The Mustangs, led by its head coach, Steve Ryan, has developed a winning reputation in the NAIA for the past few years, and Ryan seems to have found a talented Lemoore High School wide receiver and prospective linebacker to keep up the winning tradition.
In 19 seasons with the Mustangs, Coach Ryan has guided his teams to a 192-40 record and led his teams to 17 consecutive post-season appearances in the NAIA National Championship Series.
And the talented coach has come all the way to California and Lemoore to find players to keep up his school’s winning tradition.
On Thursday night, in the Lemoore Volunteer Fire Department, Davis, along with coaches, friends, and family, signed a letter-of-intent to play football for the Morningside Mustangs.
Football has been a way of life for Davis, who started playing football when most kids are still in diapers. “I’ve been playing football since I was five years old,” said Davis. The senior athlete, the son of Byron Davis and Roshelle Wilhite, made the varsity squad as a sophomore under then-coach Josh Kloster. He quickly made an impact as a starter.
As a sophomore, Davis started at strong safety, and as a junior, he played wide receiver and resumed his job at strong safety. He was also expected to play linebacker this season for the Tigers under new head coach Rich Tuman.
“I just grew up around it, and I like the competitiveness of football,” he said. It turns out he’s pretty good in the classroom too, compiling an impressive 3.7 GPA. He also plays a mean game of baseball for the Tigers.
He’s still betting that the Tigers will manage to scrape together a season. “I’d like to hope so. I think there’s a fifty-fifty chance.”
Davis said that It was the college that made the first contact. “They reached out to me through email and Twitter,” he recalled. Davis eventually visited the Morningside College campus and liked what he saw. He especially liked the football team’s success on the field. “I liked the atmosphere of the school and the success of the football program.”