Despite lack of visits, three-star WR Davis found a home at UVa

There are a number of teams, both across the ACC and across the country, who have been recruiting just fine this spring despite the lack of on-campus visits. And UVa is certainly among them.

As it stands, the Cavaliers have 13 commitments in the class of 2021, eight of which have come in the last month.

Three-star wide receiver Jesiah Davis was the last of the “first batch” of verbals, meaning the 6-foot-3, 181 pounder has had some time to not reflect not only on his decision but on the relief that came with it.

“I started hearing from UVa the summer before my junior year, so last year,” he told CavsCorner recently. “I was at a track practice and my coach called me and said a big school was about to reach out to me so just make sure you’re ready. It was kind of weird because I was a little sick at the time, a little under the weather, and then I had this great conversation and got that first offer.”

That great conversation was with Virginia’s Marques Hagans, who immediately made the Charlotte native comfortable.

“Honestly, to me it feels like Coach Hagans has always been family,” Davis explained. “He’s always been there, always making an effort to talk to me and getting to know and reaching out to me, even though sometimes I’m busy or I know he is. I always make sure I reach back out to him and let him know how things are going. Honestly, we don’t always talk football. Not every conversation is strictly football. Like, we’re able to have conversations about just life in general.

“He’s always been somebody I could just go and talk to whenever I just wanted to get something off my mind or clear my head of some things,” he added.

That relationship with Hagans is a big reason why Davis, who finished out the second semester this year at Hough, decided to commit to the Cavaliers in late March.

“I had just gotten done talking to Coach Hagans, like a few days or a week before, saying that I was starting to make my decision,” he recalled. “I hadn’t been really heavily recruited and I was hearing that I was overrated or whatever. I didn’t want to seem like I was waiting for something else and trying to push UVa away or anything because UVa has always been at the top of my list, ever since they started recruited me they’ve been there. So, we also had already built an awesome relationship with me and Coach Hagans and that made it super simple for me because I felt like it was already the right place for me to be. I felt like I would be taken care of there.

“So, I went and had the conversation with my parents about it and we got on the phone with Coach Mendenhall,” Davis added. “It was really a series of conversations with my parents about things. At first, they talked about the number of official visits I could take and that this was going to be a big year for me. But over time, it just became clear.”

There’s a common adage in recruiting that players should go where they’re wanted. Davis got to that point for sure.

“If they could see that I was worth it then,” he said, “I felt like I should give them the opportunity to have me. They saw it in me for the longest.”

The fact that he couldn’t take any visits because of COVID-19 and the NCAA’s dead period did play a role in his process but not so much in the destination.

“It impacted it a little bit,” he said. “I can’t say that it was the main reason why I decided as early as I did but it did have some weight to it. That really just cut off any communication that I could have face to face with any other coaches. So, I just went off of the relationships that felt the strongest.”

So how does he see himself fitting in at UVa next year?

“Seeing that they throw the ball a lot, that’s definitely good to me,” Davis said. “Coach Hagans has talked to me about how they like to be able to take the top off. With a lot of their plays, it’s helpful because the speed that I possess goes along with that offense. So, it’s not contradicting in anyway. Coach Hagans has also talked to me about some stuff that I can work on with him, so he’s just really looking forward to it as much as I am.”

Given his football background, it’s understandable why UVa sees so much potential.

“So, since Pop Warner I’ve had a minor change,” he said. “Then, the speed I had plus the size that I was, it was more fitting for me to play running back. So through most of my Pop Warner years, I just played running back. One season, my coach was like ‘We’re going to try to make a switch to keep you out of the backfield so much’ and they threw me out there at receiver at our jamboree. I caught three touchdowns, so they knew they could switch me between the two positions. That also let me see different matchups and things.”

Davis said he played until his seventh grade year but his father pulled him out because he got hurt. He didn’t play in eighth or ninth grades, instead focusing on just playing basketball. But the itch to be back on the gridiron returned.

“At the end of my freshman year, I told my dad I wanted to go back to football,” he recalled. “I got on a workout plan and started lifting and got my weight up. Then my sophomore year, he saw I was fit enough to play so I did and I started out on varsity that year playing both ways, playing receiver and corner.”

As he prepares to play receiver in the ACC, Davis heads into the rest of spring and summer with an advantage that few rising seniors stuck at home might have.

“I have a weight bench at my house now, so I’m able to just lift from home,” he said. “And then when it comes to footwork stuff, the middle school is right down the street. For the most part it’s been pretty empty. So I go down there to get some footwork stuff in and sometimes my QB at Hough now, he’ll come out and I’ll run some routes and stuff and make sure we get in work when we can.”

All told, the recruiting process is finally behind him and with that reality has come a good amount of peace.

“I can definitely say that it was a big weight off my shoulders considering that I felt like I could have been recruited more and the decision to wait would’ve been beneficial,” he said. “But I felt like once I made the decision, I knew it was right. I knew this is where I should be. Even though waiting could have turned into something else, I’m more interested in UVa and this decision. I made it and after I did I didn’t feel any regret. Just excited and relieved and ready to get to work. So, it was the right decision to make for me.”

JOIN CAVSCORNER TODAY!

If you are not already a member of CavsCorner, come join us and see what all of the buzz is about.

Click HERE to subscribe and get all of the latest news and join hundreds of other UVa fans in talking about Cavalier football, basketball, and recruiting. You won't be disappointed!