Whether South Carolina running back Mike Davis can gather the notoriety and hype necessary to win the Heisman Trophy is a different question, but as for whether he has the talent, George Rogers has no doubt.
"No question about it. Mike Davis has got all the skills. He's got the breakaway speed, he's got the athletic moves," said Rogers, the former Gamecocks Heisman winner, according to gogamecocks.com. "He's a great running back and I don't know if he'll get the ball as many times as Marcus (Lattimore) did, but if he does, I'm sure he'll be able to handle that."
Davis rushed 203 times for 1,183 yards as a sophomore with the Gamecocks last year, the fourth-highest total in school history behind two of Rogers' seasons and one by Lattimore, currently a San Francisco 49ers reserve. He also showed impressive receiving skills with 34 receptions, ranking second on the team. Davis enters the season somewhat overshadowed in his own SEC East division by Georgia'a Todd Gurley, in part because Gurley has been one of the game's best backs for the last two years, Davis for only one.
But if Davis outperforms Gurley in a South Carolina win over Georgia on Sept. 13, his Heisman candidacy will take a significant step forward. South Carolina will host that game, which already has been claimed for a CBS national broadcast.
Rogers won the 1980 Heisman Trophy and was the 1981 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year with the New Orleans Saints. As a former Heisman winner, he's also got a vote for the award.
If Davis has trouble staying in the national spotlight, he'll at least be in Rogers'.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread.*
