Davis taking an active role in Gamecock program

Mike Davis has bounced around to a couple different teams over his now three-year NFL career but he always tried to return to South Carolina when he could.

Davis, a former All-SEC running back, spends a lot of his time on the west coast first with San Francisco and now in Seattle but tries to be as involved as possible with the Gamecocks as much as possible.

He’s been in Columbia training and even stopped by one of the team’s summer workouts to deliver a special message.

“I told them to always have that competitive edge. Always want to win every rep and stay true to yourself,” Davis said of his speech. “Don’t be outworked; don’t be the guy that wishes he could have done this more; compete at everything. I said try to win everything.”

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Davis rushed for almost 2,500 yards in three seasons at South Carolina, amassing 22 touchdowns, 20 of those coming his last two seasons as the team’s feature back.

He parlayed a very solid college career into a fourth-round selection by the 49ers where he spent two years and played in just 14 games total with one start.

He was released after his second year before getting picked up by the Seattle Seahawks where he had a career year.

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After spending 10 weeks on the practice squad he was activated for the team’s final six games, starting all of them and rushing for a career-high 240 yards and catching for 131 yards.

Now, he’s back in Columbia for a little bit this offseason where he’s taking an active role in trying to make the current roster of Gamecocks better so they can get to the NFL.

“Anything I can do to contribute: telling these guys what teams look for at the next level and telling them what can help them succeed, I’m all for,” he said. “I told the guys any time they want to get extra work I’m all for it. You don’t want to be out worked.”

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Davis has been in and around Columbia and around head coach Will Muschamp, someone he’s been really impressed with what the third-year head coach has been able to do with the program.

After taking over a program that went 3-9 and had one SEC win, Muschamp’s taken the Gamecocks to a bowl game both seasons he’s coached and won eight total SEC games. This year they went 9-4 with five conference wins.

They’ve also built some steam on the recruiting trail, currently holding the 11th-best recruiting class in the country, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Davis.

“In the SEC, that’s a big jump,” he said. “And recruiting, you got guys that want to come here and play.”