FRESHMAN SPARK
Davis showing ability to often turn end zone into ODU’s Lala land
NORFOLK — Lala Davis took the handoff and sped toward the middle of the line.
Finding nothing, the Old Dominion running back veered right, where there was a sliver of an opening.
It closed quickly, but Davis wiggled out of the grasp of one tackler, ran through the outstretched arm of another and cut upfield.
Seeing daylight at last, he left another defender diving at his heels as he accelerated into the end zone.
In that single 20-yard run at Charlotte
last week, for his first college touchdown, the true freshman displayed traits ODU’s rushing attack had been lacking this season: explosiveness and the ability to break tackles.
“We just have not had explosive runs through three games, and he brought that ability,” coach Bobby Wilder said.
The Monarchs hope Davis can bring that ability again, beginning Saturday against Virginia Tech, when he’ll make his first career start.
It’s a lot to ask of a freshman, even one with the pedigree of Davis, who rewrote the Virginia High School League record book. From Heritage High in Lynchburg, he ran for 6,690 career yards, more than anyone in state history. His 3,670 yards last season were the most in the nation.
The jewel of ODU’s 2018 recruiting class, Davis was expected to play this year, but probably not this soon. His reward for rocketing up the depth chart is the privilege of facing a voracious Hokies defense that ranks No. 5 in the nation against the run.
Davis is understandably excited, in part because he could have been on the other sideline Saturday. After flirting with him throughout the recruiting process, the Hokies made a lastminute inquiry on National Signing Day, when a running back they’d offered signed with Florida State.
“He was committed late in the process. Sometimes, guys are loyal to their commitment, which is a good thing for him,” said Tech running backs coach Zohn Burden, a Virginia Beach native and former ODU assistant. “We never really officially offered him a scholarship, and he stayed loyal to his word, so pretty good for that kid.”
Davis said even if Tech had offered, he had made up his mind to go where he was a recruiting priority, rather than a fallback option.
“I was Old Dominion all the way,” he said.
He’s impressed coaches since arriving, making the travel squad for the season opener at Liberty, in his hometown. And very nearly getting on the field in Week 2, against Florida International .
Davis knew his number would be called last week, but expected it to be for one play. One carry turned into 10, however, and he rushed for 63 yards and two touchdowns.
Wilder said Davis’ debut was reminiscent of when Ray Lawry, the Monarchs’ all-time rushing leader, launched his career as a true freshman versus Marshall in the middle of the 2014 season.
“Now all of a sudden if you’re an offensive lineman or wide receiver blocking, you’re saying, ‘This thing might pop out’,” Wilder said. “There’s a little more energy involved. It gives everybody the feeling that he might break one.”
The Monarchs hoped to get that element from redshirt junior Kesean Strong, who started the season opener. Strong injured a hamstring, however, and has had just nine carries for 21 yards in two games.
Jeremy Cox, a senior who is second to Lawry in career rushing yards, with 1,798, has been slowed by an ankle injury, and has rushed for just 123 yards in three games.
Enter Davis, who, at 5-foot-10 and 210 pounds, is compact and powerful, shifty and elusive.
Those traits served him well at Heritage, a Class 3 school that reached the state title game last year. Davis was known there as Elijah, his given name, but now prefers to go by the nickname he got in youth football, when he earned a reputation for being something of a free spirit.
“I was not always focused,” he said. “But when I got in the games, I did what I was supposed to do.”
Davis continued in that vein at Heritage, where he was voted all-state three times. With the Pioneers coasting to easy wins, Davis played in the second half of just seven of 15 games last season. It made his video-gamelike rushing numbers all the more remarkable.
But while a yard is a yard on any field, for some, the level of competition Davis faced made it easier to regard him as merely a small-school phenomenon. Davis was aware of such talk. “Everybody was thinking we were playing sorry teams and all that, but it’s like more (about) your skill set on the field, not who you’re playing,” he said. “What you can produce on the field and how you play on the field.
“If you’re going to doubt me, just keep doubting me because I’m going to keep continuing to work hard.”
Davis said his biggest adjustment to college has been the speed of the game.
“The holes close up in like two seconds, so you’ve just got to hit it,” he said.
He did at Charlotte. The holes will undoubtedly disappear much quicker against Virginia Tech.
Still, Wilder said that regardless of what happens Saturday, Davis showed last week that he has the goods to potentially be something special at ODU.
“We just scratched the surface with him in that game,” Wilder said. “That’s just the tip of what he’s capable of doing.”
Davis displayed traits ODU’s rushing attack had been lacking this season: explosiveness and the ability to break tackles.