Anthony Nathaniel Davis (born October 11, 1989) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

offensive tackle. He played college football at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

and was drafted by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

High school career

Davis attended

Piscataway Township High School Piscataway High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Piscataway in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the P ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, where he played for the Piscataway Chiefs

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

team. He was a three-year starter and recorded more than 70

pancake blocks The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see ''Glossary of Canadian football''. 0–9 ...

for his career. In his sophomore season, Davis was a teammate to fellow NFL players Kyle Wilson, and

Malcolm Jenkins Malcolm Jenkins (born December 20, 1987) is a former American football safety who played for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State, earning consensus All-American honors, and winning the Jim ...

and helped the team to an undefeated season, and its third consecutive state title. Davis played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and was earned First-team All-American honors by ''

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''. Considered a four-star recruit by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, Davis was listed as the No. 1 offensive tackle prospect in the nation. He was also listed as the top prospect coming out of high school in the nation. He was also regarded as the top prospect from New Jersey and received over 50 scholarship offers, he chose Rutgers over

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, becoming the first No. 1 prospect from New Jersey to sign with head coach

Greg Schiano Gregory Edward Schiano (born June 1, 1966) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Rutgers University, a position he held from 2001 to 2011 and resumed before the 2020 season. Schiano served as the head coach for the Tampa ...

at Rutgers, and the highest rated since

Nate Robinson Nathaniel Cornelius Robinson (born May 31, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. Born in Seattle, Robinson played college basketball for the University of Washington in Seattle and was the 21st pick in the 2005 NBA draft. ...

in 2003.

College career

In his freshman year at Rutgers, Davis played in all 13 games on the year. He was named starting right guard for the sixth game of the season and started the final eight games of the 2007 season. He earned First-team Freshman All-American honors by the '' Football Writers Association of America'', ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' and ''Rivals.com'', and Second-team All-American laurels from ''

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

''. Davis was moved to left tackle before the 2008 season, and started 12 games at that position. He was named to the Second-team All-Big East by the league's head coaches and a First-team All-Big East honoree by the media. In 2009, Davis was First-team All-Big East and Second-team All-America.

Professional career

After the

2009 St. Petersburg Bowl The 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl was the second edition of the college football bowl game and was played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The game began at 8:00 PM US EST on Saturday, December 19, 2009, was telecast on ESPN and feature ...

, Davis said on the field that he scheduled a news conference for December 22, to announce his NFL plans. At that news conference, he declared his intentions to enter the 2010 NFL Draft, and said he would hire an agent. Davis was drafted with the 11th overall pick by the

after the 49ers traded up from the 13th overall pick with the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

in order to select Davis. On July 30, 2010, Davis signed a five-year contract worth $37.5 million, with $15.95 million guaranteed. At the end of the 2012 season, Davis and the 49ers appeared in

Super Bowl XLVII Super Bowl XLVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

. He started in the game, but the 49ers fell to the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

by a score of 34–31. On June 5, 2015, Davis announced he would not be playing during the 2015 season, stating he wanted time to "let his brain and body heal". He vowed a return after the break, however, claiming he wanted to return as the best right tackle in the league. On July 25, 2016, Davis filed reinstatement paperwork aiming to return to the team by the start of training camp. On July 30, Davis was officially reinstated by the league and re-joined the 49ers in time for their

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

. On September 26, 2016, Davis announced his decision to retire again from the league, and was subsequently placed on the reserve/left squad list. On May 3, 2019, he applied for reinstatement from retirement. On May 28, 2019, he was released from the 49ers' reserve/left squad list.

References

External links

San Francisco 49ers profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Anthony 1989 births Living people African-American players of American football American football offensive tackles American football offensive guards Rutgers Scarlet Knights football players San Francisco 49ers players People from Piscataway, New Jersey Piscataway High School alumni Players of American football from New Jersey Sportspeople from Middlesex County, New Jersey 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people