Wink Martindale. Jamie Foxx. Kevin Hart.
Keionta Davis?
Possibly.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defensive end has goals far beyond football, although after a junior season in which he broke the school’s single-season record for sacks and was an All-American, the ending to his athletic career may be far off.
When he is done with the game, though, Davis wants to host his own show.
“Those guys do a good job entertaining the crowd,” he said Friday. “They make their shows not just an award show.”
The 6-foot-4, 265-pounder – whose stature suggests Michael Strahan more than Foxx or Hart – did a good job entertaining the Finley Stadium home crowd in 2015, when his 13.5 sacks broke current New Orleans Saints linebacker Davis Tull’s UTC record (12.5 in 2012).
But Davis and fellow defenders Nakevion Leslie, Lucas Webb and Dee Virgin have been used sparingly during the Mocs’ practices this spring – a stark contrast for Davis, who was entering his first season as a starter last year.
“All those guys have played hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of snaps,” UTC coach Russ Huesman said. “For us to come in, beat them up and take (practice) snaps away from guys that really need to do it makes zero sense. Getting snaps for other guys has been important this spring, but you hope they continue to progress in the limited amount of time they get this spring.
“You hope they show up and do things the right way.”
Huesman also said coaches want Davis to lose weight. Davis said that although he is still at his playing weight, his conditioning has been “on the lower level” lately.
“It’s been different. I can’t get my rhythm when I’m not out there a lot,” Davis said. “When I am out here, I’m working my way back into playing ball again.
“The cool side of it is I get rest and I get to coach up the young guys. The downside is that I don’t get to work as much on my stuff as I want to. But it’s just spring – not summer or fall – so I’m not really missing out on anything right now.”
The other difference for Davis is that this season there will be no secret as to who is going to replace Tull. Davis burst onto the scene quickly last year and forced offensive coordinators to account for him at all times. He has had to make some changes in his approach, but he’s excited about what could happen as the Mocs near the end of spring practices and the summer leads into another season.
“I’ve got to work harder now,” he said. “My team looks forward to me pass rushing and creating havoc in the backfield, so I have to work harder and get my teammates involved as well.
“But it’s a whole unit thing, a whole defensive thing. We have to be connected so they can’t game plan to one side. We just have to let it work. It’ll sort itself out.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.