By Pat Welter

NC Central head coach Trei Oliver has a simple philosophy when it comes to recruiting: focus on players within one tank of a gas.

“We want to kind of stay within the region,” Oliver said. “NC Central is a big part of the Durham community, and Durham supports NC Central. So we want to go out and recruit as many local Durham-ites as we can and bring them into our program. We have several on the team and they’ve been really successful.”

One of those players is senior wide receiver Joaquin Davis.

“Being from Durham, just having family, friends…just everybody around the community supporting me the whole way through,” Davis said. “It’s just everything playing at [NC] Central.”

Davis attended Jordan High School, about 20 minutes away from NC Central’s campus. For the Falcons Davis did a little bit of everything.

“I played quarterback, safety, corner, wide receiver,” Davis laughed. “Whatever the coach needed me to do I would do for the team.”

His high school recruiting profile doesn’t show many offers or stars, but Oliver and his staff saw something and the rest of the football world is starting to see it now.

“He’s a big receiver,” Oliver said. “He’s long, got a great catch radius, great speed, great body control and he can make the tough catches.”

Davis enters the 2024 season as Central’s leading returning receiver with 431 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns in 2023. Last season when NFL scouts came to watch quarterback Davius Richard, they discovered another diamond in Durham.

“[Davis] caught a bunch of scouts eyes as far as his size and his speed,” Oliver said. “The way he practices is what really caught their eye.”

Listed at 6’4 and 195 lbs, Davis has the look of a NFL receiver, but it’s his habits that have gotten him to this point.

“I’m just one of those guys that focuses on the moment where I’m at,” Davis said. “For me it’s being a pro every day coming into work.”

It’s an attitude and a work ethic he credits to his mom, Tammy Ross.

“Just seeing her get up everyday going to work whether she’s going through something or has something on her mind,” Davis said. “She knows she still has to go to work and the bills have to get paid.”

Tammy set an example for Davis, and now he’s setting one too through his play and his work in the Durham community.

“[Coach Oliver] is really big on community service,” Davis said. “We always go to the schools around and even the little kids in the community always hit me up and say ‘when am I going to come back to their school?’ That’s always a good thing when you see people looking up to you in the community, it makes you want to be even more of a leader.”

Davis isn’t just playing for a team, he says he’s playing for his city.

“I’m a Durham native, been here all of my life, so playing for Central is like a dream come true,” Davis said. “I just want to represent the community in a bright light and show that there’s more things than just violence and things like that around Durham.”

Source: wralsportsfan.com