Stephen Lamont Davis is a former 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...

 running back

Running back

A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

 in 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...

. Davis will be the Carolina Panthers' minority coaching intern for the 2010-11 season.

College career

Davis played three years (1993, 1994, 1995) for Auburn University

Auburn University

Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...

 starting in his sophomore year. He made the All-SEC

Southeastern Conference

The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 team his last two seasons and graduated as the team's fourth all-time leading rusher behind Joe Cribbs

Joe Cribbs

Joe Stanier Cribbs is a retired National Football League and United States Football League football running back. He played collegiately at Auburn University along with future NFL backs William Andrews and James Brooks...

, James Brooks

James Brooks (American football player)

James Brooks is a retired NFL football running back.-High school and college career:His young career started with success in elementary school. He led the Warner Robins High School Demons to a State championship and a National Championship ranking in 1976...

, and Bo Jackson

Bo Jackson

Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson is a former American baseball and football player. He was the first athlete to be named an All-Star in two major American sports, and also won the Heisman Trophy in 1985....

. He was also a letterman for all three seasons.

Davis currently holds the record for rush attempts (1,945), rush yards (8,052) and rushing TDs (65) amongst all Auburn alumni in NFL history.

Washington Redskins

Davis was drafted

NFL Draft

The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...

 in the fourth round (103rd overall) in the 1996 NFL Draft

1996 NFL Draft

The 1996 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 April 20–21, 1996...

 by the Washington Redskins

Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...

. Davis was primarily used as a 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...

, and was part of the Redskins' backfield with Terry Allen. He spent three seasons as a backup and fullback before getting the starting

Starting lineup

A starting lineup in sports is an official list of the set of players who will actively participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as starters, whereas the others are substitutes or bench players.The starters are commonly the best...

 nod at the start of the 1999 NFL season

1999 NFL season

The 1999 NFL season was the 80th regular season of the National Football League. The Cleveland Browns returned to the field for the first time since the 1995 season...

. This was Davis' breakout season, when he posted career highs, and ended up representing the NFC

National Football Conference

The National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...

 in the Pro Bowl

Pro Bowl

In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...

. He led the NFC in yards rushing with 1,405, and led the league in yards per carry (4.8). He was also the league's leading non-kicking scorer, posting 108 points on 17 touchdown

Touchdown

A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...

s and one two-point conversion

Two-point conversion

In American and Canadian football, a two-point conversion is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point convert immediately after it scores a touchdown...

. He continued to post high numbers the following season en route to his second straight Pro Bowl selection. In 2001, Davis rushed for 1,432, breaking the record he had set in 1999 for most rushing yards in a season by a Redskin.

Said Football Outsiders

Football Outsiders

Football Outsiders is a website started in July 2003 which focuses on advanced statistical analysis of the NFL. The site is run by a staff of regular writers, who produce a series of weekly columns using both the site's in-house statistics and their personal analyses of NFL games.In 2005 and 2006,...

 about Davis's 1999 season, "Stephen Davis was just a monster in 1999 with 1407 yards (second in the league) and 17 touchdowns (nobody else scored more than 13). He led the league with a 60% success rate, and nobody else with at least 75 carries was over 55%."

Carolina Panthers

Davis signed with the Carolina Panthers

Carolina Panthers

The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion...

 for the start of the 2003 NFL season

2003 NFL season

-Milestones:The following teams and players set all-time NFL records during the season:-Team:-Individual:-Awards:-External Links:**-References:*NFL Record and Fact Book *...

, and was a catalyst in leading the team to Super Bowl XXXVIII

Super Bowl XXXVIII

Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game played on February 1, 2004 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas to decide the National Football League champion following the 2003 regular season....

. Davis rushed for a career-high 1,444 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. He also finished in the top three for the NFL MVP voting that year. Davis led all rushers in the postseason with 315 yards. Unfortunately for Davis, he suffered an injury early the following season, and was one of fourteen Panthers on injured reserve

Injured reserve

The injured reserve list is a list of reserved players who are injured and unable to play for a period of time, used most prominently in the National Hockey League and National Football League . It is used because these leagues have a maximum number of players on the team roster, so placing a...

 as the Panthers struggled to a 7-9 record. He was also on the injured list early in the 2005 season

2005 Carolina Panthers season

-Regular season:-Postseason:-Wild Card playoffs:The Panthers forced five turnovers, limited the Giants to only 109 yards of total offense, and became the first club to shut out a home playoff team since the Los Angeles Rams shut out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1980 NFC Championship Game...

, but came off the bench after a few games before being forced to sit out the remainder of the season with nagging knee injuries. Davis was released by the Panthers on March 1, 2006.

St. Louis Rams

On August 24, 2006, Davis worked out with the St. Louis Rams

St. Louis Rams

The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...

 and was offered a one-year contract, which he accepted.

Retirement

On February 27, 2008 Davis signed a one-day contract with Carolina so he could officially retire as a Panther; he did so the next day on February 28, 2008.

External links

• Stephen Davis on DatabaseFootball.com
• Espn Official page.
• Auburn Alumni NFL Stats - Playerfilter.com