Newest Topper Had Long Road To The Hill
After what he just went through, he appreciates his new surroundings even more.
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Last week, linebacker Tenerio Davis became the newest Topper when he transferred from Dean (Mass.) College, a junior college school. It didn't take as lot to sway him to WKU.
<"When I came up here on a visit, I liked what I saw," he said. "I liked the campus, the coaching staff was pretty cool and we also have a real good schedule."
It was a stark contrast to where he'd come from. Originally from Southwest DeKalb (Ga.), Davis graduated high school in 2007.He then spent a year and a half at Garden City, redshirting his first year, before transferring to Dean.
"It was hard, real har," Davis said. "I wasn't given nothing, nobody had a nice weight room, nice food. It was hard, man. A lot of people can't go through junior college and come out. A lot of people give up and they're like, 'forget it.'"
Davis also looks at even the little things that are different from the junior college level to an FBS team like WKU.
" It makes you strong mentally, pretty tough, so when you do come to a school like WKU, you'll be grateful for what you have, like the atmosphere and the food, uniforms," Davis said. "We're getting cleats and at junior college, you've gotta buy all that stuff. You've gotta buy your own cleats, wrist bands and it's just hard.I went through a lot with junior college."
But Davis also counts junior college as a blessing for getting his academics in order, as well as preparing him for the highest level of college football.
"With junior college, there's a lot of talent," he said. "It's a place where there's a lot of athletes, they just didn't have the grades to go Division I coming out of high school. It's not gonna be too much of a difference."
At 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, Davis should make an immediate impact, particularly after the loss of freshman Josh Carter, who left the team for personal reasons early in the summer.
"I just feel like I can bring something to the team that they don't have," Davis said. "I can help the team out defensively. They didn't have a very good season last year, so I feel like I can bring some leadership, a little aggression and speed to ther team."
Davis also possesses some ideal abilities needed for linebacker as well.
"My leadership skills and I'm a very aggressive linebacker," he said. "I'm pretty fast, I can run pretty good, hit pretty hard."
Davis said he's happy where he is now. But he's also grateful given what he's had to go through to get to WKU.
"It'll be different atmosphere-wise and a little bit more size. I still played against a lot of speed, a lot of talent. It helped me out, even though I've gotta step my game up a little bit more. It isn't too far from where I just came from. I'm surrounded by a couple of more athletes. I'll be straight and I'm gonna do my job."
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