Ishmael Davis never doubted that he belonged.
It seems like a lifetime ago when the 6-foot-2, 260-pound senior defensive end decided to walk on at Texas State (3-8, 1-6 in Sun Belt West) coming out of Ellison High.
Fast-forward to now, and Bobcats fans have to be wondering how the team could have ever gotten by without him.
Davis ranks among team leaders in tackles for the Bobcats with 46 in 10 games, adding 3.5 sacks and two passes defended. In 2017, he recorded 19 tackles, 10 of them solos, in the Bobcats first four games before going down with a season-ending ACL injury. The year before, Davis ranked fifth nationally with two blocked kicks.
“It doesn’t go as far as proving something, but I do have a job to do,” Davis recently told the University Star. “I will just let my work speak for myself.”
Davis was a two-sport star at Ellison, also competing in track and field and his brother, Niser Deas, played football at Howard Payne.
