STEPHENS CITY — Pressed to recall what, if any, experience he had playing football before this year, Doug Davis paused.
"I played one year of flag football," he offered.
No pee wee? Or midget? Or middle school? Not a single junior varsity snap?
"No," came the answer.
That was before the pressure got to him — before he spent an in-school suspension proctored by assistant coach Nick Feelus early last year talking about the football team. Before spending a year in competitive team sports class with head coach Bill Hall, dusting his classmates every time football was the sport du jour. Before Feelus saw him unleash his extraordinary speed on the baseball diamond. Before he finally paid heed to the chirping in his ear from friends, football players and coaches, urging him to go out for Sherando's powerhouse team.
"Everybody kept telling me that he's pretty fast," Feelus said. "I saw him in one of the baseball games and he could run a little bit, so I saw him one day in the hall and he was with all his buddies. I said, 'Hey, you should go out for football.'
"They kind of nudged his elbow a little bit, and I just said, 'Hey I think it'd be a good idea.'"
Last Friday night against Musselman, Feelus was proved right. Davis caught eight balls for 110 yards and a touchdown in the Warriors' 40-7 win. Getting more playing time because of a concussion that kept tight end Brian Barlow out, Davis and quarterback Ross Metheny feasted on the undersized Musselman defense, which more often than not devoted an extra defender to guarding against the run rather than the pass.
"Early, especially, they kept giving us those quick slants and we kept taking it," Metheny said.
It was an example of the rare pay off for the only kind of recruiting prep coaches are allowed to do, which takes place in the academic corridors and classrooms of their own schools.
"We have teachers in almost every department," Hall said, referring to the football staff. "So we see kids in the hallways — especially through P.E. — that when they come in as freshmen and sophomores, we can tell are athletes.
"We kind of come up with a list and say, 'Hey, we need to try to get this person to play.' Douglas was one of those people."
Hall had mentioned football to Davis before, but never made any progress with him until the two spent a year together in competitive team sports class.
"We kind of built a relationship," Hall said. "I think they have to have that relationship with you or that trust in you that it's going to be worth their while.
"The common response, and Doug's response, was, 'I don't know how to play football.' My response to that is, I can teach you how to play football. That's my job as the coach. I can't teach you how to be an athlete."
Davis already played basketball and baseball, and has blazing speed to go with his 6-foot-2 frame.
"For his size, he can flat-out fly," baseball coach Pepper Martin said. "Foot-speed-wise, fastest kid on our team."
Sherando receiver Derek Crosen had played basketball with Davis, and knew he'd be an asset to the football team.
"We tried to get him to come out last year a little bit, but I guess we didn't pressure him as much," Crosen said. "We were like, 'Doug, it's your senior year, you might as well come out and give it a shot.' I kept telling him, 'You're going to get playing time. As long as you work hard and understand everything, you're definitely going to get playing time.'"
Davis finally agreed to play in a passing league with Metheny, Crosen, Barlow and other Sherando players over the summer. He enjoyed it enough that he showed up for practice in the fall.
"I've always known I could catch a football; I did it in backyard football and everything," Davis explained. "The reason I did play, I didn't really want to regret not playing football for the rest of my life, so I wanted to come out and see how I liked football."
It took some patient coaching by the staff and a few pointers from Crosen, but according to Davis he knew all the plays about two weeks before the Warriors' first game.
"It's taken me a couple years to really understand everything that we have in," Crosen said. "And for him to be able to pick that up in one year is a tremendous job on his part, both mentally and physically."
Davis is on special teams for the Warriors and in various spread formation packages, and will continue to get the ball as long as he's open, according to Metheny. Now that the football staff finally has Davis in the fold, his abilities won't be wasted in the bleachers on Friday nights.
"A lot of the time you get a lot of kids that have the ability but they never go out for the team. You look at Antonio Gates for the Chargers: He never played college football, and he was a draft pick, and he ended up being one of the best tight ends in the [NFL]," Feelus said. "We told [Davis], 'Just be an athlete. Get out there and run, and catch a football.'"
