ATHENS — Rian Davis didn’t believe it at first. He sort of knew on Monday of last week he’d be starting for Georgia against Auburn, a first in his four-year Georgia career.

But he didn’t really believe it until Wednesday or Thursday, after going through practice.

You can forgive Davis for being skeptical that this was actually happening to him. Davis’ time at Georgia has been marred by setback after setback. He tore his ACL prior to arriving at Georgia. Then as a freshman, he was knocked out by a torn labrum.

A quad injury robbed him of the ability to contribute last season. He joked his sophomore year was the only one he wasn’t banged up. That 2020 season though almost saw Davis walk away from the game of football. He went into Kirby Smart’s office and told him as much.

But Smart said no and kept pushing Davis to be the best version of himself. The one Georgia fans got to see on Saturday.

“He was ready to just shut it down, and I’m so glad that he did because he’s become a better person,” Smart said. “I don’t know how many of you guys in this room played it, but it’s physical, and it’s hard. You’re not always healthy, and it makes you question what you believe in sometimes, and I think he’s been through that and he’s come out on the good side of it.”

When discussing his injuries, Davis is able to point at the various parts of his body where he’s been banged up. He can laugh at the fact that he’s gotten very familiar with the Georgia training staff in his time in Athens.

Coming out of high school, Davis was a top-100 prospect from Apopka, FL. He seemed like a natural fit in the talented inside linebacker room that saw Nakobe Dean, Quay Walker and Channing Tindall all get taken in the previous NFL draft.

The injuries made it hard for him to get a chance to show he was as good as those players. He’s worked hard to become a core special teams player for Georgia while making great strides in the classroom. He racked up four tackles against the Tigers on Saturday, starting next to Jamon Dumas-Johnson. In the previous three-plus seasons at Georgia, Davis had just five tackles total.

Getting onto the field was hard for Davis. But keeping the right mindset proved to be the more difficult task for Davis.

“I have definitely had some times throughout these last couple years where I have been down and wondering why this happened to me,” Davis said. “I try to think in a mode where your situation could always be worse. There is always somebody in a worse situation. There are people at other schools who have had more injuries than me. They have battled back. I look at it like that.”

Davis found himself in the starting lineup in part because he was the healthy one in the Georgia linebacker room for once. Trezmen Marshall and Smael Mondon have both been nursing injuries of late, leaving them questionable for the game against Vanderbilt this weekend.

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The junior linebacker knows he’ll have to be ready to impress once again, should he get his chance. Even with all the on-field struggles, Davis keeps a great sense of humor and is capable of joking about how hard it is to impress inside linebackers coach Glenn Schumann.

“On gameday, I knew Rian was going to show up and execute as if Smael was there,” Dumas-johnson said. “I’m proud of him.”

Davis has been honest with both Smart and the Georgia team about his struggles and how that has impacted him. They know all he’s battled through just to get a chance to prove he belongs on the field, starting for the Georgia Bulldogs.

“I thought Rian stepped up. I mean, his maturity showed in terms of having composure and play,” Smart said. “I was proud of Rian, though, because he’s not a guy who’s played a lot of snaps. He’s had a lot of injuries. He’s been dinged up even in recent weeks, but he went out and pushed through and played well for his team.”

Rian Davis steps up for Georgia football defense

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