Tony Elliott kept up with Lavel Davis Jr. even after Clemson dropped Davis off the program’s recruiting radar after he suffered an ACL injury in high school.
Davis, a 6’7” wideout, values loyalty – it’s why he picked Virginia after his recovery from the ACL.
That Elliott was named the new coach at Virginia last week was welcome news in the Davis family.
“My grandma, she called me, she was like, it’s meant to be,” said Davis, who is redshirting this season after suffering another ACL injury, this time in spring camp.
Davis took the ACC by storm as a freshman in 2020, with 20 catches, 515 yards, an astounding 25.8 yards per catch, five TDs, and lots of defensive coordinators rolling coverages over to wherever he was on the field to try to limit the damage he could wreak.
There was speculation online that Davis might be able to return mid-season in 2021, but the true story is, he was never really close.
“We’d rather be safe than sorry. And just, like, the studies, you know, just the risk time period, you know, seven months, eight months, nine months is a much bigger risk than than a year and five months, essentially, when I come back on return playing for the next season,” Davis said. “So, we just think it’s smarter, you know, just to rehab, get back right. And rehab has been going great. I’m back running routes and everything, and it’s been going great, but we’d rather be safe than sorry, and really, the focus is just on getting back to 100 percent, and right now I’m about 85, 90 percent.”
And Davis is 100 percent on board with working under Elliott as the new head coach.
“I’m really just putting my trust into Coach Elliott, whatever process that he has, that he delivers, and he goes through, I feel like that’d be the best for the best for Virginia,” Davis said.
Story by Chris Graham
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