Akeem Davis (born December 25, 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 with ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

that played in

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, and signed with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

as an undrafted free agent in 2014. Davis has also been a member of the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

and

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

. He is currently the Co-Defensive Coordinator and defensive backs coach for the

Austin Peay University Austin Peay State University () is a public university in Clarksville, Tennessee. Standing on a site occupied by a succession of educational institutions since 1845, the precursor of the university was established in 1927 and named for then-sitt ...

Early years

Davis is the son of Robert Davis and the late Karen Davis. He was born in Laurel, Mississippi. Davis was raised in the Queensburg community of Laurel, Mississippi. He started playing pee wee football under the coaching of Coach Howard. Davis attended Laurel High School where he played football,

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 (appr ...

and ran track. In

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, he led Laurel to the Mississippi state 4A championship in 2007 after passing for over 2,600 yards and rushing for 926 yards, totalling 44

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

. In his junior and senior seasons, he started at cornerback on defense and quarterback on offense. Academically, he graduated in the top-25 of his class with a 3.0 GPA. In

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, Davis competed in events ranging from the triple jump to the shot put during his junior and senior seasons. He ran the lead leg on the 4A state champion 4 × 200m relay squad in 2008, helping them capture the state title at 1.28.90 minutes. At the 2008 USM Invitational, he took 4th 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 the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

event with a mark of 13.7 meters (44 ft, 6 in).

College career

Davis played the

position at Memphis for three years. In 2012, he was converted to the

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

position for his senior year. Davis tallied 150 tackles, 4 forced fumbles, 3 interceptions, and 2.5 sacks in his 4 years at Memphis.

Professional career

Washington Redskins

After going unselected in the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

, Davis had a try-out at the

rookie mini-camp. He was not offered a contract and was not signed by any other team in the 2013 season. While not playing football, Davis became a graduate assistant coach at Memphis University. The

signed Davis on April 10, 2014 after not playing football for a year. While placed as a reserve strong safety, he established himself on special teams in the preseason. The events of Davis's life before making an NFL roster, were filmed for an NFL Network series, "Undrafted". Davis was the only one out of 6 undrafted prospects to be signed to an NFL 53-man roster. Despite making the active roster by the final roster cut day, the Redskins waived him on August 31 after

Duke Ihenacho Duke Uba Ihenacho (born June 16, 1989) is a former American football strong safety. He played college football at San Jose State. He signed with the Denver Broncos as an undrafted free agent following the 2012 NFL Draft. He has also played for ...

was claimed off waivers. The Redskins placed Davis on the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

the next day. He was waived on October 7, but re-signed with their practice squad the next day. He was added to the active roster on October 26, 2014. On September 4, 2015, Davis was waived with an injury settlement for final roster cuts before the start of the regular season.

New Orleans Saints

Davis signed with the

' practice squad on October 19, 2015. He was promoted to the active roster on October 24. He was waived on November 3.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On November 10, 2015, Davis signed with the

of the

. On November 17, 2015, he was released. He was re-signed to the practice squad on November 25, 2015. On December 1, 2015, he was released from practice squad.

Seattle Seahawks

On December 8, 2015, Davis signed with the

. On December 15, 2015, Davis was waived.

Indianapolis Colts

On December 16, 2015, the

claimed Davis off of waivers from Seattle.

Kansas City Chiefs

On June 16, 2016, Davis signed a contract with the

. He was waived on August 17, 2016.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On October 10, 2016, Davis was signed to the

practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on December 23, 2016. On May 15, 2017, he was waived by the Jaguars.

Coaching career

Davis, a Southern Miss defensive graduate assistant from 2017–18, was promoted to cornerbacks coach in Spring 2019. On December 17, 2020, Davis was announced as a Co-Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Backs Coach on new head coach

Scotty Walden Scotty Walden (born November 15, 1989) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Austin Peay State University. Walden had previously served as the head coach at East Texas Baptist University and interim head coach at the Uni ...

's inaugural staff at

Austin Peay Austin Peay (June 1, 1876 – October 2, 1927) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of Tennessee from 1923 to 1927. He was the state's first governor since the Civil War to win three consecutive terms and the first to die ...

Personal life

Davis married his high school Sweetheart, Sierra Sky Davis. Davis has one daughter, Carsyn, who was born on July 31, 2014 and one Son Corinthian Akeem Davis II. Davis is also the founder of the AD47 Football Leadership Academy. The AD47 Football Leadership Academy is a free, one-day, football skills camp, created by NFL DB, Akeem Davis, and dedicated to promoting leadership, citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. AD47 is sanctioned and insured by the NFL Foundation and run in partnership with USA Football through the FUNdamentals program. The inaugural AD47 was held in Laurel, MS in June 2015, and featured 53 school children, ages 8–12 from across the greater Laurel region. Davis is a Christian.

References

External links

Official websiteSouthern Miss Golden Eagles football coach bioNew Orleans Saints bioWashington Redskins bioMemphis Tigers football bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Akeem 1989 births Living people American football safeties Memphis Tigers football players Washington Redskins players New Orleans Saints players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Seattle Seahawks players Indianapolis Colts players Kansas City Chiefs players Jacksonville Jaguars players