Gators linebacker Jarrad Davis, No. 40, returned from an ankle injury and had a team-high seven tackles in his final Florida-Georgia game. (Photo: Adler Garfield/For UAA Communications)
Davis Did What He Does: 'Hit 'Em In The Mouth'
Sunday, October 30, 2016 | Football, Scott Carter
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Florida's senior linebacker overcame a serious ankle injury to help lead Florida to a win over Georgia on Saturday in Jacksonville.
By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Amy Davis and her group of friends and family from Kingsland, Ga., have tagged along with the Gators for the past four years.
Amy is Jarrad's mother and is invested each Saturday as much as her son.
Wherever Florida plays, Davis is there. More than an hour before the Gators arrived at EverBank Field on Saturday, Davis stood in the hot sun outside the gate where Florida's team bus was scheduled to arrive.
It had been a difficult week.
"Me or him was going to have to get a psych eval. I didn't know which one,'' she said. "One of us was going to get one because he was about to worry me to death."
In Florida's homecoming win over Missouri two weeks ago, Davis and everyone else in the Swamp watched as Jarrad needed assistance off the field after suffering a severely sprained ankle. His status for Saturday's Florida-Georgia game was in doubt.
Amy and Jarrad talked a lot in the days leading up to Florida's 24-10 win over the Bulldogs Saturday, both full of anxiety. In his final Florida-Georgia game, Jarrad was listed as a game-time decision.
Amy reflected on something Jarrad had said when he learned last week he was one of 19 finalists for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which honors "college football's defensive best in character and performance." Gators linebacker Jarrad Davis and his mother Amy after Saturday's win over Georgia. (Photo: Scott Carter/UAA Communications)
"If you want it, you are going to have to do some work,'' she recalled.
She knew he wanted to play. He felt he needed to play. But his ankle also had a say, and he just didn't know. Neither did Amy.
So as Jarrad emerged from Florida's bus Saturday, Amy and the Kingsland crew wondered whether he could play the same as the rest of us.
And then Jarrad came over and dropped the news.
"Mom, I'm going in."
"Say what?"
"Mom, I'm going in."
Amy's mind and heart raced as the heartbeat of the Gators walked toward the locker room to get ready. Davis' best friend, Anthony Stewart, was less concerned.
A former backup quarterback at Camden County (Ga.) High behind Bulldogs punter Brice Ramsey, Stewart has known Davis since they met in third grade and became teammates on the Kingsland Dolphins youth football team.
They have been inseparable since their first memory together.
"We were playing kickball, and I was the pitcher, and he kicked the ball, and it me right in the face,'' Stewart said. "I cried, and after that, he asked if I was OK. Best friends ever since."
Jarrad had provided little insight to Stewart prior to Saturday other than telling him he was trying to do everything he could to play, which meant long hours in the training room for rehab and taking care of his body.
Still, Stewart had been crushed by Davis too many times at practice back in Kingsland. Unless someone locked Jarrad in a room, he was going to find a way to get on the field.
"He told me the same thing he told everybody else, it was just going to be a game-time decision,'' Stewart said. "But I knew in my heart he was going to play. He is a gamer. He is the heart and soul. He's tough. He is going to give you all he has."
Davis did exactly that Saturday, recording a team-high seven tackles, including 2.5 for loss. His final tackle put an exclamation point on a memorable day for Florida's senior linebacker.
On its final drive, Georgia went for it on fourth-and-3 from its 47-yard line. Quarterback Jacob Eason hit Javon Wims on a crossing route. Davis crunched him for a 2-yard loss to give Florida the ball with 3:08 left. The No. 14 Gators (6-1, 4-1) ran out the clock and departed Jacksonville with their third consecutive win over the Bulldogs and still atop the SEC East.
Once Davis stepped onto the field for pregame warm-ups and felt the energy in the stadium, the ankle became an afterthought.
"Not a chance [of missing the game],'' Davis said. "It was very emotional. I didn't want to miss this game. It's football, man. At the end of the day, you've got to play this game. A lot of people don't get that. If I had sat out, that makes me question myself and what I actually do this for. What I'm about wouldn't have showed up if I had sat this game."
Davis informed head coach Jim McElwain after warm-ups that he was playing.
McElwain had his doubts during the week at practice.
"Got beat up by a tackling dummy on one play,'' McElwain said. "He is the heart and soul of this team. For him this game meant a lot."
Davis said he started slow and was unable to make some plays in the first half that are normally routine. He met with assistant coach Randy Shannon at halftime to discuss what he could do better in the second half. As he loosened up and got into the flow of the game, the plays started to come.
It was vintage Davis in the end.
CBS analyst Gary Danielson has come to expect the best from No. 40. He referenced during the telecast that in his travels around the SEC, multiple defensive coordinators have mentioned Davis as someone they show playing to their players as an example.
"It means a lot to know people are watching me in that category,'' Davis said. "That's why I go out and play the way I do each week. I didn't know how it was going to end up [this week]."
Neither did Amy. Not until that pregame meeting during Gator Walk. She told Davis, who some projections have as a potential first-round pick in next spring's NFL Draft, that if he had to miss the game "it's not the end of the world."
"But him being from Georgia, and Georgia not in the mix in the scholarship game, he had to be out there,'' she said.
Late Saturday night, Davis emerged from the stadium near the same gate he entered hours earlier. Amy and the Kingsland crew waited by the gate. Their 45-mile drive back across the Georgia line awaited.
Before hello, someone yelled their favorite slogan.
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