Derrick Davis sees new opportunity in a familiar place
In the world of college football recruiting, sometimes certain things just make sense. Derrick Davis landing at Pitt following two years at LSU certainly follows that line of thinking. Davis was looking for a fresh start at a new position, and his hometown school was willing to provide him with an opportunity to do just that.
“A lot of great guys came from Pitt playing running back,” Davis told reporters at an introductory press conference on Wednesday. “Why not play in a city where I’ve got a lot of support and a lot of fans rooting for me?”
Seems pretty logical.
Davis is a Monroeville native and was a star at Gateway High School, where he was one of the more decorated recruits from the Pittsburgh region in recent memory. He helped guide Gateway to a 43-7 overall record in four years as a starter and also accumulated over 5,000 yards of offense with 77 touchdowns. Gateway also captured two WPIAL titles during that stretch.
With those kind of accolades, it was only natural his recruitment took to a national level. The big thing, however, was that most schools envisioned Davis as a star defensive player as either a safety or linebacker. He was graded as a four-star recruit with over 30 offers from all over the country by the time of his senior year.
Davis landed at LSU as a member of the 2021 signing class, but it never really clicked for him in Baton Rouge. He played in 12 games as a true freshman, but mostly as a special teams player. This past season he was used some on defense, but had to fill in as an emergency running back due to injuries.
After posting 29 yards on six carries with a touchdown in LSU’s win over Purdue in the Citrus Bowl, Davis decided running back was the place for him moving forward. Given his sturdy 6’2” and 210-pound frame, he should have little trouble adjusting to the position on a full-time basis.
“I feel comfortable, real comfortable,” Davis said of playing running back. “It just feels easier, just real easy to me.”
Despite the limited sample size as a college running back, Pitt was willing to take the chance on Davis, and for good reason. They recruited him heavily while he was in high school. In fact, Pitt was the first college to offer him as a high school freshman back in 2017.
There is a comfort level on both sides from that aspect. From a football perspective, Davis sees an opportunity to make an impact.
“I knew Pitt was losing their main running back, so I made the decision to commit here and hopefully do big things here playing running back,” he explained.
Of course, there are obviously some reasons that led Davis to leaving town the first time around and ending up at LSU. He was asked about that on Wednesday. The new Panther said he felt like he had to go out of state and that was the best thing for him at the time.
Returning to Pitt is the best thing for him now.
Davis trusts the Pitt coaching staff and he still has the same relationship he had with them during his first recruitment. Those bonds helped Pitt land him over the likes of NC State and South Carolina.
“Honestly I feel like it’s still the same vibe,” Davis said of Pitt. “The coaches, the staff, they were showing me the same love they were showing to me when I was still in high school and that’s why I love the university and the staff. They kept it 100 with me, and I kept it 100 with them.”
While Davis was in Baton Rouge, the Pitt program has really started to pick things up on the field. The Panthers collected an ACC title in 2021 and have recorded back-to-back Top-25 seasons.
Even though he was elsewhere, Davis was keeping tabs.
“I was able to see the build up going on here and honestly Narduzzi was able to turn this program around a lot in a tremendous way,” he said of Pitt’s past two seasons. “For me to actually see that firsthand, I was like, ‘OK, Pitt has something’ and now they’re going to have something for real.”
Davis is joining a team that has plenty of experience back on both sides of the ball off of a 9-win squad. He is one of five players the Panthers have added in the transfer portal as well. Davis has high expectations for what the team can accomplish this season.
“We’ve got a lot of talent, lot of speed, and I think that’s one thing a lot of people look over is the amount of talent that we have here,” he explained. “I feel like we’re going to do some really great things here at Pitt. We’ve got one goal: win the ACC Championship, hopefully make it to the playoffs, but we’re going to keep our heads down and just grind.”