'I expect a lot of emotions': After 611 days, Mississippi State's Jordan Davis is back

STARKVILLE — Tiffany Harmon is quick-witted. She’s shared her son Jordan Davis’ story many times, so few questions catch her off guard.

She documented the time she and her two sons were homeless and slept in cars and shelters. She detailed the struggles Davis faced in his pursuit of playing Division I football, which was hindered by academics.

Harmon doesn’t hesitate when discussing the journey Davis took to become a defensive end at Mississippi State with NFL aspirations. That is, until she was asked what her message would be to kids currently in Davis’ shoes.

A 10-second pause follows.

“Start with your academics immediately,” she began. “Do not take it lightly.”

Davis admits he often put football ahead of school. Harmon emphasizes the opposite.

“The second will be to trust the process,” she added. “Trust the process, remain humble. You have to be positive no matter what.”

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Those last three words are tattooed across Davis’ chest, and they were in his head after a torn ACL sidelined him all last season. No matter what, Davis was intent on returning to the football field.

“I knew for a fact this is what I’ve come here for,” Davis said. “This is what I’ve been here for. This is what I’ve been working for.”

Memphis was the first school to offer Davis a scholarship. Saturday, he’ll start his final collegiate season against the Tigers.

It’ll be his first game action in 611 days.

Alabama football comes calling

Rahmann Slocum coached football at Fairley High School for 17 years before moving to Southwind High School in hopes of putting his administrative license to use. He was hired as athletic director, but he found his way to the field as the school’s defensive coordinator.

That’s when he met Davis, a 6-foot-1 freshman who often skipped practice because he knew he wouldn’t play varsity Fridays. Slocum made sure to find Davis and bring him back.

“If you take care of your business, by the time you’re a senior, you’ll become a Division I football player,” Slocum told him. “You just believe in what I’m trying to teach.”

Slocum became the head coach in Davis’ sophomore season. After that year, Slocum got a call from then-Alabama receivers coach Billy Napier.

He asked if Slocum had any players worth scouting. Davis was his first response. Slocum says Napier shrugged it off at first.

When Memphis gave Davis his first offer in April 2016, the attention grew.

Napier reached out to Slocum soon after and encouraged Davis to come check out a game. Slocum drove him to Tuscaloosa. The trip went as expected.

“They laid eyes on him and were like, ‘Oh my god,’” Slocum said.

‘JUCO is not for the weak’

Davis received an offer from the Tide as a junior, and then the floodgates opened. Ohio State, Florida State, Mississippi State, Georgia, Oregon and Tennessee followed suit. But his mind was made up.

That was until Davis’ academics prohibited him from following through with his plan to play for the nation’s top program. Instead of playing at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Davis’ college football career started at H.L. Stone Stadium at Copiah-Lincoln Community College.

It wasn’t what Davis dreamed of. Around the house, Harmon said he walked around like a celebrity. College coaches were treating him as such, and newspapers were writing about him. He was attending top high school camps and playing in the Under Armour All-American Game.

Yet there he was in Wesson, Mississippi, playing in a stadium with a capacity of 5,000 people.

It was a low point, even though those around him viewed it as an opportunity to prioritize what set him behind.

“Sometimes you’ve got to get out on your own,” Slocum said. “When you go out on your own, you learn that nobody is going to hold your hand. You have to make some things happen for yourself. JUCO  helps you understand that because JUCO is not for the weak.”

Once Davis found a groove, eventually leading to him graduating from Co-Lin, the recruiting process restarted. As a four-star JUCO prospect, he drew attention again from Alabama, Tennessee and Oregon among others.

His choice: Mississippi State. Why?

“I asked him the same question,” Harmon said.

During a visit, Davis saw someone on the practice field working out after hours. He asked who that was. It was linebacker Willie Gay Jr.

“When I saw him getting in that extra work, then I saw other players getting in extra work,” Davis said. “I felt like everybody was on the same page. Everybody wanted to get into tune with what they had going on.”

Return to Davis Wade Stadium

Harmon swiped across her iPhone screen to answer a FaceTime call from Davis on Aug. 15, 2021. It was a day after he went down with a knee injury in a preseason scrimmage.

When she answered, Davis was on the other end in tears. Their fears of a season-ending injury were confirmed.

“I failed you,” he said. “I failed you.”

Immediately, she told him he was wrong. For Davis to overcome all he did, a ligament injury was simply speed bump, not an indictment of failure.

Harmon’s grandmother always taught her to approach the present. That’s what Harmon tried to relay to Davis.

Worrying about playing in the NFL was a future concern. Davis needed to focus on his next rehab session. He needed to worry about how he could be a leader while off the field – something his teammates continuously praise him for. As he made his way back, Davis worried about the next practice.

“His main goal is to definitely make it to the NFL, which is absolutely fine,” Harmon said. “What athlete wouldn't want to be in a position like that? But the key is making sure you're in position.”

The new “next” is Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium. The future he’ll keep off his mind, but the past will be hard to flush when cowbells echo around him.

“I expect a lot of emotions,” Davis said.

Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @skrajisnik3. 

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How Mississippi State football's Jordan Davis overcame a torn ACL