The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Catching up with Leonard Davis
08.24.2003 | Football
Leonard Davis was one of the state of Texas' top high school athletes when he starred in football, basketball and track and field at tiny Wortham High School. He developed into one of the nation's top players en route to earning consensus first-team All-American honors and a spot among the Outland Trophy (nation's top lineman) finalists as a senior at Texas in 2000. The No. 2 pick in the 2001 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals, Davis is now one of the league's top young lineman. In his third season as a starting guard for the Cardinals, Davis spent time visiting with the crew from Longhorn Sports Center with Mack Brown before reporting to camp this summer. Here are some excerpts from that interview. To see the interview in its entirety, tune in to the weekly show Longhorn Sports Center with Mack Brown at the following dates, times and stations:
Beginning Sept. 7:
Sunday at 10:30 a.m. (KTBC Fox 7 in Austin)
Sunday at 7 p.m. (News 8 Austin)
Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. (Fox Sports Southwest)
What have you been up to lately? I've been pretty busy. The NFL is a full-time job. I have a house in Phoenix, and I just built one for my parents back in Wortham. That kept me busy in my spare time for a while. I also like to ride my four-wheeler. That's a fun release when I'm off the field. I've always enjoyed driving remote control cars and I have a bunch of those I take out for rides. I have added remote control motor boats to that. I've really been into those lately. I love building things, tinkering with the engines. I just bought a big motor home that I like to travel in with my friends. It has beds, a full stove, TVs, air conditioning ... everything. I could live out of it. I've always been pretty good at that. But really when I have spare time, I mostly like to chill. It's pretty hot out here.
How did playing at Texas help you prepare for the NFL? I think my playing days at UT helped me succeed. First off, UT is a highly recognized school and being able to go there and play there, that in itself allowed me to have an opportunity to go prove what I could do. When I was growing up, I knew I wanted to play in the NFL. At UT, I learned it takes hard work and you have to go the extra mile. Another big thing was that I learned how to handle myself off the field. In the NFL, if you have problems off the field that's one of the things they look at. If you have problems off the field, they'll hold that against you because they really want guys they don't have to worry about when they leave the stadium.
How do Texas' facilities compare to those in the NFL? Texas has first-class facilities. All of the equipment, the training room, a good rehab program and the people that are involved know what theyíre talking about. If you listen and do what you need to do, then Texas gives you every advantage to be a top collegiate athlete.
Do you ever think about your days as a freshman when you played on the defensive side of the ball? Changing from defense to offense probably was the biggest thing that could have happened to me career-wise. You can go back and look and film in '97 and I wasn't a defensive lineman. I learned real quickly that I wasn't a defensive lineman, even though I played it in high school. I realized I would be much better on offense, and I went to Coach Brown and he asked what I wanted to play and that was the end of it.
What is the main thing you think about when you think of Austin? The University is the biggest thing when I think about Austin. The whole campus, you walk around, and there are all kinds of different people. That's the first thing I noticed besides how big is it. You have people from different backgrounds and countries. You have a wonderful opportunity to learn about different cultures.
What was it like playing for Coach Brown? I had fun playing for him. He was the kind of coach who takes care of his players. He doesn't wear them down during two-a-days and leave them with nothing left for the season. He wants to know what's going on outside of football, as well. He always asked about how my family was doing and I how I was doing. That goes a long ways towards having a good relationship with a coach.
What do you remember about the day you were drafted by the Arizona Cardinals? I remember everything. We had to get up fairly early and get to the hotel where the draft was being held. I got there and there was all kinds of craziness going on. I was calm because I knew I was going somewhere amongst the top five picks in the draft. I just didn't know where. Michael Vick got picked first, which I expected because you don't pass up a guy like that. I knew I would get picked in the next hour or so. Then the Cardinals picked me and my family and I were very, very happy. My family was there supporting me and that was a great feeling because they've always supported me in everything I've ever done.
What was your biggest adjustment going from college to the NFL? From high school to college and then college to the NFL, it's the same in the sense that you have to make adjustments. In high school, you may be the top rated player, and then in college, everyone is good. It's the same thing when you go to the league because everyone in the NFL was really good in college. The biggest adjustment was learning all the terminology of the offense and then adjusting to a new position. My first year, I had to do a lot of thinking in order to get ready for Sunday's. My second year, I knew the offense and I just had to work on technique. Mental errors count a lot towards how successful the team is. The team depends on you, and if you don't know what you're doing, it doesn't matter how athletically gifted you are, you won't be a great player.
How do you like living in Arizona? like Arizona a lot, especially the city of Phoenix. It's a little different than Austin, though. Austin is very laid back and that fits my personality a little more. I still really like Austin, and go back whenever I can, but now I'm in Arizona and I'm enjoying it.
Have you played against any UT teammates in the NFL? We played against Detroit and Shaun Rogers. He's a very good player. He plays hard, and I know he had some ankle problems, but I didn't understand how that hindered him being picked higher when he was drafted. In a matter of time, he'll be a Pro Bowl contender on a yearly basis. Our guys on the Arizona team have a lot of respect for him. I never had to go against him one-on-one because he wasn't on my side of the ball. I can still hear him talking trash however. It's funny because all I can do is smile. He's really having fun. Keep your eyes on him because he's going to do very well this year.
