Donnie Davis (born December 16, 1972) was the starting

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

Yellow Jackets Yellowjacket or yellowjacket is the common name in North America for predatory social wasps of the genera '' Vespula'' and '' Dolichovespula''. Members of these genera are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries. Most of th ...

in 1993 and 1995. He later played in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

for the Arizona Rattlers, Milwaukee Mustangs, and

Georgia Force The Georgia Force was an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States (part of suburban Atlanta) that played in the South Division of the American Conference. The team was owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn Je ...

College

Davis's college career began in the wake of the 1990 National Championship run under

Head Coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Bobby Ross Robert Joseph Ross (born December 23, 1936) is an American former football coach. He served as the head football coach at The Citadel (1973–1977), the University of Maryland, College Park (1982–1986), the Georgia Institute of Technology ...

. Davis

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 1991 and would await the graduation of star quarterback Shawn Jones through his redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons. Bobby Ross would leave before Davis's sophomore season and

Bill Lewis William Lewis (born 1 August 1953) is an English artist, story-teller, poet and mythographer.Milner, Frank, ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 86, National Museums Liverpool 2004, . Pages 6–30, Charles Thomson's essay, "A Stuckist on ...

was appointed head coach. The team, 2 years removed from a National Title, only won five games and finished the 1992 season with a 5–6 record. His redshirt sophomore campaign began with a thrashing of Furman but over the next three games Georgia Tech would be outscored 102–27. Davis would finish the year with a 5–6 record and a loss to archrival

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Bill Lewis wanted a spark for his wilting team so he recruited junior college transfer

Tom Luginbill Tom Luginbill (born January 3, 1974) is a college football analyst for ESPN. Luginbill grew up in Tempe, Arizona and San Diego. He is the son of the professional and college coach Al Luginbill. Playing career Luginbill was the starting q ...

from Palomar. Luginbill came in from a wide open pass offense where he tossed for over 7,600 yards and had won 21 games in two years. Luginbill would eventually take the starting job from Davis after Davis got injured in spring practice. Luginbill's first two efforts in 1994 saw Georgia Tech narrowly lose to then #1

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and demolish Western Carolina. Luginbill's career ended at Georgia Tech with a 1–10 record and the firing of Coach Bill Lewis. Lewis was replaced by defensive coordinator George O'Leary. After Luginbill transferred to

Eastern Kentucky Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 * Eastern Air ...

, Davis and O'Leary began a major rebuilding of the Georgia Tech football program that would lead Georgia Tech eventually back to playing in bowls and competing at the highest level in the

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

. Davis over his career compiled an 11–11 record with over 4,000 yards of total offense and 29 total touchdowns.

Professional career

Davis would go on to be one of the most successful passers in Arizona Rattler history. He won the Most Valuable Player of Arena Bowl XI in 1997.

After football

Davis retired from

arena football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

in 2001 and has worked in the mortgage banking industry ever since. Davis plans on graduating from Georgia Tech in 2009 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includ ...

. He is currently an intern at both the Southern Company and for the Georgia Tech department of athletics, and has also started a

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

group for Georgia Tech football letter winners

References

External links

Career stats at ArenaFan.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Donnie 1972 births Living people American football quarterbacks Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Arizona Rattlers players Georgia Force players Milwaukee Mustangs (1994–2001) players Players of American football from Winston-Salem, North Carolina

College

Professional career

After football

See also

References

External links