A potential football recruit is fighting for his chance to play D-I football after the NCAA sidelined him over his performance in an online high school English class he took during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The former Fridley High School graduate told Fox 9 that he thinks it is unfair that he is being punished for a misunderstanding on a high school transcript, three years after he took the class.
"I am kind of frustrated. I am kind of sad," Davis said. "But at the end of the day, you got to keep your head up high. You got to motivate yourself. And the grind does not stop. I continue to get 1% better every day."
Davis thought his dream of playing for the Lobos was about to come true until the NCAA stepped in.
"I really, really want it bad. I just hope everything gets cleared because I just really want to touch the field with the guys," said Davis. "It would feel really, really nice for me to go out there with the ‘Bos and hopefully go to a bowl game and win a championship. That is the goal."
Davis graduated from Fridley High School with the class of 2021, and he kept trying out for the UNM football team, finally making the roster this spring when the school hired a new head coach.
"I tried every year. I tried out every single year, and this is the year I actually made it. And when I made it, the coaches loved me."
Davis thrived during offseason workouts, with the school highlighting his skills on its Instagram account. However, it all fell apart when the NCAA flagged his high school transcript over an English class he took online during the height of the pandemic, while his grandmother was battling cancer.
Davis said that he is carrying at least a 3.0 grade point average as a condition of an academic scholarship he has received from the University of New Mexico, where he is majoring in business finance and carrying an economics minor. After two full years on campus, he argues his classroom success in college should be enough to satisfy any NCAA academic requirements.
"When you get so close to something, like, it is just like, ‘wow,’ and then it gets taken away for something you cannot control. That is sad. It is not even about skill or anything. It is something you cannot control," Davis lamented.
A NCAA eligibility officer said the association is working with the university and Fridley High School to resolve the issue.
