Slightly more than 10 minutes after the biggest game of Nate Davis' career had kicked off, the true freshman stepped under center with his team trailing the University of Michigan by a touchdown in front of 109,359 fans at Michigan Stadium. Davis took the snap, dropped back three steps and delivered a 13-yard pass to receiver Dante Love.
Trying to send an early message to Ball State's young quarterback, Wolverines' cornerback Morgan Trent was sent on a blitz. A second after Davis released the ball, Trent hammered the first-year quarterback to the ground. The late hit was called for a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty, but the smack created burning concern for the Ball State University quarterback.
Davis jumped up and immediately returned to his team's huddle. With blood dripping from his lip, Davis called the Cardinals' next play.
"The average quarterback would've been out a series or would've been scared to stay in the pocket for the rest of the game," Ball State tight end Darius Hill said. "But he stuck in there and had a pretty good game."
At that moment, Cardinals' receiver Dante Love said Davis earned the respect of his teammates.
"You have to earn respect in life, period," Love said. "When he came in, the coaches were all talking about how good he was, but we hadn't seen no film on him so he had to prove himself. He came in and proved himself, and that moment proved that everything the coaches had said was true."
EVOLUTION OF THE GLOVE
When Davis arrived at Ball State, major expectations followed him. Even with senior Joey Lynch, many people involved with the Cardinals' football program expected Davis to make contributions his freshman season.
With those expectations, Davis struggled in his first couple weeks of practice. However, he wasn't struggling to throw the football or to learn the offense. Rather, Davis was struggling with one of the most basic fundamentals of the quarterback position - taking snaps under center.
"It was really difficult for me because I didn't know how to have my hands," Davis said. "I didn't know what I was supposed to do. Coach [Stan] Parrish just kept on giving me chances and giving me confidence and he talked me through it."
Parrish, who was Davis' recruiter and serves as Ball State's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks' coach, tried numerous techniques to teach Davis how to take snaps under center, but none worked. Davis' struggle with handling snaps frustrated him because he played from the shotgun formation in high school.
Even though he was having difficulty handling snaps, Ball State coach Brady Hoke knew Davis would be an important part of the team's offense. So Hoke did everything he could to keep Davis' head up.
"A young player is going to have good days and bad days," Hoke said. "It was unusual how hard it was early for Nate to take snaps under center. But we knew he'd pull through like he has."
Parrish reverted to a method Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Brad Johnson had introduced to him when he was coaching Johnson in Tampa Bay in 2002. During cold days, Johnson would wear gloves to help give him better traction on the ball.
During a rainy day of practice before Davis' freshman season, Parrish had Davis try on a pair of gloves. Davis liked the extra traction the gloves gave him, and he hasn't taken them off since.
"He's got some unorthodox things in his game, but what works works," Parrish said. "I think part of good coaching is that if something works don't fool with it."
Although it is unorthodox for a quarterback to throw with a glove on his hand, Davis said he throws better with the glove.
"It feels like you're just using your hand," Davis said.
Even though Davis doesn't struggle taking snaps anymore, Parrish still doesn't overlook the fundamentals. Every day before practice Davis and center Dan Gerberry work on snapping the ball.
"We don't take that for granted," Parrish said. "We get plenty of repetition taking snaps under center, and every once in a while we'll drop a snap and we make a really big deal about it. It's a fundamental thing that you have to work hard on every day."
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Although it was difficult for Davis when he was learning to handle snaps, it pales in comparison to how he felt after Ball State's season-opening loss to Miami University this year. That game was one of the few times in Davis' career he wasn't able to live up to expectations.
Davis began his sophomore season with 198 yards and a lone touchdown. Six games into his sophomore season, it's still the fewest passing yards Davis had in a game and there has only been one other time Davis has thrown for one touchdown in a game.
"We were bitterly disappointed with the way we played in that game because we had such a great crowd on hand there," Parrish said. "What we had to do after that game was quit pointing fingers at one another because there was enough to blame for all of us. I think we got ahead of ourselves a little bit. We started thinking about the end result and not the process of how we're getting there. So we went back to the basics after that game."
The next week, Ball State traveled to Eastern Michigan University, and the hype that buzzed around Davis before the Miami game was replaced with uncertainty.
"Nobody knew quite what was going to happen after the way we played in the first game," Parrish said. "He kind of reasserted himself a little bit and played tougher, played more detailed football."
In the Cardinals' first win of the season, Davis threw for 306 yards and four touchdowns. The sophomore hasn't looked back since then, throwing for more than 200 yards and at least a touchdown in the last five games.
Parrish said the way Davis rebounded from his early-season start shows a lot about his character.
"He's got a lot of resilience and a lot of pride in himself," Parrish said.
Through the first half of his second season, Davis leads the Mid-American Conference with 1,640 passing yards and 15 touchdown passes. Both numbers are on track to eclipse Ball State's single-season records.
Other than the extra year of experience, Davis' increased production can be attributed to a change in the Cardinals' offense. Parrish has allowed his receivers to run deeper routes to take advantage of Davis' strong throwing arm. He also has Davis roll out of the pocket regularly to take advantage of Davis' athleticism.
"We have a system, which I really like," Parrish said. "Our system is in place and the kids know the system, but you can tweak the system to the players. Every quarterback's different and great coaching lets the players do what they do best. We examined what we thought Nate did best, and this year's offense is a much, much different offense with Nate playing compared to Joe [Lynch]."
Davis said this year's offensive schemes have been beneficial to him.
"My biggest goal was to learn the offense, and I've been able to do that," Davis said. "It's nice playing in this offense because it's a pro-style offense and I like to throw the ball - I'm not a running quarterback."
THE NEXT GREAT MAC QUARTERBACK?
While in high school, Davis excelled in every athletic arena. In baseball Davis' batting average was above .500 during his sophomore season. As a point guard at Bellaire High School, Davis finished seventh on Ohio's all-time scoring list with more than 1,800 points - above Jerry Lucas and just below LeBron James.
Parrish said he knew how valuable an athlete of Davis' caliber could be to the Cardinals. In an attempt to steer him away from Davis' other dream - playing college basketball - Parrish told Davis what he could mean to Ball State.
"The first time we ever talked I told him, 'You can be the Ben Roethlisberger of Ball State and do what Ben did for Miami,'" Parrish said. "I think he really, really liked that thought of going to a place where he could be the guy."
Once at Ball State, Davis experienced immediate success. His second pass attempt resulted in a 46-yard touchdown to Louis Johnson. Davis completed seven of eight pass attempts in his first game and three touchdowns. By the time Davis' first season was finished, the freshman had tied a school single-season record with 18 touchdown passes and had 1,975 passing yards, the fourth-highest mark during a season at Ball State.
Davis said he always knew he had the ability to achieve milestones even early in his collegiate career. However, he wasn't focused on the records and statistics. Instead, Davis was just doing what he knew his team needed out of him.
"I was just out there trying to do my job," Davis said. "As long as I took care of my job, I believed I could accomplish anything."
Last summer "The Sporting News" dubbed Davis 'the next great MAC quarterback,' comparing him to the New York Jet's Chad Pennington, Atlanta Falcon's Byron Leftwich and the Pittsburgh Steeler's Roethlisberger.
Though it was high praise, Hill said his quarterback has done a good job of not letting the positive compliments have a negative effect on his work ethic.
"He's dealt with it pretty well, mostly because he doesn't really worry about what's being printed about him or what people are saying," Hill said. "He just comes to practice, goes to class and plays football everyday."
When Parrish was at Michigan, he tutored current New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Chicago Bears quarterback Brian Greise. Parrish said Davis compares favorably with the physical tools they have and is developing the mental aspect of his position.
"I think Nate throws the ball as good or better than both of them threw it at that stage of their career," Parrish said. "But we knew that he had those physical skills when he was coming out of high school. Mentally, those two guys were just as good as it gets, and Nate's in that process right now. The great players all share one quality. When you need them in crunch time they have what it takes to think clearly and make good decisions and come through for you. But they also have one quality that I think is over looked a little bit. They all have to be very mentally tough. I think Nate is in the process of becoming a mentally tough quarterback."
From his time in the NFL, Parrish knows what professional football teams are looking for in a quarterback. While Davis is still young, he said the sophomore's touch and arm strength are good enough to translate to the next level.
While Davis has what it takes to become the next great MAC quarterback, Parrish said there's still room to develop.
"It's hard to project where he will end up, that's something that really out of our hands," Parrish said. "All I know is that he has skills most other guys don't have. If we develop those skills, who knows. Maybe he'll get a chance to continue playing football."
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