Rian Davis pushes through adversity en route to first career start

Georgia linebacker Rian Davis made his first career start on Saturday, four years into his time in Athens. A former top-100 recruit out of Apopka, Fla., things weren’t supposed to play out this way, but Davis has been plagued by injuries throughout his collegiate career.

He came in still recovering from a torn ACL suffered during his senior year of high school, tore his labrum and had season-ending shoulder surgery as a freshman in 2019. He was ready to quit in 2020, but Kirby Smart convinced him to stick with it. Another injury, this time a torn quad in 2021, didn’t make things any easier, but all the work was worth it on Saturday when Davis trotted out onto the field with the first team in a 42-10 win over Auburn.

“It meant a lot,” Davis said on Tuesday. “I was very excited to go out there. It was a very emotional game for me because I’ve battled through a lot, so to get that first start and to get to go out there with my brothers, it was a good time.”

Davis first sensed that he might start last Monday with Smael Mondon and Trezmen Marshall both battling through their own injuries. At the time, he didn’t really believe it, but come later in the week, it started to settle in. That’s when he picked up the phone and called his mom, Melinda, who immediately made plans to be in Athens for the game. She was on hand to see her son play 48 snaps, nearly as many as he had the entire season before Saturday, and make a career-high four stops with a quarterback hurry.

“I thought Rian stepped up,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said on Monday when asked about the job Davis did stepping in for the Bulldogs. “I mean, his maturity showed in terms of having composure and play … I was proud of Rian, though, because he’s not a guy who’s played a lot of snaps. He’s had a lot of injuries. He’s been dinged up even in recent weeks, but he went out and pushed through and played well for his team.”

“He’s a core special teams guy, he practices hard. He played behind those other guys last year. If you were a fly on the wall in that room, you know that talent just oozed, and he was blessed to be with those three guys that left and watch how they worked in practice, and he was he was a part of that too,” Smart added on Tuesday. “He also had a very significant injury last year, that prevented him from being able to contribute in other areas and special teams, and this year, he’s been able to do that and he got his opportunity Saturday, and he made the most of it.”

Davis’ maturity has been years in the making at Georgia. He said that he really bought in to consistently showing that he was capable of being a contributor this past summer after the departure of guys like Nakobe Dean, Channing Tindall and Quay Walker. The Bulldogs were turning the page at linebacker, and Davis was determined to be a part of the plans.

“Not that I wasn’t really bought in, but it was more a consistency thing,” Davis said. “Showing them that I could consistently go to class, showing them that I could consistently keep my grades up, consistently do my job on the field. I feel like I really locked in on that this last summer.”

Part of locking in was to being a leader in the inside linebacker room. As one of the veterans, he felt that he needed to be somebody others could look to when they needed help. Only problem was, he first needed to make sure he was doing things the right way since he didn’t have a ton of experience himself. Accomplishing that was just one way he’s grown during his time at Georgia.

“A lot, I would say a lot,” Davis said as he nodded in reflection when asked how much he’s matured learned about himself going through all the various experiences as a Bulldog. “I would say I’ve grown a lot. I feel, like I said before, off the field, on the field, I try to take everything they say into consideration. Whether it’s academics, just a quote or whatever, I’ll lock in, write it down in my notebook, take extra notes, watch extra film and really lock in on everything I need to do well.”

Of course, Davis hadn’t had a ton of opportunities to show what he was capable of doing before this season anyway. In his first three seasons in the program, Davis played in just nine of a possible 39 games. That took a toll on him both physically and mentally, but he kept the right attitude through it all.

“It was definitely hard. I definitely had some times throughout these last couple of years where I’d be down and wondering, ‘Dang, why is this happening to me?'” Davis said. “I try to think in a mode where, your situation could always be worse. There’s always somebody in a worse situation. Yeah, I’ve battled some injuries, but there’s people at other schools who’ve had more injuries than me, and they’ve battled back. So I just look at it like that, somebody’s situation is always worse than mine … I just had to think, ‘Just keep going. I know this sucks right now, I know you’re in rehab, I know you want to be out there on the field, but you’ve got to think that God’s got a different path for you.’ Not everybody’s path is three years and out or four years and out. I just trusted God and stayed on the path.”

“That shows resiliency. He talked all offseason about it. He stands in front of the team and talks about what he’s been through and how tough it’s been and you keep plugging away,” Smart added. “… He’s grown up. You see these guys as coaches, as a freshman or a sophomore and you think, ‘Man, this guy is going to make it,’ and the next thing you know, their third and fourth year it hits them. So many players I can remember in our organization, Riley Ridley is one that sticks out, it’s just like they changed and they realized it’s much easier just to do it right on the front end, and he’s done that. He’s also done that with a lot of injuries and footballs are a tough sport. I don’t know how many of you guys in this room played it, but it’s physical, and it’s hard. You’re not always healthy, and it makes you question what you believe in sometimes, and I think he’s been through that and he’s come out on the good side of it.”

Davis might have another opportunity to showcase his skillset this week as Georgia takes on Vanderbilt. Kirby Smart has said that the Bulldogs need to develop more depth at the inside linebacker position, and Davis’ performances as of late might get him some extra consideration. Kickoff time for Saturday’s homecoming game at Sanford Stadium is set fro 3:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.