Meigs' Davis achieves his goal to play college ball with help from father

POMEROY — When Carson Davis was a freshman, he sat down and had a father-son talk with his dad, Ryan Davis.

The younger Davis had made a decision about what he wanted to do with his future and he knew the best person to help him was his head basketball coach.

And in this case, his head coach was his father.

Davis’s father Ryan Davis is the Meigs head coach. Ryan Davis played at Kentucky Christian University where he helped the team win the National Christian College Athletic Association championship.

“Going into my freshman year at Bloom-Carroll, we sat down and talked and he asked me what I wanted out of basketball and I said I wanted to play college basketball. That’s a mutual agreement we had. During practice, during games, during summer workouts, he could be as hard as he wanted to me because he knew what it took to get to the next level and to play,” said Carson Davis.

The agreement and hard work gave Carson Davis what he wanted as he signed a letter-of-intent to play for the Cornell Big Red of the Division 1 Ivy League.

Coach Davis said that son Carson has faced defenses that double and even triple team him and handled the situation well.

“To be honest, he adjusted well to how he was guarded,” said Coach Davis.

“I’m 100 times harder on him than any other kid I’ve ever had, but he has gotten the daylights beat out of him and he gets guarded by three most nights and he has handled it.”

The younger Davis said the multiple defenders actually proved to be beneficial.

“I’m kind of glad it happened. Going into college, a lot of stuff will be easier. You’ll have one guy guarding you instead of two and three,” said Davis.

Cornell impressed Davis the most among his final choices. He said there were plenty of schools but today’s recruiting situation muddied the experience.

“When it came down to the end, my top three choices narrowed down to Air Force, Flagler and Cornell,” said Davis. “Flagler is a school in St. Augustine, Florida. All through my recruitment I talked to a whole bunch of schools. MAC (Mid-American Conference) schools all over Ohio, I talked to some Horizon League schools in Ohio.

“I heard from a lot of different people, but the transfer portal now days is crazy, so everyone got in contact but at the end the only ones who pursued me which are the ones I shared.”

Air Force had great facilities and with basketball the offense was perfect for him, but the other factors stood in the way.

“It was going to be a big adjustment and I’m not sure it was something I wanted,” said Davis. “There you’ve got schooling, Air Force stuff, and basketball altogether. I think schooling and Division 1 basketball in itself would be hard enough. Adding that (Air Force) aspect would be really difficult.”

A two-time first team All-Southeast District selection, Davis is a 6-foot-8, 230-pound senior power forward is averaging 24 points and 12 rebounds a game to go with 5 assists. He said all three statistics are what Cornell is looking for in their latest recruit.

But for Davis, Cornell head coach Jon Jaques was the major reason for his decision.

“The thing that jumps off the most was the coaching staff. The head coach was a down to earth guy. I went on multiple recruiting visits and the head coach would pop in every once in a while and meet with you,” said Davis.

“The Cornell coach was at every meal, picking me up at the hotel, drive me around, talk to me, and just a down to earth guy I have trust in who will help me progress at the next level.”

Having grown up in small towns such as Chesapeake, Bloom and Pomeroy, Davis isn’t concerned about adjusting to the city of Cornell, N.Y., with a population of approximately 35,000.

“My family did a great job of raising me. I have morals and beliefs instilled in me. Moving now I’ll get to see other beliefs and morals, but I think at the same time I’ll be able to stay true to myself,” said Davis.

“I’ll continue to see what’s right in the world and how things should work. I’ll get to see that stuff that you might get to see in Southern Ohio, but still keep my morals and beliefs.”

Cornell was third in the nation in points per game and was first in pace of play and number of possessions. The Big Red style of play was enticing to Davis.

“They like to play offense a lot and get up the floor, which is something I think I do well,” said Davis. ‘”As for me and my role, they expect me to come in and be able to hit 3s right off the bat and developing they want me to score at all three levels like I did in high school.”

Adjusting to a new environment will be one obstacle for Davis, but he knows that playing Division 1 college basketball will be the biggest challenge for him and living up to Cornell’s expectations.

“It’s going to be different. In college there’s going to be other 6-8 guys and even bigger. It’s not going to be like Division 4 basketball in Ohio,” said Davis.

“On the defensive end, they want me to compete, play as hard as I can and to get as many rebounds as I can and, when I get, be able to push the ball like a guard. They’ve got five guys on the floor like everyone else, but for them they have five guys who can dribble, shoot, pass, run and everything.”

Statistically, Davis said Cornell has some of the best offensive numbers in the country this season and he’s looking forward to playing in the Big Red system.

“They lead the country in assisted field goals, so they’re not a team that’s going to dribble the ball a lot. They don’t have a lot of guys who want to go one-on-one off the dribble. They like to set screens and cut and play out of the post. So for them, passing is a big part of their game,” said Davis.

Besides being an outstanding basketball player, Davis is an excellent golfer. However, he said the thought of playing college golf was never really a consideration.

“No, I never wanted to pursue golf in college. I never thought about college basketball until after the eighth grade,” said Davis.

Obviously, playing golf in college was merely small talk for Carson Davis who only wants his actions on the basketball court to speak louder than his words.