Former Vol sees ‘big potential’ for expanding camp

KODAK — When Phillip Fulmer’s appointment to Tennessee’s athletic director position prevented him from continuing his summer football camp, former Vols football player Jabari Davis decided to take the baton and continue the tradition. Davis, who helped out with Fulmer’s Hall of Fame Football Camp the past two years in Gatlinburg, this week launched the Legends of Tennessee Football Camp. The three-day camp, featuring kids ages 7 to 14, began Thursday and will conclude Saturday at Northview Academy.

“It’s something big for the kids this summer,” said Davis, the former UT running back who lives in Maryville. “Football camps are really instrumental on skill development, football fundamentals, life skills, kids getting out and meeting great coaches and getting motivated to be successful people on and off the field.”

Davis organized an impressive list of former Vols to help him with the camp.

Former Vols Tony Robinson, Eric Westmoreland, Jayson Swain, Gerald Riggs Jr., A.J. Johnson, Chris Treece, Herman Lathers, Justin Harrell, Cedric Houston and DeAngelo Lloyd helped Davis work the camp.

“I love getting back with the guys and actually doing something for the community, and I’m quite sure the people that come out here, they like it and enjoy it as well,” said Lloyd, a member of UT’s 1998 national championship team who drove over from Charlotte to work the camp.

The camp afforded the former Vols a chance to catch up.

“There’s a lot of new things going on ‘The Hill,’ and a lot of these guys haven’t been here since last season or a year or two ago,” Davis said.

Davis would like to expand the camp in the future. He wants to make it a three-city tour, keeping one camp in East Tennessee and adding camps in Nashville and Memphis.

That would allow him to expose more kids to the camp and get more former players involved in helping at one of the stops.

“We’re going to keep this Legends of Tennessee Camp going. … I see a lot of big potential,” Davis said.

Robinson, who played quarterback for the Vols in the 1980s, wore the Super Bowl ring he received this week for his contributions as a replacement player for the Washington Redskins during their 1987 championship season.

The ring served as a prop for Robinson’s message to the kids: “This is what you get when you work hard. If you work hard and you keep going, when you get to the top, this (is) what you get.”