| Southern Miss Golden Eagles — No. 12 | |
| Quarterback | Senior |
| Major: Business | |
| Date of birth: June 2, 1989 | |
| Place of birth: Ringgold, Georgia | |
| Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | Weight: 221 lb (100 kg; 15 st 11 lb) |
| Career history | |
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| High school: West Lauderdale High School | |
College(s):
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| Bowl games | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Stats at ESPN.com | |
Austin Davis (born June 2, 1989) is the starting quarterback for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles college football team. A walk-on to the program, Davis redshirted the 2007 season and became the starter a year later. He ended the year with a combined total of 15 school records for both game and single-season marks and led the Golden Eagles to a bowl game victory in the 2008 New Orleans Bowl. He was selected to the Freshman All-Conference USA team and earned a Freshman All-American honorable mention by CollegeFootballNews.com for 2008.
Davis attended West Lauderdale High School where he became the most successful quarterback in the school's history. He was a four-year letterwinner, received all-area honors, was named best offensive back in the district and played in the Mississippi/Alabama All-Star game.
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Davis was born on June 2, 1989 in Ringgold, Georgia to Greg and Lori Davis. His cousin Jason Smith plays baseball for the Houston Astros organization and his brother, Bo, plays baseball for the San Diego Padres organization and helped lead the Southern Miss Golden Eagles to its first College World Series appearance. Davis attended West Lauderdale High School in Collinsville, Mississippi, where he was coached by Stan McCain. He would become the winningest quarterback in the school's history. As a senior, Davis threw for 1,100;yards passing with 15&;touchdowns, rushed for 600 yards with six touchdowns and recorded a 67 percent completion rating. He was a four-year letterwinner and was named team MVP. During his career, Davis received all-area honors, was named best offensive back in the district and played in the Mississippi/Alabama All-Star game.[1]
Davis was a walk-on to the University of Southern Mississippi football program and redshirted the 2007 season.[1][2] For 2008, Davis was named the starting quarterback by head coach Larry Fedora and became the first freshman to be named the starting quarterback at Southern Miss since 1991.[3] Davis began the season with five 200-yard passing games, more than any other Southern Miss quarterback has put together, and nine altogether for the season, tying a school record for most in a season.[1] For the year, Davis set a new school record with 3,128 passing yards and broke Brett Favre's school record for most touchdown passes by a freshman with 23.[4] He ended the year with a combined total of 15 school records for both game and single-season marks,[5] which included most passing yards in a game (461) and most rushing touchdowns in a contest (5) as well as total offense for a season (3,323).[3] Davis was ranked 16th nationally in total offense (279.7) and 52nd in passing efficiency (128.6) in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). His total offense average was the highest among freshmen quarterbacks in the country, ahead of the likes of Kellen Moore of Boise State (265.9) and Robert Griffin of Baylor (244.5). In the 2008 New Orleans Bowl, Davis threw for 276 yards and two touchdowns and became the first freshman quarterback to lead the Golden Eagles to a bowl game victory.[1] Davis was named to the All-Conference USA freshman team and an freshman All-American honorable mention by CollegeFootballNews.com.[6][7] Before the 2009 season, Davis was named on the Manning Award watch list.[5]
Davis got off to another great start in the 2009 season by completing 108-156 passes (69%) for 1,165 yards and 10 touchdowns against just 2 interceptions. He gained some national notoriety following a 35-28 loss to nationally ranked Kansas, in which Davis matched All-American candidate Todd Reesing yard for yard.. However, his promising start was cut short by a broken foot suffered in the fifth game of the season against UAB.
Davis returned in 2010 and put up another good season, throwing for 3,103 yards with 20 touchdowns against just 6 interceptions while running for another 452 yards and 10 touchdowns. On November 30, Southern Miss went on the road to face the eventual C-USA and Liberty Bowl champion Central Florida and their highly rated defense. Davis responded by completing 21-34 passes for 264 yard and 4 scores, leading the Golden Eagles to a 31-21 road upset over the ranked Knights. He delivered an encore the next week in an emotional game against the Houston Cougars. Following the shooting of three teammates, Davis responded with the best game of his career, completing 24 of 31 passes for 293 yards and 2 scores while running for 111 yards and 4 more scores as Southern Miss topped Houston 59-41. In the Papajohns.com Bowl against Louisville, Davis passed Brett Favre on the schools passing touchdown record with a 32-yard pass to Quentin Pierce in the first quarter. Davis would go on to throw another touchdown as well as catch one in the 31-28 loss.
Heading into his senior season, Davis has either broken on was on the verge of breaking nearly every passing record in Southern Miss history. He passed Favre's yardage record in thesecond game of the season at Marshall. Davis had arguable his best career performance on October 8th, at Navy. He completed 21 of his 23 passes for 283 yards and 3 scores as well as running for 75 yards and another score, posting a QB rating of 237.7.
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