VANCOUVER — The UBC Thunderbirds football team has been battling through some of the most trying times in its program’s storied history, but the big news coming out of the Point Grey campus late last week seems to virtually assure a bright and prosperous future for the blue and gold.
Running back Terrell Davis, the former superstar high school running back from Victoria’s Mt. Douglas Secondary who spent the past two seasons on the depth chart with the Arizona State Sun Devils, told The Province over the weekend that he is transferring schools and will join the Thunderbirds for the team’s upcoming 2014 Canada West season. He will have four years of eligibility remaining.
All of UBC’s varsity sports programs are currently undergoing review with the aim of trimming a number of teams in the future, and although football was one of the sports prominently mentioned as being on the chopping block in the late fall, Davis says he has received enough assurance that he is very comfortable in making his decision.
UBC’s Sports Targeting Review is soon set to announce its first wave of surviving programs, and insiders suggest that even if football is not on that initial list, that enough groundwork has taken place behind the scenes to insure its longevity.
So in a lot of ways, the announcement of Davis is the unofficial way of making things official, and what a way to make a statement.
Davis who prior to his redshirt season in Tempe, AZ., rushed for 123 yards and two scores in the team’s fall scrimmage, was touted as one of that program’s players to watch this past season. But after playing on special teams in the Sun Devils’ season opener in September, he never saw the field again.
Now, with his 4.5-second speed over 40 yards, and a frame which is about 20 pounds more muscular than when he finished high school, there isn’t too much debate about what direction Davis is headed at UBC.
Punishing between the tackles, elusive and explosive in the open field, and like his younger brother, Grade 12 Mt. Douglas star Marcus, blessed with soft hands, Davis should be a schematic dream on Olson’s chalkboard.
Through his three seasons of senior varsity high school football, during which time he led the Rams to two B.C. Subway Bowl titles, Davis rushed and caught for a combined 3,847 yards and scored 48 touchdowns.
In the fall, he joins an absolutely loaded stable at running back for the ‘Birds, led by returning fourth-year star Brandon Deschamps, who finished second in Canada West rushing this past season with 1,007 yards and six TDs in seven games.
“It has been kind of exciting, getting my offensive mind working over the last little while, on how to utilize all of the things that (Davis and Deschamps) bring to the table,” said Olson.