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From PFW archives
There is no 'I' in 'T.D.'
By Adam Schefter
Jan. 19, 2008
The following article was published in the Aug. 3, 1997, issue of Pro Football Weekly. It was written by Adam Schefter, a former Denver Post sportswriter and Broncos correspondent for PFW who now works for the NFL Network. The subject of the article is Terrell Davis, then a third-year running back for the Broncos who went on to gain 7,607 yards, score 60 touchdowns and average 4.6 yards over the course of his eight-year career.
He came out of the University of Georgia and nowhere, the 196th player selected in the 1995 draft, to give the Denver Broncos the most important “T.D.” they would ever score.
In two seasons, Terrell Davis has given the Broncos running, catching, scoring — everything but a new stadium. Now, he goes into the ’97 season, which kicks off Aug. 31 vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, ready to run for even more glory than he has already attained.
There is little reason to think he cannot do it.
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40th anniversary
retrospective
PFW has reported on — and, in some cases, forecast — most of the happenings in the NFL over the past 40 years. To celebrate our 40th anniversary season, we will post on our Web site throughout this season a number of articles from our print archives, such as the one on this page.
We wish to thank the many PFW staff members and correspondents who have contributed to our product over the years, not to mention the thousands of readers who have supported us. We hope you enjoy these glimpses into NFL history.
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Davis showed up in training camp this summer bigger than he was last season, when he won the AFC rushing title and finished second only to Detroit’s Barry Sanders for the NFL rushing crown. In the first few days of drills, he ran just as hard, signed just as many autographs and acted just as friendly as he did when he came out of Georgia and nowhere two seasons ago, giving the Broncos a vice president to go along with President Elway.
“What I try to do is, I try to remember the same things today that I did when I first came into the league,” said Davis on the weekend the Broncos opened training camp at the University of Northern Colorado. “That helps me.”
“I remember how hungry I was to play in my rookie year. I wasn’t getting the reps. I was sitting around waiting to play, and, when I got in there, I tried to go full go, full bore, do everything hard. And today I still try to do the same things. I try to make sure that I’m the same person that came into the league as a sixth-rounder and somehow ended up getting the starting position when the season started.”
Davis can try to be the same person all he wants. It is as tough as rushing for 2,000 yards in a season. He is now rich and famous enough to be tooling around Denver in a cherry red convertible Mercedes 500 SL. But Davis is quick to note that he didn’t spend any of his bonus money on the car. “It’s a promotional-type thing,” Davis said. “I’m just driving it.”
The four-bedroom home he recently bought in Aurora, Colo., just east of the Broncos’ training facility in Englewood, Colo., was purchased as much for his family and friends as himself. Davis wants them all to have a place to stay when they fly in from his hometown of San Diego to root for the Broncos.
In the basement, for the entertainment of all, he just set up his own game room with his very own Ms. Pac Man machine, among other video games.
And Davis, the ultimate sleeper in the ’95 draft, still considers his favorite habit to be sleeping, meaning his life is a tangle of X’s, O’s and Z’s.
This is who he is. He is, he would like to believe, the same player who came out of Georgia and nowhere.
“People try to say that you change,” Davis said. “Inevitably, things are going to change about you. You might get nicer things. You might be able to have your mother out. Of course, a lot of things are going to change. But, as a person, deep down inside, I’m still the same person.”
“I hang out with my friends that I used to have back in high school. I go over to my brother’s house, and we still hang out. I haven’t changed with my immediate family and people around me. But, if I did change, I hope it’s for the better. I hope I’ve turned into a better person and player.”
People don’t come much better than Davis, who acts a lot more like a sixth-round draft pick than a first-rounder. There aren’t many players better, either.
Davis is tough, fast, and instinctive. He does not have the creativity of the Lions’ Sanders, nor the power of the Cowboys’ Emmitt Smith. But, somehow, he gains about as much yardage as any back in the league.
“Terrell Davis has been consistent since he’s been in here the first day,” said Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan, who was impressed enough with Davis’ blocking and pass-catching abilities to select him in ’95. “He’s an overachiever with a lot of ability. Every time he comes to practice, he comes with the intent of doing a great job, and he normally does it.”
It is normal for the football world to compare Davis to the top backs in the league. Last season Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer said he thought Davis might just be at the head of the RB class. Others agreed.
For the 196th pick in the ’95 draft, a player who came out of Georgia and nowhere, it meant little.
“Sometimes it’s nice for people to put me in the same category with the Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smiths and Ricky Watters and all those other running backs, which is kind of cool,” Davis said. “But I really don’t see it yet. I don’t see it because a lot of those players — Ricky Watters and Emmitt — those two have Super Bowl rings. So, until I get that, I won’t be in the higher echelon with those backs.”
Until then, nothing about Davis will change.
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