This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 4-star hybrid DE Bryce Davis in North Carolina. He ranks as the nation’s No.6 DL and the No. 42 overall prospect for 2025 on the 247Sports Composite. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the No. 7 DL and No. 62 overall.
Bryce Davis is the son of an Army veteran who then spent a career in law enforcement. His mother’s career has been in education.
When we state he is wired to succeed at anything in this life, it traces back to our first conversation with the 4-star DL in North Carolina.
It could have been how he ripped off “Yessirs” like he’d get his choice of any shoe from his favorite brand’s website when he used them in casual conversation. It wasn’t just that he said those “Yessirs” but how he made them seem as natural as breathing.
But it was more likely how a simple conversation with this young man deserves its highlight reel. The best way to convey those is to roll them out like his junior year highlights below.
The Bryce Davis interview rep highlights paint a vivid character sketch of the 6-foot-3.5, 250-pound EDGE prospect:
- “My why is just to be the greatest to ever do it at my position,” he said. “To be honest. That might sound cliche but my Dad has been pushing me to be excellent in whatever I do in any aspect of life. It just happens to be football right now.”
- “I’m passionate about it. I love the game so I’m going to push myself to exhaustion every day to be the greatest at it. Until the wheels fall off. Until I can’t do it anymore.”
- “When football is over, I’ll find a new passion to push myself just as hard.”
- “I do anything the way I do everything. That’s just how I look at life.”
The thing is those weren’t the highlights. Davis said all of that in the first two minutes of the interview.
It is no wonder his father Darren Davis is proud. He went from the military to a career in law enforcement. He retired after serving 20 years in the Greensboro police department.
His father is now the Executive Chief of Police at North Carolina A&T University. His mother, Crissie Davis, is a second-generation educator. That’s where the academic part of his focus comes from.
There are no excuses in his household. His older brother is working toward law school as an undergraduate.
- “Hard work just runs in the DNA,” Bryce Davis said. “It is something [my father] and my Mom installed in me when I was young. Just doing Math problems for three hours before I could go play outside. Just working out. They’ve been pushing me ever since I could remember.”
- “If you want something, you have got to go out there and do it. They have put in my head and my brother’s head that anything is possible. You just have to go get it. I’ve had that mindset forever and I’m going to keep it that way.”
- “My dream is definitely to be the greatest to ever do it at my position. Put on that gold jacket. But the reality is to take this game of football and create generational wealth. My parents are straight. I’m not looking to buy them a house or anything. They know that. That’s what they told me. My dream is to create generational wealth for the Davis family. That’s to do what I want to do and take this football as far as I can take it and create that generational wealth.”
- “I’m versatile in the way I play. I’m different. With my first initial strike, I will reset the line of scrimmage every time. I can drop back into coverage. I can pass rush. Just my skill set is a wide range. I can fit into any scheme that they want me to.”
- “My favorite part of football is definitely killing that quarterback. When you get that good pass rush and you go in and just kill that shoulder of the quarterback and you go and get that ball and go make a play and hear that crowd scream, that’s what all that hard work is for.”
That’s a lot for the first four-plus minutes of an interview. He’s not a total son of a police officer here. We’ve seen Davis several times in Athens and at events. It always seems like he has a different hairstyle.
It’s poofed out to various degrees at times. Or he puts it up in rows at others.
“I’ve recently just cut it,” he said. “It is a little bit shorter now. I cut it about halfway down. I might cut it all the way off. I might re-dye it. I just like to do different things. That’s kind of my style. I wear my hair. It is like my makeup pretty much. I just like to do different things with it.”
The man has a strong internal drive and loves to show his style with his hair. He’s a hybrid in that lane, too.
What does Georgia value in the chance to sign Bryce Davis in 2025?
The ‘Dawgs also see Davis as a hybrid. He can play the defensive end spot and set the edge like Chaz Chambliss, Nolan Smith and Tramel Walthour have in the past.
But he can also flex out the way that Smith did. He can play the “5″ and also line up as a stand-up ‘backer. The UGA staff has shown Davis a lot of clips of Robert Beal and Smith.
“Stop the run,” he said. “Then go pass rush. They see me as someone who can go play all three downs for them in the long run. They do compare me to like Nolan. I remember they showed me film of him playing three different positions in one drive. They see me as that kind of versatile piece that can hold even more weight than Nolan did for them honestly.”
Why are the ‘Dawgs in it?
“Definitely just how many people they have put in the league,” he said. “That development piece. I’ve talked to pretty much everybody on that staff as well. I’ve got a connection to everybody there. Coach [Kirby] Smart. Coach Chidera [Uzo-Diribe] and Coach [Tray] Scott. Just that defense.”
“Then with the addition of coach T-Rob [Travaris Robinson] there’s is just something special about Georgia. That development piece. I will be playing against the best every day as well. That just intrigues me.”
Davis was just up to see the ‘Dawgs on the first day of pads in spring practice last month. He paid close attention to all those young OLs Georgia brought in as mid-year enrollees.
“Going against people like that,” he said. “Just getting better. Iron sharpens iron. That’s what I want to do. I want to go against the best.”
His former Grimsley High teammate, Jamaal Jarrett, is in his second year at UGA. The former 4-star DT has remarkably transformed from where he was in March 2023.
“He tells me it is the development,” Davis said. “It is there. Even I can tell from his transition from Grimsley when he didn’t even know how to stab. The development at Georgia is ridiculous in how they’ve turned Jamaal into what he is now. I feel that speaks volumes about how well they develop players.”
Uzo-Diribe is the primary recruiter here. If Davis signs with UGA, he will start in his room.
“That’s my guy,” Davis said. “I talk to Coach Chid like twice a week maybe. It can be about ball or just about life. He’s just real energetic. I like the way he interacts with all the players. I got to sit in meetings. I feel like he’s really a guru with how he played the game and how he explains they can use me with how versatile I could be.”
“He knows his stuff for sure.”
Former Georgia great Jarvis Jones would also train Davis if he chose the ‘Dawgs. The two-time All-American remains on staff as a graduate assistant. Davis has already seen the film of “Coach Jar” blowing up teams.
“I feel like that’s a great duo on the edge,” he said. “... Learning from those two guys. It almost just doesn’t get any better than that.”
Davis plans to enroll early in January of 2025 with his next team. The plan is to make his a silent commitment around the end of June.
“I will definitely be committed by July,” he said.
He will then reveal that choice with his public commitment date on July 20.
“That’s just the date we picked for all my family to come down for it to be like a special moment,” he said. “To be honest, I’m thinking about committing like maybe a few weeks before that as well. After the OVs, I plan on going ahead and getting it over with.”
That would likely be a silent commitment earlier than that July 20th date.
“I’m just kind of really ready to make a decision,” he said. “I’m all about work. I really don’t need all this publicity and all that. I’m ready to make my decision and get to work.”
What is he looking for in the right school?
“The non-negotiables for me and my family is definitely that education, the development and that I can be put into that scheme and definitely that family feel,” he said. “Those are some non-negotiables for me. Those have got to be the boxes that get checked every time. I want to get developed. I want to go against the best people. I want to feel like it is home. That sounds cliche but you know in that gut feeling if some place feels like that’s where you want to spend the next three to four years and then that education piece.”
“Like I said, my mom is an educator. Education has been a big piece for me and my family for forever.”
Bryce Davis: Will it come down to Clemson vs. Georgia?
This decision won’t be easy. While he didn’t say which schools his decision is coming down to, it certainly comes across that way.
There have been numerous stories about his interest in schools. But some of the strongest commentary seems to trend to Clemson or Georgia. This recruitment will be one of several where the ‘Dawgs square off with the Tigers this summer before they face off in Mercedes-Benz Stadium to kick off the 2024 season.
Davis didn’t name those schools, but he did say it was coming to a head with a couple of options.
“It is definitely two or a couple of schools where it is getting hard to really figure out,” Davis said. “But like I said, at this point it is going to be that gut feeling for me.”
He’s got four official visits set up. He was also considering Southern Cal for an official visit.
- May 31-June 2: Clemson (That’s the only weekend in the summer for the Tigers to host their elite targets.)
- June 7-9: North Carolina
- June 14-16: Georgia - “It was mutual between the coaches and I that I should come on that date,” he said.”
- June 21-23: Texas A&M
Why is Clemson high on his list? That has to do with the NFL background of new defensive ends coach Chris Rumph.
“That class that they are building is going to be a special class,” he said. “That kind of family atmosphere I’m looking for I would get from Clemson as well. Then that development piece is there with Coach Rumph and the addition of him, he’s got a great resume. Coaching in the league and things like that. I feel like he could really develop me and get me to the next level.”
Davis is also planning an unofficial visit to Duke on April 13-15. He’s also planning to see the in-state Tar Heels in June for an official.
“Definitely just that atmosphere of being 40 minutes up the road,” he said. “They’ve been after me since my freshman year and things like that. I know that coaching staff pretty well. I feel like what they have got going on with the new defensive staff they are building something special over there. I’m excited to see what they can do.”
He’s been to check out Georgia the most out of those key official visits he’s set up. It would either be the ‘Dawgs or the Tar Heels. He’s seen those two schools about five times apiece by now.
When he has a decision, he’ll take that laser-focused mindset to his new team.
“I’m going to go into a program and work,” he said. “Just try to make that program better. Let them make me better as well. I care about the little things. The education. The development. It is not too much about the NIL and publicity and things like that. I want to get there and get to work and end up with a great career wherever I am at.”
“I want to work for the publicity and NIL. I don’t want it to just be handed to me. I want to go up to school and earn a name for myself.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)
