Dexter Wendell Jackson Davis (born March 20, 1970) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who played for the Phoenix Cardinals and Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams in the

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(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

. He founded the South Carolina Chapter of the

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and is currently acting as president.

Early life and education

Davis played high school football at

Sumter High School Sumter High School is a co-educational four-year public high school serving grades 9 through 12 in Sumter School District located in the south side of Sumter, South Carolina, United States. With an enrollment of approximately 2,400 students, Sum ...

. He then attended and played college football at

from 1988–1990. In his collegiate career, he had 10 interceptions including a touchdown from one of them. He was also a punt returner, having 37 punt returns for 269 yards.

Collegiate career

Davis was an all ACC Defensive Back at

. Davis was a starter on Clemson’s defenses between 1988–90, when the Tigers had a 10-2 record and finished in the top 12 of the

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poll each year. The 1988 team won the ACC championship, as Davis became the first Tiger first-year freshman to start at cornerback under Head Coach Danny Ford. He was named a first-team freshman

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n by

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and his final pass breakup of the season was a game-saver in the end zone that clinched Clemson’s 13-6 win over

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

in the

Citrus Bowl The Citrus Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group that also organizes the Pop-Tarts Bowl and Florida Classic. The g ...

. In 1989, Davis started all 12 games and was named second-team All-ACC by

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. He accumulated 55 tackles, three interceptions and 16 pass breakups. As a junior in the 1990 season, Davis had a career-high 85 tackles and led the ACC in interceptions (6). That 1990 defense was Clemson’s first to lead the nation in total defense.

Professional career

Phoenix Cardinals

Davis was drafted by the Cardinals in the fourth round of the

1991 NFL draft The 1991 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 21–22, 1991, at the Marriott Ma ...

with the 86th pick overall. He spent his first three years with them. He played in 33 games and started in 3 of them. He had 33 tackles and 2 interceptions while on the team.

Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams

Davis spent the last 3 years of his career playing with the

Rams In engineering, reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS)Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

honored Davis with th
Brian Dawkins Lifetime Achievement Award

Personal life

Davis is married and has four children. His son, Micah J. Davis, plays football for Utah State.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Dexter 1970 births Living people American football defensive backs Clemson Tigers football players Arizona Cardinals players Los Angeles Rams players