. So far I’ve been doing that.”
Davis is playing a lot right now because of injuries to starters; Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry are both expected back soon.
Even Patrick Mccaw, who had surgery on his knee, is already pain-free and moving freely, just two weeks after having surgery.
Davis’ time on the floor will eventually take a hit. But the experience and the confidence he’s gaining right now should serve him well.
And when the Raptors need him again, they’ll know they have an athletic, fearless, hard-working rookie ready to go.