Notre Dame WR Avery Davis shares knee injury update ahead of fall camp
It’s hard to argue anyone currently on the Notre Dame football roster has dealt with a more turbulent rollercoaster of an Irish career than wide receiver Avery Davis. The most recent hiccup was a big one — a torn ACL in November against Navy.
Instead of ending his football career on a sour note, Davis returned to Notre Dame for a sixth season. The wideout recently shared an injury update ahead of fall camp on “Livin Athletics,” a podcast hosted by former Notre Dame and current Rice safety Litchfield Ajavon.
“My knee’s doing well,” Davis said. “Everything inside the knee is healed. The only thing I’m dealing with right now is tendonitis in the front of the knee, and that’s just because that’s where they took my new ACL from the patellar tendon. That’s the only thing that’s painful, but I’m able to do all football related movements; I’m running, cutting, jumping, stopping. I’m doing everything.
“I’m in a good spot.”
The update sounds on-par with someone eight months off of a major ACL injury. There will be growing pains, but Davis has been able to look at the bright side: he might return with some newfound speed.
“Actually I feel like I’m a little bit faster,” Davis said. “I’m a little bit lighter than I was in prior years, so straight-line speed, I’m faster. I still have to work on explosiveness out of cuts off my left side, but it’s there.”
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Davis was unavailable during spring practice but was on-site at the Irish Athletic Center. He was a huge part of the 15 workouts, even if he wasn’t catching passes.
“I’m sure Coach (Chansi) Stuckey leans on him heavily,” head coach Marcus Freeman said in April. “I like to sometimes get the pulse of the team from Avery, being a returning captain. Him and (Jarrett Patterson) — your two returning captains — are both injured, so I put a lot of ownership on them. ‘Hey, your job is still to be a leader. You’re not out there in practice, but how can you lead as a captain.’ So, they’ve been great, man.
“They’ve been sounding boards for me. They’re working hard, trying to get back to, obviously, being able to play and contribute. But they’ve been doing a great job.”
Davis has seen it all during his time in South Bend. He arrived in 2017 as a quarterback and has since played defensive back, running back and wide receiver as well. Davis caught 17 balls for 386 yards and four touchdowns in 2021. Last year’s scores matched his career touchdown output over his first four seasons combined.
Notre Dame will need Davis to be a regular contributor in 2022, as the Irish have just eight scholarship wide receivers, including a true freshman in Tobias Merriweather and a former walk-on in Matt Salerno. Rising sophomore receiver Lorenzo Styles is set to be the primary slot receiver — where Davis often lines up — but Notre Dame will need Davis in addition to Styles at the position to be competitive in the passing game.
