Devante Davis (born October 13, 1992) 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 ...
wide receiver
A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...
. 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 ...
at
UNLV
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...
.
Early life
Davis attended
North Shore Senior High School
North Shore Senior High School is a secondary school located in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States in Greater Houston.North Shore, Houston, where he graduated in 2011. He lettered three times as a
tight end
The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...
under coach David Aymond, averaging more than 20 yards per catch and helping the Mustangs go 11–2 and earn a district title as a senior. Davis was also one of the state's top performers in
track & field
Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...
and was named All-district and All-state in the
triple jump
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...
after leading the nation with a leap of 15.82 meters (51 feet, 9 inches), set at the District 21-5A Meet in 2011. He also played
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
.
College career
Davis 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 ...
at the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the ...
(UNLV) from 2011 to 2014. The former state champion in the
triple jump
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...
chose the Rebels over offers that included a track scholarship from
Texas A&M
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
.
As a sophomore in 2012, Davis tallied a career-high 184 receiving yards against Louisiana Tech. He finished the season with 61 receptions for 854 yards.
In 2013, Davis caught 87 passes for 1,290 yards, and set a UNLV record with 14 touchdown receptions. He also helped lead the
2013 UNLV Rebels football team
The 2013 UNLV Rebels football team represented the University of Nevada, Las Vegas during the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Rebels were led by fourth year head coach Bobby Hauck and played their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium. ...
to its first bowl game in 13 seasons, and he caught 10 passes in the Heart of Dallas Bowl on New Year's Day 2014.
After considering declaring himself eligible for the NFL Draft after his junior season, Davis announced in January 2014 that he would return to UNLV for his senior season. He missed nearly half of the 2014 season due to injury, but tallied 163 receiving yards against Hawaii on November 22, 2014. With Davis hampered by injury, the
2014 UNLV Rebels football team
The 2014 UNLV Rebels football team represented the University of Nevada, Las Vegas during the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Rebels were led by fifth year head coach Bobby Hauck and played their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium. T ...
compiled a 2–11 record.
Davis finished his college career ranked second in UNLV history with 2,785 receiving yards. He was invited to play in the 2015 Senior Bowl, but was unable to play due to a hamstring injury. Prior to Davis, no other offensive player from UNLV had been invited to play in the Senior Bowl since running back
Ickey Woods
Elbert L. "Ickey" Woods (born February 28, 1966) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL) from 1988 through 1991. He played college football for th ...
in 1987.
Professional career
2015 NFL draft
Davis went undrafted in the 2015 NFL draft but he was invited to the NFL scouting combine.
Philadelphia Eagles
Davis signed with the
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...
as an undrafted free agent May 4, 2015. He was waived on August 4, 2015.