One of the hardest things a high school senior can do is switch schools before their final year.
This year, one of those seniors is Durant offensive lineman Kensey Davis. But, the way he handles it makes the switch look easy.
Davis, who previously attended Mulberry High School, had a busy summer. His mother, a teacher at Mulberry, decided to go for an administrative position in a different school, prompting Davis, who has lived in Durant’s district the whole time, to make the switch.
“I didn’t have to leave, but, as far as football goes, it was probably the best thing for me,” Davis says. “We get to play against good talent. It’s a big jump.”
That also meant working out with the Cougars in the offseason.
“Probably, the hardest thing for him was understanding how hard we work in the offseason,” head coach Mike Gottman says. “He wasn’t quite used to working in the sand pit and the running and the lifting part of the regimen. We work extremely hard. That was challenging for him, but he responded extremely well.”
Along with his workouts at Durant, Davis also remained with NextLevel Academe Coach Gerold Dickens, participating in every camp that he could.
“He went to every major camp,” Dickens says. “Didn’t miss any camps. He was there to get better. Anything I asked him to do, he put in a good effort to be there. Even when I couldn’t make it to camp, because I was ill, he went there without me.”
On top of his willingness to learn and work, Davis brings size — listed at 6-foot-4, 340 pounds — and athleticism that can’t be taught.
He also played basketball at Mulberry, working as a center who could run the floor.
“He has some feet,” Dickens says. “He’s very mobile — not a lumbering big man. He can get up and down the court.”
Davis also has adjusted to Durant’s culture nicely and found himself surrounded by teammates quick to accept him.
“They’ve been treating me real good,” he says.
In two games played, Davis has worked exclusively on the offensive line. He’s capable of playing both guard and tackle and isn’t sweating the fact that he hasn’t gotten to play on the defensive line yet.
“I like defense, but O-lines are what most of the colleges are looking at right now,” he says.
He spent most of the summer working on his skills for that position. By the time the Oak Ridge game was just around the corner, Davis had added several new moves to his repertoire.
“Now that he’s in a better situation with the coaching — Coach (Wesley) Wyatt does a great job with his offensive linemen — he’s in real good hands,” Dickens says.
Cougar fans should be as excited to see Davis shore up the right side in 2014 as his coaches are to have him around.
“He’s a great addition,” Gottman says. “I wish we’d had him for four years.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
THIS WEEK’S MATCH-UPS
DURANT VS. SICKLES – GAME OF THE WEEK
Last Friday’s Durant-Armwood box score reads 37-14, in favor of Armwood, but the game was closer than the box suggests. The Cougars (0-1; 0-0 district) fought hard though three quarters, absolutely refusing to back off, and didn’t give Armwood much breathing room until the fourth quarter.
“As far as the effort, I was pleased,” Gottman says. “We went toe-to-toe with them, and I was hoping we could make it a one-score game: 28-21. We were down 28-14 and we were driving.”
Tonight, they’ll take on the Gryphons of Sickles High School. Although they’re not exactly as skilled across the board as the Hawks, it would be unwise to treat the Gryphons (1-0; 0-0 district) as a lesser team.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” Gottman says.
Quarterback Isaac Holder is talented, but Sickles’ greatest asset is running back Ray Ray McCloud III — a name that Plant City High School fans aren’t fond of following last season’s playoff loss. McCloud is coming off of a stellar junior season in which he gained 2,316 yards on 300 carries and scored 26 touchdowns on the ground. He cemented his status as one of the better running back prospects around. It’s like what they used to say about Michael Jordan: “You can’t stop him — you can only hope to contain him.”
“We know what they’re gonna do,” Gottman says. “We’ve just got to get a lot of people to the football. (McCloud) is elusive, and we’re not gonna get him with just one guy — he’s that good. We’ve got to get a lot of people around the ball, and corral him — slow him down.”
This is where Durant’s offense will have to come through to win. As the Raiders found out last season, this team is more containable across the board than Armwood. But, it’s not the kind of team that can normally be beaten with a couple of touchdowns early and a defensive effort later.
PLANT CITY AT WHARTON
The Plant City Raiders will travel to Wharton High School, hoping to go into their bye week with a win over the Wildcats (0-1; 0-0 district).
Last year, the Raiders did pretty much whatever they wanted in a 33-0 shutout win at home. Last week, the weather interrupted their game against Steinbrenner and forced a cancellation. The Raiders will definitely be hungry for their first win of the season, and they’re probably looking forward to facing a team that just suffered a 35-2 loss to Spoto (1-0; 0-0 district).
STRAWBERRY CREST AT SPOTO
Spoto will play host to the Strawberry Crest Chargers.
Although they’re coming off of that 35-2 win, the Spartans surely remember when the Chargers (1-0; 0-0 district) beat them, 28-14, in Dover last year. Likewise, the Chargers should realize that this Spoto team is better this year.
Last year, Spoto lost 38-0 to Wharton, kicking off a seven-game losing streak. This is a must-win game for Strawberry Crest, which faces Leon (0-1; 0-0 district) next week.