By Robert Wilson
Southern Miss is Micah Davis’ fifth team to play college football for, but the discipline he learned at his first stop – the Air Force Academy – never left him.
“Being at the Academy shaped me to who I am today,” said Davis in a story from Southern Miss during this season. “It allowed me to learn discipline, execution which helped me to focus on the little things in life both on and off the field. I have some life-long friends that I met at the Academy.”
The Atlanta native had an opportunity to play baseball at Georgia, but instead chose Air Force, going to the prep school for his first year then played for the Falcons for the next two seasons. Because of his time at the prep school and the Academy, is now a retired Airman First Class (E-3).
Davis also had stops at Iowa Western Community College, Utah State, and Ole Miss.
Davis chose Southern Miss after Ole Miss because his former head coach at Utah State, Blake Anderson, was hired by first-year Southern Miss head coach Charles Huff to be his offensive coordinator.
Davis has contributed to Southern Miss’ turnaround season, and even set a school record when he caught the longest touchdown pass in school history against Louisiana-Lafayette. Braylon Braxton connected with Davis around the Southern Miss 35 and he caught the pass in stride and outraced the secondary for a 98-yard TD. The historic score in the third quarter helped Southern Miss to a 22-10 victory.
The play was a glimpse of Davis’ career where he played wide receiver, running back and return specialist during his five collegiate seasons.
At Air Force in 2021, Davis played eight games as a sophomore and had 360 rushing yards on 47 carries and four touchdowns and 10 catches for 221 yards and two TDs. He had four catches for a then career-high 110 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown, and seven carries for 32 yards and a TD in loss to Utah State and his future coach, Blake Anderson.
At Iowa Western CC in 2022, Davis led the nation with 326 yards on 29 punt returns, an 11.2-yard average, and helped his team to the national junior college championship. He also had 33 catches for 289 yards and two TDs and 11 kickoff returns for 229 yards.
At Utah State in 2023, Davis caught 36 passes for 628 yards and ranked third in the country with 11.2 yards per punt return.
At Ole Miss last season, Davis played in all 13 games – starting against Florida and Mississippi State at running back – and had five catches for 57 yards, 19 carries for 45 yards returns, 18 punt returns for 102 yards and five kickoff returns for 113 yards.
His collegiate career would have likely been over after last year had it not been for him getting an extra year because of his one season at junior college.
He decided to spend his last season in Hattiesburg.
“We have a lot of weapons, so you have to be understanding of what your assignment is,” Davis said. “We can all open windows for everybody else, so if one guy has a good game it allows everyone else to open the offense to showcase their talents as well. Our ability to be so versatile is a dominating factor for our offense.”
Davis has caught 28 passes for 363 yards and five TDs. He ranks first in TD catches, second in catches and tied for fifth in yards on the team.
Davis started college wanting to become a B-2 Bomber pilot at Air Force, but changed to business and switched his emphasis to acquisitions. Davis graduated from Utah State with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus in business and communications and now working on his master’s in business.
Davis will try to help Southern Miss (7-4 overall and 5-2 in Sun Belt Conference play) break a two-game losing streak when they play host to Troy (7-4 overall and 5-2 in the Sun Belt) Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in Hattiesburg. With a win, the Golden Eagles would clinch the Sun Belt West Division title – the first divisional title for Southern Miss since 2015 – and earn a berth in the conference championship game at East Division champion James Madison Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. Central in Harrisburg, Va.
