Deshaun Davis (born December 31, 1995) is an

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 ...

coach and former player. He is currently the linebackers coach at the

University of North Alabama The University of North Alabama (UNA) is a public university in Florence, Alabama. It is the state's oldest public university. Occupying a campus in a residential section of Florence, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes ...

. Davis played college football at Auburn as an

inside 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, ...

High school career

Davis was all-state at Vigor High School his sophomore and junior seasons. A torn ACL ended Davis' senior year. He committed to Auburn on April 17, 2013, choosing the Tigers over Clemson,

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

and

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. In addition to football, Davis played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

at Vigor.

College career

At Auburn, Davis redshirted his true freshman year and did not make the starting lineup until his redshirt sophomore season. During his redshirt freshman season, then-defensive coordinator

Will Muschamp William Lawrence Muschamp (born August 3, 1971) is an American football coach and former player. He is the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at the University of Georgia. He served as head football coach at the University of Florida fr ...

told Davis to expect no playing time, leaving the player to consider a transfer. Davis started occasionally taking over playcalling duties from defensive coordinator

Kevin Steele Kevin Steele (born March 17, 1958) is an American football coach and former player, currently serving as the defensive coordinator at the University of Miami. Steele has previously worked as defensive coordinator at Auburn, LSU, Clemson, and c ...

. During his senior season, Davis led the team in tackles and was named first-team all-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

. An ankle tweak against

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

threatened to derail his season, but Davis did not miss any games as a result of that injury. After his senior season, Davis participated in the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

Professional career

Cincinnati Bengals

Davis was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round (210th overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft. After recording fifteen tackles in the preseason, he was waived during final roster cuts on August 31, 2019.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On September 2, 2019, Davis was signed to the

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 pla ...

practice squad, but was released two days later.

Philadelphia Eagles

On December 18, 2019, Davis was signed to 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

' practice squad. He was released on January 1, 2020.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

Davis signed with the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in ...

of the CFL on May 6, 2020. After the CFL canceled the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Davis chose to opt-out of his contract with the Roughriders on August 27, 2020. Davis was selected by the Conquerors of

The Spring League The Spring League was an American football developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional athletes but not paying a salary or expenses, the league's go ...

during its player selection draft on October 12, 2020, and opted back in to his contract with the Roughriders on January 4, 2021.

Coaching career

Davis started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

in 2022. On December 7, 2022, he was announced as the first member of

Brent Dearmon Brent Dearmon (born December 19, 1984) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at the University of North Alabama. He was previously the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Kansas, Middle Tennes ...

's staff coaching linebackers at

North Alabama North Alabama is a region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Several geographic definitions for the area exist, with all descriptions including the nine counties of Alabama's Tennessee Valley region. The North Alabama Industrial Development Associ ...

Personal life

Davis is a Christian.

References

External links

Auburn Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Deshaun 1995 births Living people People from Prichard, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama American football linebackers Auburn Tigers football players Cincinnati Bengals players Jacksonville Jaguars players Philadelphia Eagles players Saskatchewan Roughriders players The Spring League players