Russell Davis, III is a former professional American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 fullback

Fullback (American football)

A fullback is a position in the offensive backfield in American and Canadian football, and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback...

 who was drafted by and played for the Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...

 of the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. He had starred for the Michigan Wolverines football

Michigan Wolverines football

The Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins and the highest winning percentage in college football history...

 team in college. Davis attended Woodbridge High School in Virginia.

College

Davis was the Most Valuable Player

Most Valuable Player

In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...

 for Bo Schembechler

Bo Schembechler

Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler, Jr. was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University of Michigan from 1969 to 1989, compiling a career record of 234–65–8...

's Big Ten Conference

Big Ten Conference

The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...

 champion Michigan Wolverines

Michigan Wolverines

The Michigan Wolverines comprise 27 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except men's ice hockey which competes in the NCAA D1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and women's water polo, which...

 during the 1977 NCAA Division I-A football season. He was elected captain

Captain (sports)

In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...

 at the beginning of the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season

1978 NCAA Division I-A football season

The 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first season of Division I-A football; Division I-A was created in 1978 from the splitting of Division I for football only. The season came down to a rare #1 vs. #2 post-season meeting as #1 Penn State and #2 Alabama met in the New Year's Day Sugar...

 and was selected as First team All-Big Ten at the conclusion of the season after the team defended its conference championship a second time in a row. During his Michigan Wolverines career he accumulated a total of 2,550 yards rushing

Rush (American football)

Rushing has two different meanings in gridiron football .-Offense:The first is an action taken by the offensive team that means to advance the ball by running, as opposed to passing. A run is technically any play that does not involve a forward pass...

, including eighteen touchdowns and five 100-yard games. He had started three games at fullback (Rob Lytle

Rob Lytle

Rob Lytle was an American football running back who played for the Denver Broncos of NFL. He attended the University of Michigan . Lytle was drafted in the second round of the 1977 NFL Draft by Denver with the 45th overall pick.Lytle was born in Fremont, Ohio...

 started the other nine) during the 1976 NCAA Division I-A football season when he enjoyed his first Big Ten Conference Championship. He then started all twelve games at fullback for the 1977 and 1978 conference champions. In his three Rose Bowl appearances, he totaled 146 yards rushing and during the 1978 Rose Bowl

1978 Rose Bowl

The 1978 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 1978. It was the 64th Rose Bowl Game. The Washington Huskies, champions of the Pacific-8 Conference, defeated the Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Conference, 27–20...

 he led all rushers with 79 yards on 18 carries. Davis was involved in the last game (of two All-time) in which Michigan has had three rushers accumulate 100 yards.

Professional career

He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1979 NFL Draft

1979 NFL Draft

The 1979 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1979...

 by the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, he did not play at all for Chuck Knoll during the 1979 NFL season

1979 NFL season

The 1979 NFL season was the 60th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XIV when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Rams...

 in which they won Super Bowl XIV

Super Bowl XIV

Super Bowl XIV was an American football game played on January 20, 1980 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1979 regular season...

. During 42 games over the course of four season

Season (sports)

In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an...

s from 1980

1980 NFL season

The 1980 NFL season was the 61st regular season of the National Football League.After the league declined to approve the proposed move by the Raiders from Oakland, California to Los Angeles, the team along with the Los Angeles Coliseum sued the NFL for violating antitrust laws...

 to 1983

1983 NFL season

The 1983 NFL season was the 64th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XVIII when the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins.-Major rule changes:...

 he accumulated a total of 474 rushing on 104 carries. The Steelers would not return to the playoffs until the 1982 NFL season

1982 NFL season

The 1982 NFL season was the 63rd regular season of the National Football League. A 57-day long players' strike reduced the 1982 season from a 16-game schedule per team to an abbreviated nine game schedule...

. They lost in the first round of the 1982-83 NFL Playoffs

NFL playoffs, 1982-83

The NFL playoffs following the 1982 NFL season led up to Super Bowl XVII.A players' strike reduced the regular season to nine games. Thus, the league used a special 16-team playoff format , just for this year. Division standings were ignored...

 and 1983-84 NFL Playoffs

NFL playoffs, 1983-84

The NFL playoffs following the 1983 NFL season led up to Super Bowl XVIII.Due to Christmas, the two wild card playoff games were played in a span of three days....

.