Just Run the Play - March 2nd is Read Across America Day!

Dejaneiro Davis grew up in the College Point Addition on the banks of the bayou in West Monroe.  Like many other children in the area, he was part of an “extended family” living in a home with his grandmother, mother and his sister who is one year younger.  As a young boy, Dejaneiro and his friends spent their time outdoors. “About 60% of the time all year we were outside playing touch football,” says Davis.  “The other 40% of the time, we were playing in the ditches, bayous and dragging nets.  Whatever we caught, we kept.  From catfish to crawfish and even turtles.”  DJ says the football games usually involved 8-12 kids from the neighborhood playing anywhere they could find a spot.  Whether that was a little grassy spot or the middle of the street, the game was one.  And during Thanksgiving week, it got even more intense with their own version of a “Toy Bowl.”  And it was during this time that dreams were being born.

DJ Davis was a product of the Ouachita Parish School System.  He started in the OMCAP Head Start Program as a youngster.  From there, DJ moved up to Ransom Elementary School. In his earlier grades, the dream of becoming an NFL player started to come alive.  DJ understood that football wasn’t played year-round, and so he wanted to be a police officer in the offseason when he wasn’t playing football. After completing his grades at Ransom, DJ entered Riser Middle School where he became a member of the Mustang athletics programs and took part in 4-H through the 8^th grade. Kids from West Monroe dreamed of playing for the Rebels.  DJ had that same mindset.  He wanted to play at West Monroe High School.  He worked hard day in and day out.  And when he finished the 8^th grade, he got to go to West Monroe.

Davis worked hard at West Monroe.  All those years of hard work resulted in his team winning the state championship in the winter of 1993.  It was the first state title for the school, and everyone was proud of the accomplishment. That year, players from the team received scholarships to Louisiana Tech, Southern University, Southern Arkansas, and Notre Dame.  Coach Larry Jackson was working hard to secure DJ a scholarship to a school in Louisiana.  But 2 weeks after that championship game going into Christmas break, it became evident to DJ that a scholarship was not going to happen.  

“I told myself that as long as I was physically able, I would play SOMEWHERE.  I just didn’t know where in December of 1993,” DJ said. While it hurt, he had to start making plans for his future. After all, he was a senior.  And seniors must get the future in line.  In April of 1994, DJ sent in his application and registered at NLU.  With football still in his heart, DJ built relationships with the players on the NLU team in the fall of 1994. He did not PLAY football or even try.  He wanted to get comfortable with the campus, the routines, and the workings of things. But in January of 1995, it happened. DJ submitted his paperwork to join the football program.  “Being a walk on was exciting, but also riddled me with anxiety.  I wasn’t officially offered a spot as a walk on,” Davis reminisces.  “This was all ME.  I was merely trying out.  I was honored to be given a chance to strap on some pads and play.”  He made the squad and worked hard.  As a young buck from College Point, DJ hadn’t flown much. But in the fall of 1995, 19-year-old DJ made his first plane trip that he remembers.  “I had 89 family members show up at the Monroe Airport to send me off for Fresno,” he recalls.  The Indians lost 31-17, but it was the first of many flights that would expose that young kid who used to play football in the streets to football stadiums around the United States.  

Through the support of linebackers coach Jim Holland, DJ received a scholarship offer from Head Football Coach Ed Zaunbrecher in 1996.  The plane trips kept coming:  Reno, Western Michigan, Arizona, Hawaii, Florida…and DJ kept putting in the work. There were no conference championships. There were no national titles. There were no NFL general managers calling.  But DJ Davis was living the dream of so many kids growing up:  he was playing college ball.  While he knew at this point that pro football wasn’t in the cards, he pushed until the last down.  And then in 1999, it was over.  The dream of playing football had come to an end.  DJ said, “Me and football were in a serious relationship.  It was a tough break up.”  

DJ entered the corporate world in 1999 after graduating from the University of Louisiana Monroe. While he started coaching at 16 years old and began mentoring other young men at a young age, he was out of that now.  Focused on making money to support his wife and daughter.  Then a son was born in 2002 to round out the family.  DJ had no time for anything outside of work.  But in 2007 when his son was five years old, DJ wanted to get back into coaching.  From ’07 to ’11 he worked with his son’s basketball and football teams. Those years reignited the burning desire to coach and mentor more.   In 2011, DJ enrolled in ULM’s “Master of Arts in Teaching” program.  He also became a “long-term substitute” at Riser Middle School.  “I was the sub they called when they couldn’t find a sub,” Davis jokes.  He helped coach at “The Ranch”. DJ states, “I knew from experience what football did for me and how it changed my life.”  DJ received his MAT in 2013 and became a certified teacher.  He kept coaching.  In 2017 he joined the administrative team as “Administrative Assistant” in a Dean of Students-type role.  He kept coaching.  Now “Coach DJ” Davis is an assistant principal at the school that shaped him.  Now he no longer coaches on the field, but coaches and mentors students every day at school.  And he substitutes as a bus driver for the school from time to time if he’s needed, just for old time’s sake. 

But the story doesn’t stop there.  In 2008, DJ began a summer program called “Rise N Shine Junior Training Camp”.  For three years he ran a 3-day football camp during the summers for boys ages 5 through 12 years old.  This was the precursor to his current mentoring project:  Just Run The Play.  The goal of JRTP is “Motivation and lifestyle enhancement focusing on the education and empowerment of the youth!”  While he may not be on the field coaching, DJ is still coaching not just his own community, but communities around the country.  “We went on a 5-city tour back in 2017 promoting the book and motivating students,” Davis states.  And there are no plans to slow down.  DJ says the most rewarding part of it all is seeing people who have gone through the program come back and share things you didn’t think they got.  He says that goes for school AND the JRTP programs.  DJ has two motivational books out right now:  Just Run the Play:  A Playbook for Playmakers and 100 Yards to Go.  He also continues to travel to schools where he offers motivational advice to senior student-athletes, school faculties and business teams.  His programs have impacted the lives of over 3,000 student athletes.  Most recently, DJ was awarded the City of Monroe’s “Jamie Mayo Young Leader Award” by Mayor Friday Ellis for 2022.

Oh, and that baby boy DJ and Tosha, his wife of now 22 years, had back in 2005.  Well, now he’s bigger than his dad, but walking in his footsteps. J-D is a freshman at the University of Louisiana Monroe.  You guessed it…he’s working as a walk-on to try to gain that scholarship.  It’s amazing how things come full circle.

To have Coach DJ Davis appear at your school or business, contact DJ Davis at: Book Now