knox73
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Ready for a championship season from Dayne!
From recent news article:
BLUFF CITY — Dayne Davis is an inspiration to many in the Sullivan East community.
They’ve seen Davis go from a walk-on for the University of Tennessee football team to a solid starter who was named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week after the Vols racked up 617 yards in a win over Vanderbilt last November.
Still, the roots in Bluff City run deep for the redshirt senior. He talked about what it meant when his former high school hosted the third annual Dayne Davis Football Camp weeks ago.
Football, basketball, there are a lot of great memories playing with a lot of great guys,” Davis said. “It’s great to come back here and see the kids who are able to inherit the beautiful field they now have. To have camp here with all the kids, it was awesome.”
There’s certainly a close relationship with Davis and his former basketball coach, John Dyer, for whom the Patriots’ home gym is named. Davis, now at 6-foot-7 and 325 pounds, was a standout in both sports for Sullivan East.
On the court, he was the Patriots’ all-time leading rebounder, but talked about how Dyer’s influence went well beyond the court.
“There was accountability, trustworthiness, that was Coach Dyer’s motto,” Davis said. “We played together as a family, as a team. He always stressed family and my four years playing basketball here was great. I have a ton of memories with the guys I played with and wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
He has created more great memories as a Vols football player. Davis used those lessons learned at East of being a great teammate and applied it in Knoxville. One example is the relationship with receiver Bru McCoy, who he supported after a severe ankle injury. McCoy was one of the players who supported Davis by showing up at the football came.
“Bru is a fierce competitor. He’s a guy who probably thought he was going to the NFL last year and then had to go through that injury,” Davis said. “He comes to work every day like it’s his last. We try to stress that to the young guys that you never know when it could be over, when something can happen. I’m really excited for him this season.”
Over his career, Davis has done whatever needed to be on the field. He was part of the special teams unit, on the field when Chase McGrath kicked a game-winning field goal in the Vols’ 52-49 victory over Alabama in 2022.
Davis has also played all five positions on the offensive line.
“That’s not desirable, but it’s the position I’ve put myself into knowing the offense the way I do,” Davis said. “But hey to get on the field, I will do anything to do it. Tackle is where I’ve played the most football at and my home where I’ve built my knowledge of the offense from.”
The Vols have a veteran line coming back which includes center Cooper Mays, guards Jackson Lampley and Javontez Spraggins and left tackle John Campbell Jr. Davis believes it’s important to have that veteran leadership under Coach Josh Heupel’s offense.
“With our offense as fast as it goes, it’s easy to get it backwards,” Davis said. “When they call a directional play, a guy will flip on the right or left side and get it backwards. To be able to process all that and play the different techniques, tackle is different from guard and guard is different from center.”
From recent news article:
BLUFF CITY — Dayne Davis is an inspiration to many in the Sullivan East community.
They’ve seen Davis go from a walk-on for the University of Tennessee football team to a solid starter who was named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week after the Vols racked up 617 yards in a win over Vanderbilt last November.
Still, the roots in Bluff City run deep for the redshirt senior. He talked about what it meant when his former high school hosted the third annual Dayne Davis Football Camp weeks ago.
Football, basketball, there are a lot of great memories playing with a lot of great guys,” Davis said. “It’s great to come back here and see the kids who are able to inherit the beautiful field they now have. To have camp here with all the kids, it was awesome.”
There’s certainly a close relationship with Davis and his former basketball coach, John Dyer, for whom the Patriots’ home gym is named. Davis, now at 6-foot-7 and 325 pounds, was a standout in both sports for Sullivan East.
On the court, he was the Patriots’ all-time leading rebounder, but talked about how Dyer’s influence went well beyond the court.
“There was accountability, trustworthiness, that was Coach Dyer’s motto,” Davis said. “We played together as a family, as a team. He always stressed family and my four years playing basketball here was great. I have a ton of memories with the guys I played with and wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
He has created more great memories as a Vols football player. Davis used those lessons learned at East of being a great teammate and applied it in Knoxville. One example is the relationship with receiver Bru McCoy, who he supported after a severe ankle injury. McCoy was one of the players who supported Davis by showing up at the football came.
“Bru is a fierce competitor. He’s a guy who probably thought he was going to the NFL last year and then had to go through that injury,” Davis said. “He comes to work every day like it’s his last. We try to stress that to the young guys that you never know when it could be over, when something can happen. I’m really excited for him this season.”
Over his career, Davis has done whatever needed to be on the field. He was part of the special teams unit, on the field when Chase McGrath kicked a game-winning field goal in the Vols’ 52-49 victory over Alabama in 2022.
Davis has also played all five positions on the offensive line.
“That’s not desirable, but it’s the position I’ve put myself into knowing the offense the way I do,” Davis said. “But hey to get on the field, I will do anything to do it. Tackle is where I’ve played the most football at and my home where I’ve built my knowledge of the offense from.”
The Vols have a veteran line coming back which includes center Cooper Mays, guards Jackson Lampley and Javontez Spraggins and left tackle John Campbell Jr. Davis believes it’s important to have that veteran leadership under Coach Josh Heupel’s offense.
“With our offense as fast as it goes, it’s easy to get it backwards,” Davis said. “When they call a directional play, a guy will flip on the right or left side and get it backwards. To be able to process all that and play the different techniques, tackle is different from guard and guard is different from center.”
