Freshman running back Davis impresses early
GAINESVILLE Nearly four years ago, when Matt Thompson took over as the head football coach at Jesuit High School in Tampa, he ordered all of his players to run the 40-yard dash. It was the first day of summer workouts, and he wanted to evaluate the talent level of his team.
After freshman Malik Davis finished running, Thompson looked down at his stopwatch. Four and a half seconds.
“And that’s when I knew he was special,” Thompson said.
About four years later, Davis finds himself in a similar situation — once again, he’s a freshman running back trying to prove himself to a new coach.
And once again, he’s impressing.
“He's not even scratching the surface yet on how good he can be,” UF running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider said.
Davis made the first start of his college career in UF’s last game — a 38-24 win against Vanderbilt — and didn’t disappoint. He rushed for 124 yards, a career high. He’s also Florida’s leading rusher heading into Saturday’s home game against LSU with 319 yards and two touchdowns.
But his first year could have played out much different.
Before the season began, junior running back and presumed starter Jordan Scarlett was suspended from the team. It was soon discovered he was part of a nine-player scandal involving the use of stolen credit cards to purchase electronics from the UF Bookstore.
If not for Scarlett’s suspension, Davis may not have seen the field yet this season.
But Scarlett was suspended indefinitely and someone had to take his carries.
“I think a lot of guys are still feeling like, 'Hey, I have to show I can be the guy that can replace Jordan Scarlett' instead of just letting the game come to them,” Seider said. “Stop trying to be Jordan. Be yourself and go make plays.”
While Seider said that mentality was an issue for the running back group earlier in the season, he thinks Davis has finally defined his role. The running back was named SEC Freshman of the Week after his performance against Vanderbilt and has impressed his teammates with his work ethic.
“I mean, that kid's fantastic,” offensive line coach Brad Davis said. “You could put me [on the offensive line] and he'd still probably get a yard or two.”
Thompson, Davis’ high school coach, had similar thoughts. During one game against Tampa Catholic during Davis’ junior year, Thompson said Davis ran the ball 51 times for at least 350 yards.
One year later, after the end of Davis’ senior season, the Florida football team used the Tampa Jesuit fields to practice for its upcoming bowl game against Iowa. Thompson watched as Florida’s running backs — Scarlett, Mark Thompson and Lamical Perine — warmed up and came away impressed. Davis had committed to UF a couple months earlier, but after seeing the Gators’ backfield, Thompson wanted to temper Davis’ expectations.
“You know, it’s not a bad thing if you redshirt,” Thompson told him.
Looking back now, Thompson laughs about it. He should have realized, he said, that Davis would make him regret his words.
“If somebody says that he can’t do something,” Thompson said, “he’s gonna prove them wrong.”