How does a cornerback with 10 interceptions as a senior on a winning large high school team, who is an excellent athlete and a model student, get overlooked by all major college recruiters?
Ask Tulsa's Tyon Davis, who had to go to juco at NEO A&M first to finally realize his dream of playing D-1 football.
"I just think it was because I was a late bloomer," Davis said. "I didn't come on the scene until my senior year when I was getting taller, finally, and coming into my own."
Since so much of recruiting comes before a player's senior season, and his Putnam City West team hadn't been to the state playoffs in the previous 20 years, it is understandable how Davis was overlooked before he was a senior.
But then Davis literally grew into somebody who should have been a major college prospect. And the D-1 coaches still missed it.
"I went from being 5-8 as a junior and over the summer I grew to 6-foot going into my senior year," Davis said. "It happened pretty fast. People would say, you're getting taller. I didn't really notice it."
The 6-foot, 188-pound senior was considerably skinnier then as well, which is something that dedication to the weight room in recent years has improved.
As a one-year returning starter with one career interception coming into his senior season of 2016, Davis helped lead PC West to winning record and quarterfinals appearance in the state playoffs before losing to eventual 6A-II champion Bixby.
Davis doesn't let the doubters phase him. They are always there, for himself and TU, and he is ready to prove them wrong.
"I always play with that chip on my shoulder because I still feel doubted," Davis said. "Tulsa gets doubted every game. That chip will never go away."
Not getting recruited out of high school by any major college teams will do that. TU getting picked sixth in pre-season AAC polls when returning most players off an undefeated regular season team will do that as well.
Davis is being counted on heavily by TU after getting considerable playing time as a reserve the last two seasons in passing situations. The late defections of two starting upperclassmen corners has made Davis the dean of the returning cornerbacks for the Golden Hurricane.
"I think Tyon Davis has been consistent and has really made some big plays," said Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery of Davis about his practice performance in fall camp. "I've been really pleased there. He is extremely athletic, and his change of direction has been outstanding."
In his two seasons at TU, Davis has played in 20 games, and started one game last season (at OSU) while playing in all nine games. He was second among TU corners with pass break-ups with two, and has 20 career tackles, including 0.5 tackles for loss last season among his 14 stops.
Still looking for his first career interception at TU, don't be surprised if Davis has a few picks this season in a starting role. His game-awareness that goes back to high school should come in handy.
One would think that after a few interceptions as a senior in high school, opposing teams would have looked to the other side of the field away from Davis.
"They never learned," Davis said of his opponents. "The key was just, once I was in position with my receiver, I would always try to look for more work, and that's how I got a lot of my picks. I would just pick off the quarterback throwing to another guy that was in my area. It was a lot of me jumping past to where I should not have been but I put myself in position to be there."
Fortunately for Davis, NEO and some D-II teams noticed. But he was always concerned about his status there at first, having to redshirt his first season in Miami before having a freshman season where he had 20 tackles, 5 breakups and an interception that caught the eyes of TU.
"It was a shock at first. There were a hundred guys there competing for 80 helmets," Davis said of being at NEO. "That's where I learned to compete at a high level. Everyone there was big, strong, fast, and wanted to go to D-1. That's where I got my mentality from. They taught me how to work hard.
"It was a pretty good year. We had a lot of ups and downs - we ended up going to the conference championship and losing in the conference championship."
With another year of eligibility left at NEO, Davis jumped at the opportunity to play at Tulsa when TU came calling.
"They had a guy leave just before I got here, and they had two spots open up, and they were trying to get a corner with experience" Davis said of TU recruiting him. "They gave me the offer, and I just thought about it, man, this is the perfect situation. It was close to home. Great coach, great staff, great organization. It was a no-brainer for me.
"I wanted the opportunity to go to D-1 because I didn't have that opportunity in high school."
Davis checks the boxes for what a TU standout student-athlete should be. Besides being a good football player, he is a terrific student, having already graduated with a double major in Marketing and Business Management. Having made mostly A's at TU and nothing below a B, Davis is starting work on his MBA this semester.
"I've always been the person who has been on top of my academics," Davis said. "Getting a B always gets me upset, for some reason. Grades have never been an issue for me. I've always been on top of those things.
"The first thing everybody told me when I came here was that TU is a hard academic school, and I said it will be all right."
For a person who fought so hard to get to D-I, being thrust into the leadership role of the cornerbacks is a challenge Davis relishes.
"There are more expectations from me. I don't look at pressure as anything I can't handle," Davis said.
MORE ON TULSA FOOTBALL:
• Jordan Ford adds another option at RB for Tulsa
• Davis Brin ready to take reins of TU offense
• Position Analysis - Cornerback
• Position Analysis - Linebacker
• Position Analysis - Defensive Line
• Position Analysis - Special Teams
• Position Analysis - Offensive Line
• Position Analysis - Tight End
• Position Analysis - Wide Receiver
• Position Analysis - Running Back
• Position Analysis - Quarterback
