Husky Roster Review: Patient Cam Needs to Break RB Logjam
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Cam Davis sometimes must wonder what's it going to take for the University of Washington coaching staff to get totally comfortable with him as the lead running back.
A year ago, Kalen DeBoer's coaches brought in Virginia transfer Wayne Taulapapa, Nebraska transfer Will Nixon and New Mexico transfer Aaron Dumas.
This spring, the Huskies welcomed Mississippi State transfer Dillon Johnson and Arizona State transfer Daniyel Ngata to the competition, as well as promising freshman Tybo Rogers.
You can just see Davis standing off to the side, with a perplexed look on his face, raising his hand and going, "Hello, over here, I can do this."
Well, the 6-foot, 206-pound junior from Rancho Cucamonga, California, is getting closer to becoming the No. 1 guy.
"C.D. is the guy who stands out more than the others," DeBoer said when spring ended, still mentioning that the injured Johnson and Ngata weren't able to audition much. "C.D. has just been consistent. It's been good to see him have a spring unlike last year, knowing what he did in the fall, where he was coming on strong. We're counting on him."
Going down the roster from No. 0 to 99, Davis, who wears No. 22 on offense, is next up in a series of profiles about each of the Huskies' scholarship players and assorted walk-ons, summing up their spring football performances and surmising what might come next for them.
Entering his fifth UW season, Davis always seems to be on the cusp of greater responsibility at times, maddeningly so.
He curiously made his college football debut against Oregon in the eighth game of his freshman season in 2019, in the second quarter of a 35-31 loss. He rushed for 7 yards to open a drive and then didn't play again that day.
Davis actually didn't get on the field again until the Las Vegas Bowl against Boise State, when he surprisingly started the game, lost a yard on his lone carry on the UW's first play and wasn't called on to run again in the 38-7 victory.
He didn't start again for two seasons, until the next-to-last 2021 game against Colorado, a 20-14 loss that came the week following the firing of coach Jimmy Lake.
Three games before that outing, Davis had his best rushing output as a Husky, coming off the bench to run 18 times for 99 yards in a 20-13 victory at Stanford. He even went over the century mark with 104 yards, but, typical of his career, lost just enough to keep from staying there. Always so close to greatness.
After sitting out 2022 spring practice with an injury, Davis entered last season as Taulapapa's back-up. He scored an eye-popping 13 touchdowns on the ground. At Arizona State, he rushed for a season-high 77 yards on nine carries, breaking off a career-best 42-yard gainer, and scored three times on short runs in the 45-38 upset loss in Tempe.
He even drew his third career start against Oregon State, saving that game by coming up with a diving 6-yard reception near the end to set up the game-winning field goal in a 24-21 win.
True to form, Davis got injured during practice for the Alamo Bowl and sat out the 27-20 victory over Texas in San Antonio.
So here he is again, looking for a breakthrough to the highest level of success, surrounded by all of those transfers, holdovers such as Richard Newton and Sam Adams II and anyone else the coaching staff can scrounge up to give him some serious competition.
Davis looked much more filled out this spring with bigger biceps and the like. He's always been ever so patient in dealing with a very competitive position and the periodic injuries. It would seem he's ready for big rewards, such as a full-time starting job and plenty of room to run.
CAM DAVIS FILE
Service: Entering his fifth UW season, Davis has played in 29 Husky games and started 3. With 4.5 40 speed, he looks to find more open field and show it off.
Stats: He's rushed 209 times for 903 yards and 15 touchdowns, and caught 38 passes for 278 yards, plus returned 10 kickoffs in his time in Montlake, so he checks off those boxes.
Role: Davis should settle for nothing less than becoming the Huskies starting running back. He has the speed. He's physical enough. He just needs to be more slippery and elusive coming through the line. Note that his high school and Husky teammate Taj Davis, a veteran wide receiver, transferred to California, meaning they won't play together for the first time in maybe a decade or so.
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