ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 13, 1996 TAG: 9609130113
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
THE PULASKI COUNTY graduate is Boston College's version of the Energizer Bunny.
It may be in his body.
It may be in his brain.
There is an energy flowing through Tim Davis that comes out in bursts. It allows him to react quicker than many people. It allows him to move faster than most. And it allows him to talk faster than the vast majority of Southwest Virginians.
Most of that helps when it's time to play football, which he now does on a weekly basis at Boston College.
``When I finally understood the game better, I realized I had talents nobody else had,'' said Davis, a graduate of Pulaski County High School in Dublin.
Special circumstances helped him find a life full of talents and aptitudes. Hyperactivity marked Davis' childhood. The condition forced him to develop the discipline to avoid eating sugar, which caused dangerous chemical reactions in his body and could have damaged his brain and his ability to learn.
``He learned he had some limitations,'' said his mother, Mary Kerns Lawson. ``He also learned you can do what you want to do if you want it bad enough.''
Davis realized at Pulaski County that he wanted to be a college football player. He knew that besides being fun, it would make paying for a higher education much easier. So Davis worked hard at cornerback and fullback under Cougars coach Joel Hicks. He developed into a player James Madison, VMI, East Tennessee State and, at times, Virginia Tech all coveted.
A full scholarship was not a sure thing from those schools, however. Not until Friday, Oct.7, 1994, that is.
On that night at Franklin County High School's Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium in Rocky Mount, Davis racked up 280 all-purpose yards, made two interceptions and scored four touchdowns. At the time, Hicks called it ``one of those dream nights.'' Perhaps even now Franklin County football fans have recurring nightmares of Davis and his Cougars' 44-0 handiwork.
``That may be the one that set me off to the most recruiters,'' Davis said.
If that is the case, it wasn't intentional. That season, Pulaski County's coaches sent videotapes of running back/linebacker Eric Webb to college coaches everywhere.
A tape of the Franklin County game wound up on coach Dan Henning's desk at Boston College. After noticing Davis - not Webb - on tape, Henning sent his running backs coach, John McGregor, to Dublin to offer Davis a full scholarship. McGregor knew his way to Pulaski County after coaching at William Fleming High School from 1976 through 1985.
``We don't know where they're going to fit, we just believe they're going to fit,'' Henning said of the Eagles' recruiting philosophy. ``We targeted him as a running back, return man and defensive back. We moved him over to corner and he's worked very hard.''
Davis, 5-foot-9, 185 pounds, worked so hard last year he was named BC's scout team player of the year. Now a redshirt freshman, he'll be one of the Eagles' starting cornerbacks when Virginia Tech visits Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Saturday (12:30 p.m., ESPN cable).
Davis said he earned his starting opportunity by going full-speed on every play and in every practice drill. The highlight was a spring scrimmage in which he intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. Davis may have been inspired by a visitor to that day's practice. Hicks, an avid runner, was in town that weekend for the 100th running of the Boston Marathon.
``That kind of put him on the first team that day,'' Hicks said.
It's hard to tell how many practices and games his old coaches would see had Davis stayed close to home and played for Virginia Tech. Davis said the Hokies' sporadic interest ``kind of left me with mixed feelings,'' and added that Tech ``didn't play the schedule I wanted to play until they got in the Big East.
``Now it's like Tech is the team to beat,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Davis.by CNB