By Billy Watkins
Terez Davis was all-in on basketball through his sophomore year in high school.
His mother and the football coaches at DeMatha Catholic in Hyattsville, Md., suggested he try football.
“I was always a physical player in basketball, fouling out of games,” he said. “So I ended up giving it a shot.”
It was a natural fit. He knew it right away.
A few years later, the junior is the starting left tackle for the No. 7-ranked Ole Miss Rebels (5-1 overall, 3-1 in the SEC) — and handling his business quite well. His unit scored the highest grade by any offensive line in the country last weekend in the 31-3 rout of Missouri, according to Pro Football Focus.
Davis stands 6-foot-4, 310 pounds but has quick feet and moves like a much lighter man.
Davis’ affinity for basketball was a family thing. His dad, Ricky, was a first-round draft choice and played 12 seasons in the NBA, where the average career lasts 4.5 to five years.
“It shows what a hard worker he was and how committed he was to the sport,” Davis said. “It’s hard to last long in that league.”
They had some testy backyard games while Davis was growing up. His dad rarely let him win. “But I can take him now,” Davis said with a laugh.
Once he gave football a chance, he set his sights on playing in college.
“Our high school was a run the ball, run the ball, run the ball type of team,” he said. “But I knew when I got more coaching and learned more technique that I could get much better.”
He played tight end and defensive line his junior season but worked solely at left tackle as a senior.
Has he let head coach Pete Golding know he was a tight end for a while and can catch a pass?
“We actually had a play last year where I was supposed to catch a pass,”he said, “but it never worked out.”
He was part of a jumbo package where he lined up in the backfield and helped clear the way in short-yardage situations. This year those duties have fallen to defensive linemen Will Echoles and Jamarious Brown. And he watched as Brown caught the TD pass against Vanderbilt that had been designed for him a year ago. Davis filed that away in the “oh, well” department.
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Out of high school, he decided to stay close to home and signed with the Maryland Terrapins. His first of two starts as a freshman came at Oregon. But the team stumbled to a 4-8 season and Davis decided to look elsewhere.
Ole Miss offensive line coach John Garrison made Davis a priority.
“They got me down (to Oxford), pulled up my tape from Maryland and showed me how they could make me a better player and help get me to the next level,” Davis said. “They have believed in me since I got here. They always said I had the potential to be a top tier guy. So it was really them believing in me and showing me the vision, and then me buying into it.”
Ole Miss desperately needed someone to take over the left tackle spot this season after losing Diego Pounds, now a member of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.
“I had the mindset during the offseason to work for it,” Davis said. “To stay in the facility as much as I could, study the game, learn the game and to prep myself so that when the time came I could go out there and just let it go.”
He studies the rush ends he goes against each week — who are some of the most athletic players in college football.
“I look at what they do well,” he said, “but I also look at what they don’t do well, what they struggle with. And when you do enough studying, you see during the game pretty much everything you saw on tape. So it’s just being prepared.”
It’s a chess match, which happens to be one of Davis’ longest hobbies.
“My cousins showed me how to play chess when I was a kid and I’ve been into it ever since,” he said. “I like the strategic part of it, thinking five steps ahead. And I’m a competitor. I want to win every time, no matter what I’m playing.”
The Rebels will be tested on the road Saturday night by 100,000 Texas fans and a team that was ranked No. 1 in the country a couple of weeks ago.
“They’re big and athletic,” Davis said. “We know it’s going to be a tough matchup. But we’re preparing. That’s what Coach Pete preaches. He says if you don’t prepare, you deserve to lose.
“He doesn’t choose favorites. He says that what you put on tape is what you are and what you will be unless you change it.
“And when it’s not time to be in the facility, he let’s us get away from the game a while. But when we’re in the building and it’s time to work, we work. I feel like that’s what makes him a great head coach.”
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NOTES:
***Offensive guard Patrick Kutas might be the most fun interview on the Ole Miss team, and he rarely disappoints when it’s his occasional turn at the podium during mid-week media sessions.
He is also a standout player and the 2025 winner of the Kent Hull Trophy, given to the most outstanding lineman in Mississippi. He earned SEC co-Offensive Lineman of the Week honors for his play in the Rebels’ 31-3 rout of Missouri last Saturday.
When asked what makes defensive tackle Will Echoles so hard for opponents to block one on one, Kutas explained: “He’s a very large human that moves very fast and he’s very strong and he’s very smart. So all the key attributes you need, he’s all maxed out in them.”
***Running back Kewan Lacy would be a good warrior to share a foxhole with. Already nursing a bruised shoulder and ankle, Lacy seemed done for the day in the first half against Missouri after suffering yet another injury.
But he was back on the field for the start of the second half and finished with his best day of the season — 122 yards on 16 carries.
Lacy said postgame: “I want to play all four quarters and support my teammates. Just having that mindset to finish all four quarters is something I stand by.”
Lacy has rushed for 352 yards on 62 carries (5.7 average) and five touchdowns. He missed the Florida game with a shoulder injury.
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