Providence Day’s Michigan-bound five-star quarterback hopes for championship, legacy

Editor’s note: Providence Day quarterback Jadyn Davis led his team on two fourth quarter drives to rally from 10 points down in the state championship game. The Chargers won their third straight title

Every Friday during high school football season, Providence Day coach Chad Grier will get a text on his iPhone.

Let’s go, Coach.

The guy sending it, in the early morning hours before school starts, before the pressure to win builds again, is 5-star quarterback Jadyn Davis, the Michigan recruit who was once seen as the nation’s No. 1 overall player in his class.

Davis. now 18, has been social media famous since the summer before his eighth grade year, when Alabama and Georgia offered him scholarships years before he could drive a car. And Davis has been under intense scrutiny ever since.

“People swear they have a sense of the type of person I am, the type of character I have,” he said. “Anybody that ever met me knows I’m not this cocky or egotistical guy. I’m a normal dude that worked for everything he’s got. Sometimes stuff is put out about me and I never go back and forth with somebody on social media. People call it having Twitter fingers. Sometimes you want to clap back and rewrite some wrongs, but I’ve learned the best answer sometimes is no answer.”

Here’s an example of what Davis deals with:

Grier saw him miss a throw — just one — at a 7-on-7 camp last summer. The coach heard someone yelling. He looked over his shoulder, thinking it might be a player on the other team that was screaming about Davis being overrated. Ova-rate-ed! Turns out it was an adult standing near the field.

Here’s another:

After Davis made his college choice in March, choosing the Wolverines over Clemson, North Carolina, Ohio State and Tennessee, he had to buy a second cell phone. His number was sent out on message boards and shared by fans and, sometimes, when he would unlock his phone, hoping to check out the latest social media post, he would also find a few rather graphic texts from numbers he didn’t recognize.

The worst?

“I hope you tear your ACL.”

A coach, a mentor

Through it all, Davis and Grier have grown closer. It kind of makes sense. Davis left Providence Day after eighth grade to play high school ball at Catawba Ridge in Fort Mill, S.C., near his home. But Davis made the decision, with his family, to come back, when he became old enough to drive himself to school in southeast Charlotte.

With Grier, Davis was going to be coached by a guy who had produced successful big time quarterbacks like Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman as well as Grier’s own son, Will, who was a national high school player of the year at Davidson Day School. Will Grier now plays with the New England Patriots. And with Coach Grier, Davis was going to play on one of the biggest high school stages in the Carolinas.

“Me and Coach,” Davis said, “we just click.”

And every Friday, sure as the sun comes up, Grier will get that “let’s go” text.

It means something. To both of them.

“He’s dealt with (pressure) since eighth grade,” Grier said. “He’s got a thick skin, but he’s still a young person. He’s got this self expectation to be the best on the field and everybody else has that expectation, too.”

Watching Davis navigate that fan expectation, that every game be 400 yards and five touchdowns, and navigate some fans disappointment with his college choices, Grier has come to appreciate what he called “a good citizen” several times in a recent interview.

“I love the kid, man,” Grier said, almost choking up. “Every game, we’ll go out on the field and he’ll come up to me and say he loves me. And he says it in a way that makes me believe it. It’s bigger than football with him. It’s what I coach for, to have those kinds of relationships with kids.

“He makes me feel like I’m coaching for the right reasons.”

Office meetings, a championship and a challenge

Grier didn’t know what to expect when Davis returned to Providence Day in January 2022. He asked him to come by his office so they could get to know each other and he could tell Davis what he expected from a quarterback in his program. But there was one rule: Davis would have to schedule all the future meetings, and Grier would make time to be there.

“He’d be packed up with a book bag full of his gear, and I gave him a notebook and a pen and we would sit down for two hours in front of a whiteboard and talk football,” Grier said. “We did it again and again and again. I’m like, ‘Are we ever going to throw a football?’”

Grier marveled at how Davis, a 5-star QB, would walk over to a freshman who was struggling in the weight room, and encourage him and spot him. He said he saw how Davis would take time to take photos or sign autographs with Providence Day’s lower school students, who looked at him like a celebrity.

When they finally hit the field, Grier immediately saw why Davis had all the hype around him. But there was something else, too.

“Man, he could throw it,” Grier said. “All the arm talent you can imagine. You could immediately see the ball come out of his hand with this zip. But I was surprised. I saw a very coachable kid. I asked him, ‘What are your goals?’ He didn’t hesitate.

“He said, ‘I want to be the greatest to ever play.’”

As a junior, Davis threw for 3,425 yards and 43 touchdowns. Providence Day won the state title by 42 points against rival Charlotte Christian and Davis swept nearly every major state player award there was to win: Mr. Football, Gatorade, MaxPreps, Charlotte Observer.

How will Jadyn Davis’ senior season end?

This year was going even better. Providence Day started by defeating Rock Hill Northwestern, a S.C. state power, in the first high school game at Bank of America Stadium, where the Carolina Panthers play. The game was regionally televised.

Later, the Chargers beat rival Charlotte Catholic on national television, playing on ESPN. Davis was in a run of 275 pass attempts without an interception, dating back to the year prior. Providence Day zoomed up to as high as No. 19 in the national polls.

But on Oct. 20, Rabun Gap (GA) came to Charlotte and upset Providence Day, 42-27. The shine on Providence Day’s season dulled a little. Davis threw for more than 300 yards in the game, but since then, Davis and the Chargers have been a bit up and down, struggling early in the playoffs against Metrolina Christian and struggling late in the semifinals last week against Charlotte Christian.

Davis has thrown for 3,081 yards and 41 touchdowns with seven interceptions. All seven interceptions have come in the past month. Those Twitter fingers Davis referenced? They’ve been busy.

On October 19, Davis finally answered with a post on Twitter.

He wrote: “Grown men criticizing and obsessing over teenage kids living out their dream will never cease to amaze me ... lol.”

“There’s no doubt he plays with a different level of pressure and intensity of spotlight,” Grier said. “But he hasn’t had a bad game. He’s had a couple throws he’d like to have back but so does Tom Brady. But the expectation of him to always have a great game is always there. He’s completed (more than 72 percent) of his passes this year.

“He’s only played in the fourth quarter of five of 12 games. His stats aren’t eye-popping so people kind of yawn. But he’s been absolutely fantastic. Throwing 275 passes without a pick is not normal, but the expectations are so sky high it’s crazy. If we played games where we have to throw it more, he’d have 5,000 yards. Most games he’s only getting 15 or 20 attempts.”

The Michigan question

In the future for Davis there is Michigan, which is embroiled in a scandal after head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended for the remainder of the regular season by the Big Ten conference amid an ongoing NCAA investigation into sign-stealing.

Harbaugh was expected in court in Ann Arbor, Mich, where a judge would have heard his plea to eliminate the final two games of his suspension. Michigan has games against Maryland and No. 2 Ohio State remaining. On Thursday, Harbaugh agreed to accept the ban, which canceled Friday’s hearing.

“Everybody else thinks it’s a situation where I should de-commit or something,” Davis said, “but I made my commitment to coach and this doesn’t sway my decision or make me rethink things. If it’s a situation where coach decides to leave to the NFL, and we’ve had talks about that already, me and my family have to weigh our options. Right now, he’s the coach at Michigan and I’m 100 percent a Wolverine.”

Sometime before Christmas, Davis plans to move to Ann Arbor. He’ll enroll and start coursework early next year, working toward a business degree with a minor in communications.

He’s also put together a team to help with his expected NIL earnings. It includes an agent, a financial advisor from Morgan Stanley and a marketing whiz. Davis has also taken financial literacy classes at Providence Day.

“Money doesn’t excite me, but it’s a perk,” he said. “I don’t come from the wealthiest or the poorest. My dad worked his way up. But it’ll help that I don’t have to ask for money to go to Cook Out and I can go out and buy nicer clothes. Other than that, I’m not looking at it like I’m some rapper or billionaire and get to fly private jets. But it’s something players have deserved for a long time. You read the contracts the universities have and the TV contracts and you realize how much the schools are making off the hard work of the athletes. So any kid will be excited to be able to receive compensation for their name, image and likeness, and I put a team together around me to make sure I do it right.”

The final game awaits, and a legacy

Friday will be the last high school football game Jadyn Davis plays.

The Chargers (11-1) play at Rabun Gap (13-0) in Georgia for the state title. Rabun Gap has played in the N.C. private school league for years, and the Eagles are ranked No. 42 nationally by MaxPreps. Providence Day is No. 57. MaxPreps calls the matchup one of the 10 best in America on Friday.

Providence Day will try for a school-record third straight state title.

“I think I started thinking about this game the first time (last) week when we were playing Christian,” Davis said. “It was my last time playing (at Providence Day). I remember being in middle school and guys telling me it goes by fast. Well, it goes by fast.”

It may have, but it appears Davis left a mark at his school.

Davis is working on a documentary with the school’s film and production class about Chargers’ PA announcer Lee Taylor, who has been with the school for more than two decades. Most nights, Taylor is telling Chargers’ fans about Davis’ exploits through a microphone. Now, Davis will tell the school community about Taylor.

Davis has also formed a close relationship with a kindergarten student whose mother, Andrea Gowin, is a professional development coordinator and a civics teacher at Providence Day. Every year, on Teacher Appreciation night, Davis gives Gowin his white jersey, and Gowin’s daughter has her own miniature red version of Davis’ No. 1 top.

“If you take football out of the equation,” said Providence Day math teacher Brian Li, “he is still one of the most remarkable students I have worked with. ... I truly believe if he decides to hang up the cleats tomorrow, it won’t matter because the sky’s the limit for this young man. ... All of his leadership intangibles are 100 percent as advertised, both on and off the field.”

Winning won’t be easy

Davis said he really wants to leave on a high note, with another title. He knows it won’t be easy.

Rabun Gap, a boarding school, is one of the biggest and most physical teams playing in North Carolina, with players from 11 states and 14 countries. The first time around, the Eagles got up by three touchdowns on Providence Day, running the ball nearly at will.

“We got back in the game,” Davis said, “and it wasn’t a question about physicality. I don’t think the score dictated how the game went. We shot ourselves in the foot and they made plays. ... But we feel we can play with anybody. ... Everything we’ve done thus far is to prepare us to play our game (Friday) and that’s what we’re planning to do.”

There is no doubt that Davis wants to leave Providence Day as a champion, but he said he also wants to be remembered as what he called “a good human.”

“Someone who never thought he was too big for anybody and treated everybody the way he wanted to be treated,” Davis said. “I tried to bring people together and close the gap on being perfect.”

Sometime Friday morning, hours before the Chargers’ final game of the year, Davis will send a text to Grier. Maybe for the last time.

Let’s go, Coach

Sometime before kickoff, during warmups, Davis will find Grier and they’ll hug and he’ll tell his coach that he loves him. That, for sure, won’t be for the last time.

And sometime Friday night or Saturday morning — or maybe next week — Grier said it will finally hit him that it’s over, that his time as Jadyn Davis’ coach is done. He said it’s something he’ll remember forever.

“He’s so respected and loved by his teachers and the administrators, and he’s been such a great role model to the young kids on campus,” Grier said. “Forget football. Jadyn Davis is a great kid.”

Grier uses that term again.

“He’s just a good citizen.”

Jadyn Davis by year

*At Catawba Ridge (SC)