Merced College football’s Davis signs with Texas San Antonio

Devron Davis knew there were no guarantees.

Many of the offers the Merced College defensive back received before he signed with Colorado State in February were going to be filled. But because of his mother’s undisclosed illness, Davis decided last month he needed to be in California, and the Rams graciously released him from his national letter of intent.

With his mom showing improvement and other family members helping out back home, Davis felt comfortable reopening his recruiting options at the beginning of July. The question was, would interest still be there?

The answer was yes from one of Davis’ original suitors. Frank Wilson, who recruited Davis during his time as an assistant coach at LSU, took over as head coach at Texas San Antonio. When Davis re-entered the market, Wilson immediately reached out to him.

“Coach and I already had a pretty good relationship from when he was recruiting me at LSU,” Davis said. “He said that it didn’t matter that I’d missed spring ball, that they had a spot for me. They wanted me to come in and play right away and be a leader right away.

“He brought me in and treated me like a member of the family, which was something I was looking for. When I visited the campus and saw the atmosphere, I was sold. Going through the process twice and really thinking about what I wanted, I realized I had to make a decision not based just on the name of the school but what was going to be best for me both with football and academically. I truly feel this is my best fit.”

Davis put pen to paper Monday afternoon at CrossFit 209 Sport in Stockton, where he’s been training to remain in game shape.

Ironically, the Roadrunners’ second game is at Colorado State on Sept. 10.

“There’s a number of big-time games on the schedule,” Davis said. “We host Arizona State and then play at Texas A&M later on. The Colorado State game will probably have some interest, too.”

Two Merced baseball players moving on – Darren Trainor admits to a brief woe-is-me moment.

Just when the recruiting process for the Merced College sophomore catcher was picking up in the spring, he suffered a season-ending injury to his throwing arm and had Tommy John surgery.

Looking at a long recovery, Trainor wasn’t certain any of his suitors still would be there when the dust settled.

“After about a week of just not wanting to be anywhere near the baseball field, I came back and sat down with coach (Chris) Pedretti,” Trainor said. “He told me there were still options, and one of the schools was one he really respected in Lewis-Clark State in Idaho. He thought I should check it out.

“I was blown away by the atmosphere. I went during the (NAIA) World Series, so there were 5,000 people there cheering them on to their second straight national title. I knew right away it was something I wanted to be a part of.”

Trainor was hitting .300 with a team-high four home runs and 18 RBIs in just 19 games when he was injured.

Trainor became the second Blue Devils baseball player to sign with a four-year school in as many weeks, joining sophomore pitcher Ryan Sanchez, who is headed to Hawaii Pacific. The right-hander from Atwater High School went 4-5 with a 4.06 ERA in a team-high 71 innings last season.

Big man on campus – UC Merced’s various athletic programs have finalized and announced their recruiting classes for the upcoming year over the last few weeks.

No class was bigger than Kevin Pham’s inaugural effort as men’s basketball coach. With seven departing seniors opening spots, that comes as no surprise. While the class consists of a number of dynamic guards, including El Capitan’s Isaiah Knott, and a couple of versatile swingmen, one individual literally stands above the rest.

With the school still unable to offer more than partial scholarships, recruiting size has proven to be an issue in the program’s five years of existence. Pham hopes he bucked that trend with the signing of 6-foot-9 center Ronald Kozak. The freshman from Camarillo High instantly becomes the tallest player in program history and should help provide a long-awaited post presence.

This story was originally published July 19, 2016 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Merced College football’s Davis signs with Texas San Antonio."