ATLANTA, GEORGIA | A year ago in the Georgia Dome, an emotional Jarrad Davis sat in his locker room following Florida’s 29-15 loss to Alabama and told reporters that he would be coming back to school rather than declaring early for the NFL Draft.
"As a winner, you always want to leave your mark wherever you go,” Davis said at the time. “For me, I don't feel like I've done enough here at the University of Florida. I really want to come back and I really want to get this game, get this ring, and hopefully play for a national championship. I know we have the talent on this team to do it. We just have to be headed in the right direction.”
Fast forward to Saturday, and Davis continues to prove that he’s the consummate teammate and an emotional leader for this Gators football team.
After a breakout junior season, Davis has played well when he’s been available for the Gators - but since the Missouri contest he’s been playing with a badly sprained ankle. He managed to fight through the pain in an impressive outing against Georgia, but the senior linebacker re-aggravated it at Arkansas a week later on Nov. 5.
For the next three games, Florida decided to sideline Davis.
However, the senior linebacker wasn’t going to sit out of one of the most important games of his life Saturday - a rematch against Alabama that he had circled on his calendar since last year - because of an injury.
“Continue to fight, man. That’s what I’ve been my whole life, a fighter,” Davis said. “I was going to come out and show that today. Not matter what the score was or what anything was, I was going to … if I could be out there and I could play, I can give my all to the team, that’s what I was going to do and that’s what I did today.”
Although the result wasn’t one Davis was look for, as No. 15 Florida fell to No. 1 Alabama 54-16, the “heart and soul” of the Florida defense showcased his grit and toughness Saturday playing through injury.
Davis was able to be effective early on in the contest for the Gators, as he was flying across the field and getting involved in tackles early in the game. However, after giving everything he could for his teammates, he re-injured his ankle during the second half and had to exit the game.
------
* GET YOUR 30 DAY FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP
* Should the Gators start a freshman quarterback in their bowl game?
* Instant Analysis: Florida falls to Alabama yet again in Atlanta
* Another loss to a ranked team as Florida embarrassed by Alabama
------
“It’s embarrassing for me, doing what I do, to go down with an injury, but that’s a part of the game,” Davis said. “I’ve got to learn to accept that.”
It hasn’t been easy for Davis, as he has battled with an ankle injury for the second half of the season and has made plenty of sacrifices just in order to get back on the field with his teammates.
“A lot of 6 a.m. waking up, being in the training room all day. Just doing what I’ve got to do to get back at it,” Davis said. “There’s a lot of things that as football players and as a successful football player, you’ve got to sacrifice. I’ve made a lot of sacrifices these past couple of weeks. A lot of the things that you don’t want to do I wanted to do, but I couldn’t do.
“But it all paid off to be back on the field and be doing what I love, because I love playing this game. I don’t want to do anything else for the rest of my life except to play football. I was just happy to be out there on the field with my teammates.”
With Davis departing from the program following Florida's bowl game, this Gator team has a plethora of young talent at multiple positions on the field, including the linebacker position, and Davis wants to see his teammates succeed and grow as men.
“I think it’s huge, just because these guys have a lot of talent and a lot of great potential,” said Davis. “I just don’t want to see those young guys waste that. You know? I want to make sure that they know what it takes and that they see the opportunities that they have to be a very successful team later on down the road. There are a lot of young guys on this team that come back next year that are really going to be able to create a big splash in the world. I just want to make sure they continue to push themselves and continue to fight.”
It’s obvious that Davis will have a future in the NFL, but ultimately, the senior linebacker has been reflective on the time that he has had at UF. His gutsy performance in the wake of injury Saturday was an embodiment on what he’s delivered to this program in four seasons.
“Sometimes, I sit down and I look at certain things in the building,” Davis said. “I go out in The Swamp and look out in the stadium and stuff like that, I get these little flashbacks and think of just all of the times we’ve had out there. It just makes me realize, you only have a month left or you only have so much more time left here as a Gator. I can say that I left this university with no regrets. I gave everything I have. Everything.”
Inside the Gators staff writer Landon Watnick contributed to this report.
------
Thank you for reading this Inside the Gators article. To discuss it, please visit the Alligator Alley Forum.
