Vicky Graff Photo
Like almost every other major college football player, Kentucky running back Ray Davis hopes to play in the NFL and certainly has made NFL scouts pay attention to him with his play so far this season. Still, the 5-9, 215-pound Vanderbilt transfer knows the more versatile he can be, the more valuable he will be to NFL teams.
That’s why during an appearance on the SEC Network he said he would rather make a “highlight catch” than a big run.
“I want to show how versatile I am. I’m not just a one-dimension back. I can do it all. I can pass-block, I can catch, and I can run. Also, the defensive coordinator, you gotta pick and choose. Either you’re gonna stop the run or stop the pass. I can do both,” Davis said.
“I can go out there and line up in the slot and I can give your safeties and linebackers some work, or I can get up behind the box and run it.
“Just having that ability to be multidimensional. I never want to put myself in a box. You look at the running backs today in the NFL today, that’s the way it goes — being able to be a three-down back and being able to do a lot of different things.”
Davis was UK’s best offensive player in the lopsided loss to Georgia. He ran for 59 yards on 15 carries and had two catches for 36 yards, including a 26-yard pass that he had to break tackles and weave his way through defenders to find the end zone.
He leads UK in rushing with 653 yards and eight touchdowns on 91 carries, an average of 7.2 yards per catch. He also has 13 catches for 182 yards and four touchdowns going into tonight’s game against Missouri.
Davis used current running backs David Montgomery of Detroit and Maurice Jones-Drew of Jacksonville as models for the type of player he wants to be. He especially likes the way Montgomery plays.
“He has that ability to be a hard-nosed runner. He can get up to his second level. I like what he does,” Davis said on the SEC Network.
However, Jones-Drew is from California like Davis and the UK running back feels a connection to him.
“I love what he did at UCLA and I love what he did with the Jaguars. He had the heart-over-height demeanor going into the league and he was just dominant,” Davis said.
