By Michael Casagrande
sports@decaturdaily.com
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – There she was in the hospital giving birth, but the second attraction in the room.
It was Iron Bowl Friday and, being in the state of Alabama, the television was tuned to the game.
“And everyone was watching it,” Cameron Eldridge said, “except me.”
Baby Jason just couldn’t wait.
He entered the world about the time Trent Richardson’s second-quarter touchdown cut the Auburn lead to 14-7. And somewhere on the Alabama sideline, defensive end Luther Davis’ life changed yet again. For the second time in one season, his family grew.
Just four months earlier, Davis was preparing for the season opener with Virginia Tech when his twin sons – Shyron Rayne and Jacquel Lyriq – were born.
Life has changed a lot for Davis since this time last year. Then he was your average student-athlete preparing to back up a veteran defensive line. Now he’s a father of three, a projected starter and the most senior member of a defensive unit undergoing a major makeover.
“Being a student-athlete is enough,” Davis said. “But since I’ve become a father, it’s pretty difficult. It gets difficult at times, but I would trade it for anything in the world. I love my boys.”
With practice under way, the home Davis and Eldridge share is relatively quiet with Jason staying with her parents in Montgomery and the twins with Davis’ mother in Louisiana.
Distance couldn’t keep Davis from checking in with Shyron and Jacquel before taking the practice field Thursday morning.
“I called them this morning before I came up here for some inspiration,” he said. “I just hear that ‘dah-dah’ and it does my heart good every time. I come out here with a different attitude. It’s no longer about me. Everything I do is about them.”
When the kids are in town, Davis’ already-pressed schedule is tested just a little more with boys running and crawling around. The party scene is deep in his memory: He hasn’t even been to a team function since his sophomore year.
“They have their times when they wake up at 5 in the morning and want to play,” Davis said, “Then when I’m up and ready to go, they go back to sleep. It’s kind of a game they’re playing with me.”
Now he’s a senior and his long-awaited opportunity to start is very real. As a backup defensive end playing behind Lorenzo Washington and Brandon Deaderick, Davis made 12 tackles as a sophomore and 11 as a junior. He played six games as a freshman, but coach Nick Saban called him a “prime example” for a player who would have benefited from spending a year developing before getting game action. But when the depth wasn’t a luxury Davis was forced into action.
Now he’s more than ready.
And in spite of everything else swirling in his universe, Davis said he became a better student of football as he matured into the old man on the defense.
“Luther’s biggest hurdle since he got here wasn’t talent, because the talent has always been there,” quarterback Greg McElroy said. “He just had a tough time transitioning into the mindset. Ever since then, Luther has made a full change. It’s unbelievable how far he’s come. He’s vocal. He’s being a leader. He’s going to have to be a guy that steps up for us on the D-line this year, and I think he understands that.”
Coach Nick Saban took it a step further.
“What Luther has done, I think, is one of the outstanding jobs of all of our players in terms of making me, as a coach, proud of what he’s accomplished, where he’s come, what’s he’s done, how he’s worked and how he’s developed.”
There likely isn’t anyone who wants to see Davis succeed on the football field more than his fiancée. It’s to the point that she doesn’t always return his phone calls during the season.
“I don’t want to get him distracted,” she said. “Just do what he’s doing. I want him focused on that as well as be a student.”
She takes care of the kids while Davis is at practice or at school while remaining a president’s list student herself.
The twins, with whom Davis shares custody with their mother, got plenty of attention right from the beginning. They lived with Davis’ mother until January when they came to live in Tuscaloosa. Godfather Terrence Cody helped the new father stay focused on the Virginia Tech game with everything else going on. The two keep in touch by text message now that Cody is with the Baltimore Ravens.
Projected starting nose tackle Josh Chapman also loves being around the kids. Davis’ freshman roommate remains one of his best friends.
“We just all take care of each other,” Chapman said. “We all feel like we’re family. Long down the road, his kids will play with my kids and so on.”