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Andre Davis leaves USF with freakish amount of records

 
USF receiver Andre Davis runs on a 51-yard touchdown reception in the first half of the game against East Carolina, one of a host of scores during his career.  (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) 514445363
USF receiver Andre Davis runs on a 51-yard touchdown reception in the first half of the game against East Carolina, one of a host of scores during his career. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) 514445363
Published Nov. 28, 2014

TAMPA — Fittingly, the beginning and benediction share the same zip code. Exactly 2.94 miles from where the curtain rose on the "Freakshow," the college version of this record-shattering production ends today with one last command performance.

For Andre Davis, USF's greatest receiver and local amabassador, the final backdrop — Raymond James Stadium — also happens to be the back yard.

Surreal. Sublime. Freakish.

"I'm definitely going to do my best to take it all in," said Davis, born at Tampa General Hospital on Davis Islands and reared in the Carver City neighborhood nestled in RayJay's westward shadow. "My last one, every moment I'm going to cherish it."

Just before noon, Andre Montinez Davis II and 19 other USF seniors will be recognized near midfield immediately before their collegiate finale against UCF. In two more weeks, the Jefferson High alumnus will graduate with a degree in communications. If fate remains on its desired trajectory, he might return in several months, in a Buccaneers uniform.

"I just love Tampa, man," said Davis, owner or co-owner of 13 USF receiving records. "If I didn't have to leave, I wouldn't."

Part of him never will. The city is embedded in everything from his DNA (his parents are Tampa natives) to his diet (the chicken and yellow rice at his beloved La Teresita restaurant on Columbus Drive near the stadium). When USF rented billboard space throughout the region to promote the 2014 season, Davis' image was among those emblazoning them, making him the literal poster child for his team and town.

"There's not a sentence that goes by without him saying he's from Tampa or he's from around here or something like that," senior left tackle Darrell Williams said. "Very prideful about Tampa."

He was born Sept. 1, 1993, to a Hills­borough High graduate (former Terriers volleyball star Angie Pinder) and a Jefferson alumnus (Dragons multi-sport athlete Andre Davis Sr.). Upon graduating from Montevallo University in central Alabama, Pinder had a job opportunity in the state. Like her son, she adored Tampa too much to pursue it.

"I was homesick," she said.

A bulk of his childhood was spent at what is now known as the Loretta Ingraham Recreation Complex in Carver City, where flag football games often transitioned to tackle. In 2007, he arrived at Jefferson with a group of neighborhood chums that would form arguably the best freshman class in school history.

A year later, after making a one-handed catch in a loss at Chamberlain, teammate Terrance Doston slapped him with the "Freakshow" nickname that stuck.

Two years after that, he collected 1,296 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns for Jefferson, which finished 15-0 and won the Class 3A state title. The team's leading receiver, Chris Moore, went to Cincinnati. Quarterback Quentin Williams, who won Florida's Mr. Football honor, went to Bethune-Cookman. The defensive stalwarts, Tyriq McCord and Ramik Wilson, went to Miami and Georgia, respectively.

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Endowed with a 6-foot-3 frame, all-state recognition and a wingspan befitting his moniker, Davis took two unofficial visits, to FSU and Miami.

USF was his lone official trip.

"I really was never a follower, and I felt like everybody was jumping on that FSU ship," he said. "So I wanted to kind of do my own thing, and like I said, I felt like I had the opportunity here to do it. It wasn't that hard, it was pretty easy once I thought things out."

He played in 11 games as a freshman, but his breakout occurred in the second game of 2012 at Nevada, when he hauled in a 56-yard touchdown pass from B.J. Daniels with 38 seconds remaining in a 32-31 triumph. The clincher capped a day in which Davis set USF single-game records for catches (12) and yards (191).

Since then, he has established school marks for career receiving yardage, single-season yardage (735) and career TD catches (16), to name a few. Some of his practice catches are part of locker-room lore.

"When the ball's in the air, it's his ball, and by any means he's going to come down with it," senior offensive lineman Quinterrius Eatmon said.

"Even in practice you're like, 'Wow, he just did that?' Like the Odell Beckham catch (Sunday night for the NFL's Giants), I've seen Dre come out here and make catches like that. I'm like, 'Man, he's going to be doing that on Sundays. Watch.' "

Preceding the Sundays is one final Friday, expected to be observed by no fewer than a dozen relatives. Davis will be greeted at midfield by his mom and dad, younger sister Alise and former Jefferson teammate Cedric Bellamy, the brother he never had.

Emotions are sure to simmer as mom and dad embrace their only son, and one of Tampa's favorite sons.

"You talk to Dre, that's all he talks about is here in Tampa, his community, and being from here and representing Tampa," coach Willie Taggart said.

"And it's not just talk, that's a way of life for Andre. And then he goes out and takes care of business on the football field, because he's doing it for a lot of people."

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.