Notre Dame: Avery Davis is a renaissance man on the field

Avery Davis’ versatility has become an invaluable commodity to the 2019 Notre Dame football team.

The Notre Dame football team lost an integral part of its offense for an extended period of time when starting running back Jafar Armstrong tore his abdominal muscle in the first series of the game against Louisville.

As a result, Armstrong is expected to miss up to two months with the injury and the Irish are left with a void at running back in the speed back/receiver department. Tony Jones Jr. and Jahmir Smith filled in admirably in the absence of Armstrong, but both are similar style runners who project more as power running backs.  Additionally, Smith sprained his toe and could be inactive for the game against New Mexico.

As a result, the Irish turned to a former running back in Avery Davis to fill the void left by Armstrong’s injury.

Avery Davis, a 5’11”, 203-pound junior out of Cedar Hill, Texas, has had a variety of roles since coming to Notre Dame.  Originally, a four-star dual threat quarterback recruit, Davis began his Irish career at the quarterback position, running the scout team in 2017.

Given the wealth of talent at the quarterback position for the Irish, Davis opted to make a switch to the running back/wide receiver hybrid position in an effort to see more playing time.

Davis played in limited duty last year, seeing garbage time against both Wake Forest and Stanford. In those two games, Davis had 20 carries for 70 yards and five receptions for 30 yards. However, he also was plagued by drops and two fumbles.

Coming into this season, the Irish had a plethora of options at running back, so the Notre Dame coaching staff opted to utilize the speed, athleticism and quickness of Davis by converting him to cornerback in an effort to add depth to a thin position.

After Armstrong’s injury, they have again decided to change course and have shifted Davis back to the running back position.

Davis provides a change of pace to Jones Jr. and a more effective option catching passes out of the backfield.  He has solid speed at the running back position, clocking in with a sub 4.5 second, 40 yard dash time.  In addition, he provides the Irish, should they choose, with the option to add a bit of trickery to their playbook, as he has an above average arm.

Brian Kelly praised Davis this week  in the wake of yet another positional change, saying “Avery is a great teammate”.

It will be interesting to see how the Irish utilize him.  He has shown some flashes of ability in the run game, including in the two games he played in last year and in the 2018 Blue Gold Game.

Regardless of how his return to running back turns out, you have to believe that given his athletic ability and his willingness to play whatever position the teams needs him to, something will eventually stick for Davis.