With Florida clinging to a 31-24 lead against East Carolina, ECU quarterback Blake Kemp dropped back to pass.
The Gators were ready.
Defensive lineman Joey Ivie swarmed in for the sack. Kemp fumbled. UF’s Alex McCalister scooped up the ball and dashed toward the end zone looking to score.
Jarrad Davis, McCalister’s teammate, had other plans, bringing McCalister to the ground to seal the win.
"I tried to bear hug him," Jarrad said. "It’s been going around for a long time. He said if he gets the ball, nobody is going to ever tackle him. He didn’t expect me coming to get him."
Jarrad stepped up and made a play the coaching staff harps on during practice. But that was just the second game of the season.
Jarrad has been stepping up his game the entire year.
The Gators have no depth at the linebacker position. With Alex Anzalone sidelined with a shoulder injury, Jarrad and senior Antonio Morrison have had to pick up the slack for a group riddled with inexperience.
Morrison was a proven commodity before the season, leading the Gators with 101 tackles in 2014.
Davis was much more of an unknown.
But time after time, Davis has stepped up and answered the coaching staff’s call when the team has needed him most.
• • •
Jarrad Davis has all the attributes coaches want in a linebacker.
He plays fast, he’s aggressive, he’s cerebral, he’s powerful and he’s physical.
All of those qualities have paid off for him on the field this season.
After playing sparingly in his first two seasons at Florida, Jarrad has taken his game to another level.
The Kingsland, Georgia, native already has 67 total tackles this year, second only to Morrison’s 74.
In his first two seasons, Jarrad had just 47 tackles to his name.
While he’s been a menace to opposing defenses on the field this year, his mentality is different off the field. On Saturdays, he’s running sideline-to-sideline, and when he’s not tackling his own teammates — or referees — he’s someone who is reserved, always with a smile on his face.
"Jarrad is a good dude, he’s a funny person (and) always (has) energy," safety Marcus Maye said. "He’s always in his own world. Everybody loves JD. (He) always has a good attitude."
• • •
Heading into Florida’s game against then-No. 3 Alabama last season, the Gators were riding high.
Coming off an embarrassing 4-8 season under then-head coach Will Muschamp, Florida was 2-0, a young season forecasting the potential of a bright future.
The Gators went into Tuscaloosa and after hanging around in the first half — down 21-14 — the Crimson Tide took over and won 42-21.
It was a disappointing loss for the program.
After the game, the disappointment grew worse for Jarrad.
He had to hear about the loss from his own mother, Amy.
She’s his biggest fan, but she’s also his biggest critic.
"I still love her the same," Jarrad said the week after the Alabama game. "She’s like, ‘Why couldn’t you guys just beat them? You’d be undefeated right now. They’re a good team, but they’re not that good.’ It’s ‘All right, Mom, I hear you.’"
Her tough love is what has molded Jarrad into the player people see on the field.
Jarrad’s high school coach Jeff Herron said Amy instilled Jarrad with the necessary work habits needed on and off the field to develop a sense of responsibility.
"She’s a great mother. One of the best I’ve ever been around," Herron said. "I guess they’re all good, but she was just exceptional and she didn’t cut Jarrad any slack in any area.
"She made him very accountable for all his actions on and off the field and we don’t see that enough as coaches."
Amy is a disciplinarian.
When Jarrad was an underclassman at Camden County High School, he found himself in a heap of trouble with his mom because he didn’t complete a simple task at home: Clean his room.
Amy had her own way of making sure her son got her message loud and clear and that she meant business.
She made him sleep in the garage.
When Jarrad told Herron about his sleeping arrangements, Herron had to call Amy to get the full story.
"What’s going on with Jarrad?’" Herron asked.
He said that Amy’s response was blunt.
"She said ‘I told that boy he needs to keep his room clean and he wouldn’t listen,’" Herron said. "‘So I’m teaching him the hard way right now.’"
Herron added that if there were more mothers out there that showed the tough love she gave to Jarrad, there would be more people with his impressive character.
• • •
Kingsland is a small rural city in Camden County, Georgia, with a population less than half the size of the University of Florida’s total enrollment — less than 20,000 people in Kingsland compared to nearly 50,000 at UF.
But it’s the place Jarrad calls home.
He attended nearby Camden County High School — a short two-hour drive from Gainesville — where he honed his craft under the tutelage of Herron.
Coaching in such a small city can have its limitations, but Herron made the most of it, luring in top players like Jarrad.
"Camden County is not a big town, not a big city," Herron said. "We had three small communities there, so our kids grew up in a more rural atmosphere. Kids like to hog hunt, they probably do listen to country music, or they like to fish.
"Those types of things are just natural. It didn’t matter if you were white or black or whatever. Everybody was the same."
Herron — now the coach at Prince Avenue Christian School in Athens — said he remembers Davis participating in a little bit of hog hunting himself during his free time. On the field, though, Davis was becoming a stud linebacker for the Wildcats.
Jarrad was a part of a state title team as a freshman in 2009, and by his senior year, he was the Wildcats’ leader on defense, racking up 114 tackles and leading the team with five tackles for loss.
By the end of his senior year, Jarrad was a three-star recruit and originally committed to Auburn before deciding to play for Will Muschamp at Florida.
He didn’t see the field consistently, struggling with injuries in his two seasons with the Gators before Muschamp was fired during his sophomore season.
Florida hired Jim McElwain, who brought in Geoff Collins to be his defensive coordinator and Randy Shannon to coach linebackers -- hires that Jarrad has greatly benefitted from.
• • •
As Florida’s regular season is coming to an end, Jarrad has been integral in the Gators getting to this point: The No. 8 ranking in the country and clinching a berth in the Southeastern Conference Championship.
He’s also garnered high praise from the coaching staff. Shannon has coached numerous players who have gone on to become successful in both college and the NFL, including Jonathan Vilma, who Shannon favorably compares to Jarrad.
"He’s a little bit taller than Vilma, but same mindset, smart," Shannon said. "Very aggressive, very powerful when he hits. … Vilma was a guy who likes to challenge and that’s the same with Jarrad."
Jarrad has teamed up with Antonio Morrison to form a formidable tandem in the middle of the Gators’ defense. Morrison leads the team with 74 tackles and Jarrad isn’t too far behind him with 67 tackles, good for second on the team.
"Those guys are the heart and soul of this defense and in a lot of ways are the heart and soul of this program," McElwain said, "because they go about their business the way it should be done."
But for Jarrad, keeping in his own world and doing things differently is the way he’s always been. That part of him will never change, and it’s one of the reasons Herron thinks Jarrad’s future in football will go well beyond his days in a Florida uniform, that he’ll make it at the next level.
All because he holds himself accountable for his actions.
Herron said Jarrad has all the intangibles to make it in the NFL, and his professional demeanor will stand out to others when they are evaluating him.
"He’s mature, he’s professional, he’s a solid kid character wise and he’s very talented," Herron said. "So, yeah. Maybe I’ll be wrong, but I don’t think so. I think he’s a sure-fire NFL guy."
Follow Luis Torres on Twitter @LFTorresIII
UF linebacker Jarrad Davis (40, from left) and defensive linemen Alex McCalister, Bryan Cox Jr. and Jonathan Bullard celebrate after a sack during Florida's 28-27 win against Tennessee on Sept. 26, 2015, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
