Baton Rouge native and Arkansas offensive line coach Brad Davis is expected to leave the Razorbacks for LSU, sources told Geaux247 on Thursday. Davis will replace James Cregg, who LSU parted ways with suddenly on Wednesday. The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman and Brody Miller were first to report.
Davis coached at Southern Lab fresh out of college for a couple seasons before his coaching career took off. He spent just one season at Arkansas in which the Razorbacks improved from 13th in total offense in 2019 to eighth, improving by 50 total yards per game. Arkansas’ unit did have a let down in sacks allowed in the SEC-only slate in 2020, allowing 3.4 sacks per game in head coach Sam Pittman’s first year.
As a recruiter, he’s enjoyed serious success with the Razorbacks, landing four-star 2020 signee Marcus Henderson out of Memphis, following that up with a pair of 2022 commitments also rated as four-star prospects in E’Marion Harris and Andrew Chamblee. Both committed to the Razorbacks this spring and are his highest rated pledges he’s credited for on 247Sports.
LSU is set to host a trio of key offensive line official visitors this weekend and Davis could make it in time for the visits. Five-star Humble (Tex.) Summer Creek offensive tackle Kelvin Banks makes his way to Baton Rouge, where the Tigers will get to make their pitch to the family as Texas and Texas A&M battle it out as well. The Aggies are the 247Sports Crystal Ball favorite.
Top 100 Humble (Tex.) Atascocita offensive lineman Kam Dewberry is another visitor and friends with Banks. Ohio State and Texas A&M, the 247Sports Crystal Ball favorite, will both host him this month as well.
On the bright side for head coach Ed Orgeron, he recruited Enzo Armella, the father of Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas offensive lineman Julian Armella, who also officially visits this weekend. Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Miami and others are also pushing for the four-star lineman.
Before Arkansas, he helped Missouri to a 6-6 season in 2019 with his offensive line paving the way for the offense to gain 374.3 yards per game, including 151.7 on the ground.
In 2018, he took over an offensive line that had been built for an offense that averaged 33.1 passes per game in a spread attack in 2017 and transformed the group into a unit that operated in a more balanced, ball control offense, including ranking 40th in the nation and sixth in the SEC in time of possession (30:53). A vast improvement from 2017 when the Tigers ranked next-to-last in the country. The 2018 offense finished the season 13th in the nation in total offense (481.8 ypg), 18th nationally in scoring (36.6 ppg) and 8-5 on the year.
Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms led Davis’ first Missouri squad, earning first-team All-SEC honors from the Associated Press to become Mizzou’s first offensive lineman to win first-team All-SEC accolades since 2013. Wallace-Sims became the 14th lineman tutored by Davis to earn all-conference honors in his career.
Davis joined Missouri after a year with the Florida Gators in 2017. With the Gators, he led a young squad that finished the season without any seniors among the team’s two-deep. Despite the youth up front, Florida ran for 165-plus yards in six straight games during the season, the longest such streak since 2009.
Prior to Florida, Davis spent single seasons at North Texas (2016), East Carolina (2015) and James Madison, where he also was the co-offensive coordinator for a Dukes team that finished 9-4 and earned a FCS Playoff berth.
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