From The Press Box To The Field: Inside Mark Davis' Return from Torn Achilles

Nashville—Those around Vanderbilt cornerbacks coach Jamaal Richardson in the parking lot at 51st Deli probably stopped and stared for a second as he walked out and “rushed over” to Vanderbilt’s McGugin Center.

It’s generally a two-minute drive and a 16-minute walk for the Vanderbilt cornerbacks coach to get his lunch steak burrito, but Richardson likely defied the estimated time of every app as he worked to get to the bottom of a phone call that had the potential to make his job a lot more difficult in the coming months.

“Mark is down,” the person on the other line told Richardson. “Mark is down.”

“The panic,” Richardson said. “I was feeling it all over.”

A few minutes prior, everyone on Vanderbilt’s practice field learned what Richardson was likely hoping that he wouldn’t in that moment. If there was any doubt, the pop that came from Davis’ lower leg removed all of it.

The Southern Illinois transfer corner was rehabbing another injury that he worked through in his first few months at Vanderbilt and was shuffling his feet on Vanderbilt’s practice field. Davis was ramping up in an effort to work on the field consistently in Vanderbilt’s fall camp that started in a few days.

If all went well for the FCS transfer, he’d find a way to get himself right in the mix alongside Martel Hight and Kolbey Taylor. It was almost inevitable that he’d find the field after Eastern Washington transfer Marlon Jones was declared out for the season with cancer.

Then, Davis’ reality changed as he came out of a break in a non-contact rep.

“It just snapped,” Davis told Vandy on SI. “It was weird. It was a weird day. Very, very emotional day.”

When he should’ve been preparing for his first season as a power-five football player, Davis was in and out of doctors appointments and was working to come to the reality that he would have to wait until Vanderbilt’s 2025 season opener to capitalize on the fruits of his labor. He was working to keep a positive attitude as he came to terms with the idea that his torn achilles would derail the plans that he had for himself.

Davis was graded as the second-best cornerback in the SEC based off of 2023 production heading into the 2024 season by Pro Football Focus. He was among Vanderbilt’s most experienced defensive players.

Only one problem, Davis had to re-learn how to walk before he played football again.

Mark Davis — Davis had to watch from the sidelines before returning to the field in the spring. | Vanderbilt Athletics

Walk into Vanderbilt’s main press box on a football game day and you’re likely to see two rows of media members pounding away at their computers with a few tables of barbecue catering behind them.

There’s only a few rules in there. No cheering. No clapping. No rooting on either team. Only one person in the box was given an exception to those rules during Vanderbilt’s first three home games of 2024.

Everyone seemed to do a double take as Davis walked in and grabbed a seat in the second row towards the north end zone. It’s not all that difficult to spot an offensive staffer going to or from their private room, but someone in uniform is another story. But, there Davis was–often sitting silently with his scooter behind him–-taking in the action.

“I couldn’t walk,” Davis said. “It was the worst thing ever.”

Davis says his lack of mobility also caused him to scooter in order to get to class and to get around Vanderbilt’s campus as a whole. Want to go eat? Scooter there. Want to drive somewhere? Scooter to the car and maneuver yourself into the drivers’ seat.

Richardson tore his achilles twice in his his four seasons as a defensive back at Iowa State and tried to advise Davis as he looked to move forward from his injury, but there was only so much that he and Vanderbilt physical trainer/athletic trainer John Cicciaro–who Davis says did a “great job” of helping him–could do to help him. He had to face this on his own.

“The whole rehab process was super hard,” Davis said. “I had to relearn how to do a lot of stuff. I even had to relearn how to life, squat. I had to relearn how to walk. A lot of stuff I don’t remember. Everything in the moment was going by super slow, but as the months went by it started to go a little faster.”

Davis says he stayed sane by waking up and praying every morning–which he says he already did prior to the injury–as well as investing in his teammates in a way that he otherwise wouldn’t have had he only been a member of Vanderbilt’s program for six months like he initially thought.

The Vanderbilt corner eventually got back to walking after a few weeks and found himself back on the sideline. The competitor in him was still unsatisfied, but he saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

“I knew that I was gonna get back,” Davis said. “I knew that God had a plan regardless. The way it happened, it was just so sudden and it was literally a week before camp so everything just kind of [didn’t make sense.] Obviously in the moment I was sad, I didn’t want it to happen.”

As Davis looks back on his year away from the field, he can’t confidently say he’s glad that it happened or that he learned a tremendous amount from it. What he can confidently say after strapping on his pads and running out there in a black No. 17 jersey is that he’s back, though.

Davis played just nine snaps against Charleston Southern in Vanderbilt’s opener. But, the idea that he was playing at all less than a year after relearning how to walk was valuable in itself.

“I’m not gonna lie, it was great,” Davis said of his return. “It was a great feeling to just be back out there, just to move around. Even before Charleston Southern, in the spring when I was able to get back out there and move around it was great. Doing that, I feel the same. Nothing’s really off about anything.”

The Vanderbilt corner got his hands on a ball that he wishes he had brought in–which was easily visible in the scream he let out after the play–but he made an impact on the game as he recorded a deflection on that play and a tackle on another.

Davis says he fully trusts his achilles at this stage and that it hampering him is the “last thing” he’s worried about. As the Vanderbilt corner goes through his day-to-day routine he’s more worried about doing what he can to find a way to contribute.

It’s all business these days for Davis–who is often one of the first ones off of Vanderbilt’s practice field, except when he makes a mistake.

“If he ever concedes on a play in practice, he’ll come up to me afterwards and wait on me and then apologize for it,” Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said. “I look at a guy like Mark Davis and I’ve got a lot of confidence in Mark. He’s smart. He’s played a lot of football. He cares a lot.”

Davis has been through his fair share of ups and downs as a college football player since starting his career at Buffalo in 2019, redshirting as a freshman, not seeing the field as a sophomore and ultimately becoming a power-five player like he likely always believed he could.

The Vanderbilt cornerback says it will be a “full circle” moment on Saturday as he takes the field against Virginia Tech as a power-five player, but he doesn’t appear to be satisfied here. The expectations for Davis were higher than him just being a nine-snap player on Vanderbilt’s defense.

Davis was meant to be a transformative player in Richardson’s room.

“That’s a kid who has an 11-foot broad jump, 40-inch vertical, he’s timed at a 4.4, when you talk about SEC corners and that type of athleticism, that kid’s got it,” Richardson said. “It’s an athleticism we haven’t seen here so when you talk about playing more man coverage this year, letting him go up there and press and play, I’m excited about it. It opens doors to the defense when we’ve got guys that you feel comfortable playing man with.”

Perhaps the receivers are different at this level, so is the circumstance. Davis says it feels the same outside of the talent on the line of scrimmage, though.

He never claimed that this doesn’t feel different from his reality this time a year ago, though. That's why he shouldn’t take this for granted. That’s why him taking a step on to the field on Saturday without worrying about his achilles is significant.

“The guy has worked himself back a couple times,” Lea said. “His story is amazing and I’m grateful to have him. I’m excited for him to have a great year.”