Does anyone know the story of his recruitment? Like the full story? Was he highly rated ect how did he end up here. I know about the snow on the plane but thats about it.
Troy Davis Recruitment
- Thread starter bringmagicback
- Start date
Florida State wanted him badly. So did the other florida schools. However, there were a crap load of great running backs in florida and none of them thought they could get Troy eligible. So they all took other running backs. We got him because we could get him in school. He was highly sought after. He just had bad grades and made his tests at the very end.
I heard we were the only school to hang with him after 2 SAT's that wouldn't qualify him. Got it on the 3rd.
Whether that's actual details, I don't know, but I think it's pretty much widely accepted that we took a chance on him for eligibility that other schools wouldn't.
Whether that's actual details, I don't know, but I think it's pretty much widely accepted that we took a chance on him for eligibility that other schools wouldn't.
Listening to a Troy Davis interview was painful. He spoke, read, and wrote best on the football field. Just look at his records!
Walden was speaking in CR on signing day and said,"I think we lost a great one to Florida State this morning." As it turned out, Troy changed his mind again and chose ISU but FSU came on very strong at the end.
We had Troy and Darren at our house for steaks one night. Itwa completely odd because Troy spoke perfect english. No problems at all. Then two days later he was doing an interview and you could not understand a word he said.
Loose story but pretty close to reality
As Coach Walden started to run out of time, his staff had changes (some leaving and others being fired). He turned to an old friend in Arnie Romero to coach his OL. Romero had been out of coaching and was in fact, working as a Car Salesman in Miami when asked to come to ISU. If that were done today-Try discussing that hire on CF! Romero was aware of TD and stayed in touch during the process. Ultimately, Arnie convinced TD that if eligible, being the big fish at ISU was the way to go. TD became eligible and got to Ames. Dude worked his but off in class, weight room and on the field.
Of course, the season was a disaster, Jim was fired, Arnie left Ames and TD began playing for Coach Mac and especially, RB Coach Kirby Wilson.
If Arnie Romero had not left the auto business to coach football at ISU, TD would not be an ISU icon today.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
It is odd that Walden went to such trouble to get him here and then basically didn`t use him his freshman year. Didn`t he burn Troy`s redshirt by only using him on a couple of kick returns?
The key to Troy's recruitment was that Arnie was able to convince Troy's mom that Iowa State would take the best care of her boy.
Arnie's quote after the signing was "You've gotta sell the moms, man, you've gotta sell the moms".
It was true then, and probably still true in most recruiting situations.
(I know Troy) Troy spoke fine for the most part. He had a speech impediment (stuttering) that would come out when nervous. You can imagine what it is like to be 19 and have a ton of cameras shoved in your face...
Lester Hayes of the Oakland Raiders was the same way. Put a mike in front of him and you would think he was a blithering idiot. He was actually a pretty smart guy.
Wasn't TD discouraged after that first season due to lack of playinig time and ready to leave. If IRC I think Mac had to convince himto stay. I agree even with the little bit we saw of him on the field I couldn't figure out why Waldem didn't play him more. Another one of the great mysteries of Walden.
Yup, under Walden as a freshman he rushed for 222 yards. The next year he rushes for 2169. :smile:
It's not hard to figure out why Troy didn't get much playing time as a freshman if you remember how good Calvin Branch was. Branch was bigger, faster, and as a senior knew the offense much better than Troy. He also was a better NFL player with the ability to make the switch to CB and play 5 years in the league.
The other issue was that Troy was not a good fit for the triple option that Walden was running. Mac came in and installed the I-formation with inside zone blocking which Troy was the perfect back to run with.
I remember watching "Beat the Bear". It was on Sunday nights after the local news. They were talking about Troy and had Gov. Branstand on as a special guest. They asked him about Davis and he was complimentary. The Bear (a person dressed as a bear) was in the background. After Branstad finished talking about Davis, he made a comment, "If only we could understand him" or something like that. Later, he claimed to be speaking of the Bear and not Davis.
Whatever, Braindead...
OK, admittedly that's at the very beginning of my ISU fandom, but I didn't recall Calvin so I looked. Unless there's a story there that I'm missing, even Branch wasn't the feature back...seems like a great big pile of 'throw whoever at them' (kind of like early this season)...maybe you have better memory than I and I'd be glad to learn, but at least looking at the stat lines, it doesn't appear there was anyone who stood above the pack...but then on the flip side, it's not really like Troy was left out in the cold either...
1994 | Iowa State Cyclones Football Statistics and Results | Totalfootballstats.com
[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #800000"]RUSHING STATISTICS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"][TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 15%, bgcolor: #999999"]Player Name[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]Pos[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]#[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]GP[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]Att[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]Yards[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]TD[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]%[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]Y/G[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]A/G[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]TD/G[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]A/TD[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #999999"]LNG[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 15%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] Todd Doxzon[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] qb[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 9[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 148[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 375[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 4[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 2.53[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 41.7[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 16.4[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 0.4[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 37.00[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 29[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 15%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] Rodney Guggenheim[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] rb[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 11[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 72[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 330[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 4[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 4.58[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 30.0[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 6.5[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 0.4[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 18.00[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 41[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 15%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] Jim Knott[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] rb[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 11[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 77[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 327[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 3[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 4.25[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 29.7[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 7.0[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 0.3[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 25.67[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 38[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 15%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] Calvin Branch[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] rb[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 10[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 62[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 320[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 0[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 5.16[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 32.0[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 6.2[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] N/A[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 0.00[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 29[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 15%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] Troy Davis[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] rb[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 9[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 35[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 187[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 0[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 5.34[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 20.8[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 3.9[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] N/A[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 0.00[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 37[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 15%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] Artis Garris[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] rb[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 10[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 34[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 115[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 2[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 3.38[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 11.5[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 3.4[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 0.2[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 17.00[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 16[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 15%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] Jeff St.Clair[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] qb[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 8[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 63[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 87[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 2[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 1.38[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 10.9[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 7.9[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 0.3[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 31.50[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 22[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 15%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] Jahi Arnold[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] rb[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 9[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 11[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 48[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 0[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 4.36[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 5.3[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 1.2[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] N/A[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 0.00[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 16[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 15%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] Geoff Turner[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] wr[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 11[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 3[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 15[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 0[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 5.00[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 1.4[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 0.3[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] N/A[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 0.00[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] 9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 15%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] Ed Williams[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] wr[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 11[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 1[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] -3[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 0[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] -3.00[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] -0.3[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 0.1[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] N/A[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 0.00[/TD]
[TD="width: 5%, bgcolor: #E2E2E2"] 0[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Yes, this is correct. Calvin Branch was only a junior though and got kicked off the team after McCarney came in and cleaned house. Branch went to Colorado State for his senior year. He did average about 4.5 yards a carry I believe as a junior.
When Davis did play as a freshman Walden would put him in as an I-Back and basically everyone knew he was getting the ball. He would still get 5-6 yards. Walden would say he wasn't a triple option back.
STRIKING THE POSE : IOWA STATE STAR TROY DAVIS HAS SECOND SHOT AT HEISMAN. - Free Online Library