How two special influences developed Raekwon Davis into a mountain of man
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Demetrius Hill had heard the buzz and excitement over the next great defensive lineman.
His response?
“We’ll see.”
That hype generated five years ago in the East Mississippi city of Meridian, and it centered around a pudgy eighth grader who had yet to play organized football. Hill, who coaches defensive line at Meridian High School, remembers the first time he saw Alabama defensive lineman Raekwon Davis during a team trip to Six Flags.
Not yet grown into the 6-foot-7, 303-pound frame that sees him tower over his Crimson Tide teammates, back then Hill remembers Davis looking a bit clumsy. Still, at 6-foot-5 entering high school, the tools for building were there.
More importantly, so was Davis’ hunger to be great.
"Fat boy"
Davis had an interest in football early on. Unfortunately, by the time he enrolled in high school, he had also developed a nose for trouble.
While beneficial on the football field, Davis’ size often made him a target off of it. Hill said the defensive lineman grew up alongside a tough crowd and oftentimes would get into altercations, as kids wanting to prove themselves challenged the biggest person in school.
Davis might have won the fights, but Hill was quick to remind him he was losing the war.
“I sat down with him and explained to him his potential. At a young age, he still had a great frame and he could do a lot of things,” Hill recalled. “You are blessed to be 6-7, that’s a God gift to you.”
Hill always took a harder approach toward Davis than he did other players on Meridian’s roster. While other coaches raved over his mammoth size during practice, Hill jokingly called Davis “fat boy,” urging him to sculpt his body into its full potential.
Those criticisms came out of love. Davis referred to Hill as “Dad” on the field. The coach was one of the only people to know the real Davis anyway, that under all that size and strength there was a “big ole playful teddy bear” of a kid.
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That jovial manner is a big part of who Davis is, but his child-like personality did get in the way of his maturing process during his early years of high school. Using a word familiar to Alabama, Hill called Davis’ road to development a “process” and said it was difficult at times to shake him from some of his old habits.
That only caused Hill to push harder.
Meridian players are allowed to miss a limited amount of practices during summer workouts. Well, most Meridian players. The summer heading into Davis’ senior year, that option was stripped from the defensive lineman, as Hill told him he couldn’t afford to waste any opportunity to improve.
One morning Davis made the mistake of sleeping in, causing him to show up late for practice. After asking if he could still participate with the team, Davis was allowed to finish the workout. However, Hill’s mercy would only go so far.
“Coach Hill gave him a workout with the team, and after the team workout, he made him do up-downs until he physically started crying,” Meridian head coach Calvin Hampton recalled. “He couldn’t take it anymore. Coach made him do up-downs and ran him until he was just weighed down.”
From there, Davis made sure never to be late to another practice. He also made sure none of his fellow teammates did so either. Looking back, Hill says the moment served as a turning point in the young defensive lineman’s career.
“After that, I feel like he respected me for that because he knows that I love him,” Hill said. “I didn’t want to hurt him. I just wanted to make him better.”
More than a game
To better understand Davis, it’s important to know he not only had a second father figure in Hill but also an additional “team mom” in Meridian assistant principal Shirley Mosley.
Like Hill, Mosley came into Davis’ life as he entered high school. Those frequent altercations with other students might have led to the two initially meeting. However, Mosley's role in Davis' maturity soon far exceeded her duty to dole out punishments.
Looking back fondly on her time with Davis, Mosley chuckled a bit when remembering her initial encounters with the towering troublemaker.
“We made great progress,” she said between laughs.
Calling herself equal parts administrator and mother figure, Mosley said she’d talk with Davis about anything from his future career to life choices. More importantly, she was perhaps his biggest motivator, reminding him every day if he took the necessary steps, he could achieve big things.
“He’d constantly hear that from me,” Mosley said. “Not only would I address discipline issues, but I’d also be on him. If he was late for school, I’d be in his face. He’d have to deal with that.”
If something was happening in Davis’ life, Mosley, or as Davis called her, “Mom,” was one of the first to find out. Oftentimes the defensive lineman would come to Mosley’s office himself. Although if there was something that needed discussing, “Mom” came calling. After all, Davis wasn’t the hardest person to pick out in a hall full of high schoolers.
“He would come by office maybe two or three times a day,” Mosley said. “I was going to see him. He was going to be in my office... He was a tall kid, but every time he looked up he’d see me.”
Mosley made it clear to Davis early on that his athletic career would only take off if he dedicated himself to academics as well. Davis entered high school somewhat behind academically, as Mosley described carrying over the defensive lineman’s strong work ethic from the field to the classroom as a “struggle.”
Although, with a strong support cast behind him, giving up was never an option.
“We had a number of conversations,” Mosley said. “I told him, ‘People have different gifts, and your gift that can change your life is your athletic ability. If you take athletics and academics and make it work for you, you’ll be successful.”’
Prove them wrong
The drive from Meridian to Tuscaloosa takes roughly an hour and a half, or at least it’s supposed to. The straight shot down I-20/59 seems easy enough, but all too often the monotonous ride past some of Alabama’s smallest towns is cluttered by traffic and other obstacles which make the trip longer than it should be.
There was a time when Davis and those around him feared he too would experience one of those delays.
Davis earned his Alabama offer from head coach Nick Saban in 2014 after attending one of the Crimson Tide’s summer camps. While he wouldn’t publicly commit until two weeks later, it was obvious from the moment the head coach extended the offer in his office that Davis was Tuscaloosa bound.
“When Coach Saban offered him, Raekwon cried like a baby,” Hampton said. “It was a dream come true for him.”
Hampton said the offer served as a certificate of proof to Davis that he made it, that people were wrong about him and that he could get out of Meridian and accomplish anything he wanted to. Despite rumors of his decommitment months before National Signing Day in 2016, Davis’ coaches said the defensive lineman never truly wavered from his decision to join the Tide.
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However, there was still a major roadblock in his journey.
There was a big fear that Davis would not be able to secure the ACT score necessary to be eligible to play for Alabama last season. In fact, the possibility of not being able to qualify up to NCAA standards even led to the defensive linemen signing to both Alabama and Jones County Junior College, just in case his grades weren’t high enough to play for the Tide.
The next few months were nerve-wracking, as Davis stayed after school in tutoring sessions, spending every available minute in order to work toward his ultimate goal. He had come too far and was too close for things to fall apart.
Then, finally, it happened. Despite arriving in Tuscaloosa last fall, Davis didn’t receive clearance from the NCAA until the second week of the season after the Tide’s opener against Southern California.
Mosley still remembers the moment she found out as if it were yesterday.
“I think I was on campus on a Saturday, and looked and saw where he had passed (the ACT),” she said. “I called Coach Hill, I called his mom, we were all screaming and yelling.”
Big man on campus
Despite playing in just seven games last season, Davis made his presence felt, tallying four tackles, a sack and a forced fumble. Even as a freshman, his hulking size stood out during practice. A picture of him standing next to teammate Da’Ron Payne soon caught fire on social media, as Davis somehow made the 6-foot-2, 308-pound defensive lineman look small.
“I tried to tell him to stop standing next to me because it makes me look little,” Payne joked last season. “But yeah, that's a big dude.”
This season, Davis appears to have entered camp leaner than last season and has worked at the defensive end position during practice. Due to the departure of starters Jonathan Allen and Dalvin Tomlinson from last year’s team, Davis could earn one of those spots with a strong camp this spring. During his news conference last week, Saban mentioned Davis along with senior Jamar King as two players who could emerge and contribute to the line this season.
Whenever that opportunity comes, expect Davis to be ready. His drive and the support and love from the community around him have already proved to be too big to fail.
“I truly believe he will be successful,” Mosley said. “Whether it’s in football or anything he chooses to do. He’s a very focused young man, and he’s going to accomplish big things in the future.”