Strong Start at OSU Just Latest Time Terrill Davis Exceeded Expectations

STILLWATER — Receiver Terrill Davis didn’t play football until his senior year at Choctaw in 2020.

He didn’t record 200 receiving yards in a season of college ball until 2023.

In Oklahoma State’s 27-7 season-opening win against UT-Martin, he more than made up for lost time, finishing with a game-high 75 receiving yards on two catches and a team-best six targets.

“I felt like that’s where he was really born to be,” his mother, Isabel Gorbea, said. “It was surreal for me, you know, I was so happy for him. Because his hard work is finally paying off, and it’s showing his athletic ability that he’s always had.”

Davis never imagined his football career would take him to places like Boone Pickens Stadium. This weekend, he will travel with the Cowboys to take on No. 6 Oregon in Autzen Stadium, also known as the Zoo.

Davis was undoubtedly a focal point of Oklahoma State’s offense in that win against UT-Martin last week. It’s the kind of role he hoped for when he hopped in the transfer portal after leading all NCAA receivers, regardless of division, with 1,609 receiving yards last season.

As things turned out, the UCO transfer who enrolled during the summer didn’t take long to prove himself to his new coaches.

“He’s just productive in practice,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. “He makes his catches, and he knows what to do. He’s intelligent, and he was productive.

“And we’ve got a number of wideouts. We weren’t able to get enough of them in enough (on Thursday). I mean, that’s an issue now is, reps for everybody. But he was very productive in practice and understands, picked the system up, did very well.”

Despite playing at arguably one of OSU’s most competitive positions, Davis did so well in fall camp that coaches named him a starter one or two weeks before the opener. Of course, his first call had to be to his mom, who has been with him for almost all of his games.

“It meant a lot because she right here with me on every step of the way,” Davis said. “So she’s at every game. She gonna be at Oregon.”

That doesn’t mean fall camp was easy for the former D-II player.

“He said camp was the hardest thing he’s ever done, the fall camp,” his mother said. “He said it was, it was extremely tough, you know, way different than the UCO camps that he’s done. … There was a little period during camp where he wasn’t really in a talking mood. So I was like, oh my God, what’s going on up there.”

Gorbea said when Davis did discuss the camp he described running more than he’s ever done in his life. He also said coaches wanted him to play multiple receiver positions which meant taking more practice reps than some of his peers.

All of which seemed to pay off in his OSU debut.

“He was so happy,” Gorbea said, describing her son right after the game. “I mean, he was a little down because … he told us Hauss (Hejny) had broken something in his foot.

“So, he was a little down about that. So he was like, yeah, I can’t believe that happened. But he spoke so highly of Zane (Flores) that I was like, oh, he’s good. He’s like, Zane can really throw, you know, like, I’m confident in him. It’s all good. And he was still really hyped and happy about his two big catches.”

On Monday, Davis admitted he surprised himself with how comfortable he felt during his first D-I football game.

This whole year might as well be a string of surprises to Davis, who said he never dreamed of playing football at a higher level until the end of last season. There’s certainly no way anyone could have convinced him this would be his journey when he started his college career.

“I’d probably say you lying,” Davis said. “Because I wouldn’t, I couldn’t expect being here right now, and it’s just a blessing. So I take in every moment, you know, even just like going through The Walk outside before the game, you know, it’s so surreal, I take it in and enjoy it.”