VYPE COVER STORY: Running the Game - Katy's Davis Eager to Leave Mark as Tiger Great
LONG BEFORE HIS NAME WOULD EVEN BE CONSIDERED AMONG THE BEST RUNNING BACKS IN KAT Y FOOTBALL HISTORY, SETH DAVIS RECALLS WATCHING ONE, AS DEONDRICK GLASS RAN UP, AROUND AND THROUGH CYPRESS RANCH IN AN AREA PLAYOFF GAME IN NOVEMBER 2015 AT TULLY STADIUM.
“He amazed me,” said Davis, now a senior and Katy team captain seven years later. “His speed and his ability to make people miss were all crazy to me.”
It wasn’t just Glass.
Though just barely out of elementary school, Davis had a keen understanding of the respect the Katy running back position demanded.
“You get the ball, run and you get to do what you can do,” Davis said. “I loved it. They always give the running back a chance, and I love when people give me chances.”
Davis has certainly made the most of his. In his first varsity game against Clear Springs as a sophomore in 2020, Davis had 85 yards on six carries.
Four months later, he had 123 yards and a touchdown en route to being named Offensive Player of the Game in Katy’s Class 6A Division II State Championship win over Cedar Hill.
The 5-foot-8, 175-pounder has racked up 4,209 yards and 46 touchdowns in two seasons, averaging 9.6 yards per carry. Last season, his first as Katy’s No. 1 back, Davis rushed for 2,454 yards and 28 touchdowns. He had more than 100 yards rushing in 12 of the 15 games he played, and six times had more than 200 yards rushing.
“I want another State Championship for my team,” Davis said. “But I also want to be the leading rusher in Katy history. That’s my main goal. That, and the single-season rushing record.
“Being a running back at Katy is special but it’s demanding. Everyone leans on you. Katy runs the ball, so you have a lot on your shoulders. You have to play hard and go score.”
Davis enters this season 2,537 yards shy of Katy’s all-time career rushing leader Rodney Anderson (6,746). He will need 2,755 yards this year if he wants to top Adam Taylor’s single-season best rushing mark. Glass’s all-time mark of 100 career touchdowns would require a campaign of mythical proportions from Davis.
Born in San Antonio, Davis moved to the Houston area in the third grade. His father, Don, said the real estate market was better. Don played high school football with N.D. Kalu and Priest Holmes at San Antonio Marshall and grew up on the eastside of the Alamo City with Dandrick Glass, Deondrick’s father.
Davis lived in Richmond for three years before the family moved to Katy because of football, thanks to the encouragement of Dandrick.
“The environment and atmosphere was crazy,” Davis said. “Katy loves football. I was excited just knowing I’d have a chance to be a part of that.”
Now, Davis, who verbally committed to Mississippi State in June, is ready to finish the Katy career he envisioned of himself starting on that cold November night in 2015.
“Now I’m more experienced,” said Davis, who added 15 pounds of muscle this offseason. “I know what I’m doing. I know all the plays. I’m confident in what I’m doing. Sophomore year, I was confident, but I wasn’t as experienced. So now I’m really ready."