Vanderbilt’s Ray Davis Named To Comeback Player Of The Year Watch List

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Ray Davis. Photo: Courtesy of Vanderbilt Athletics

Vanderbilt senior running back Ray Davis has been named to the watch list for the Comeback Player of the Year.

Davis ran for 238 yards over the first three games of 2021 for the Commodores, including 93 yards at Colorado State. The effort not only helped head coach Clark Lea earn his first win, but snapped an 11-game losing streak for the program, as well as a 10-game road losing streak. He also found the end zone against Stanford in the third game before suffering a season-ending injury.

He has come back with a vengeance this season. At the halfway mark, Davis leads Vandy and is fifth in the SEC with 84.5 rushing yards per game. On top of his 507 rushing yards and four touchdowns, Davis has 110 receiving yards and two touchdown grabs. He ran for a season-high 116 yards in a victory at Northern Illinois and also went for 105 on the ground against No. 9 Ole Miss.

The San Francisco native has overcome both circumstance and injury to lead the Commodores in rushing this season. Growing up, Davis’ mother and father were both in and out of incarceration, with he and his siblings moving between the homes of family members. By age 8, he was in the California foster care system. He briefly lived in a homeless shelter before a high school teacher took him in before he returned to live with his grandmother.

Eventually, the parents of a youth basketball teammate became Davis’ educational rights holder and helped him enroll at Trinity-Pauley in New York. After finishing his prep career at Blair Academy in New Jersey, Davis enrolled at Temple and was a Pro Football Focus Freshman All-American before transferring to Vanderbilt.

The award recognizes college football players across five divisions of college football for overcoming injury, illness or other circumstances. The honor is presented by College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) and The Associated Press.

Davis is one of 61 players from the Football Bowl Subdivision to make the initial watch list. Subsequent watch lists will include players from all divisions. At the conclusion of the season, a vote will be conducted by a panel of writers, editors and sports information directors, with three student-athletes honored as Comeback Player of the Year award winners at this season’s College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.

Davis and the Commodores return to action at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday (Oct. 15) to face No. 1 Georgia on the SEC Network.

Steven Boero
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