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VIZIO BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: AUBURN v FLORIDA STATEJanuary 3, 2014Chris DavisPASADENA, CALIFORNIA Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: It's great. We are practicing, getting ready for the game. We know this is a business trip and we have to win a National Championship. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: It's kinda different because back then we was young looking up to the other guys and now we flipped rolls and now we in that position. It's our opportunity to lead the team and let's get this win. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: He mean a lot. All the coaches take time to put together a scheme and we try to work the scheme to a perfection and by him going 0‑12 last year we went 3‑9 so I think it was a good fit. We bought into what he brought and that's what brought us here. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: I think it's important that the team stay together. In Auburn we is family and we stay together and that's what we been doin' all season. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: You know, it's been wonderful. This is my last year and I'm glad I got the opportunity to meet the other guys. Like I said once before we look at them as father figures. They are our role models. Q. How has your life changed at all since your return? CHRIS DAVIS: The return, that was a wonderful play but I kinda put that behind me. We looking forward, we got one more game left and it's the biggest game in college football and we lookin' forward to win that go game. When the season is over I will be able to embrace that moment. Q. Since that moment, how often are you reminded of that. People come up to you at school, on the street and talk about it? CHRIS DAVIS: A lot. ESPN reminds me of it! (Laughter.) It was a wonderful play. Q. Did you return kicks at all before this year? CHRIS DAVIS: No, sir. Q. Any kicks at all? CHRIS DAVIS: No, sir. Q. Have you been asking? CHRIS DAVIS: I been asking but I never got the opportunity to do so. Q. Were they afraid you would get hurt? CHRIS DAVIS: They didn't have an answer for me. Q. How would those approaches go? Every year would you go walking into the coach's office and say, hey I want to do this? CHRIS DAVIS: I mention it every year. I would go back and catch punts and kicks at the beginning of the season but I never got the opportunity. Q. What made them decide to let you do that now? CHRIS DAVIS: I think Coach Fountain knew I could return punts and kicks from recruiting at high school and he always told me that he used to tell them to put me back there but they never did. Like I said I just thanked them for giving me the opportunity. Q. I know you have probably gone through this 100 times but can you take us through the sequence of what happened on that return? Just from before it happened, on the side lines. CHRIS DAVIS: Before it happened, we called a time‑out and before the time‑out I was actually on the wing trying to block the kick or watch for the fake. During the time‑out, Coach Malzahn came up with putting me deep since I was the return guy and I think that was the best decision. Q. How did that unfold, were you just standing there and they said, hey, Chris, you're going‑‑ CHRIS DAVIS: One of my teammates, Ryan Smith was back there and when they called the time‑out they he made the switch and it went from there. Q. So you trotted out there, what are you thinking? Were you thinking you're going to get a chance to do this? CHRIS DAVIS: I kinda knew he was going to miss the field goal but I'm thinking he was going to miss it out‑of‑bounds and when I seen it come short I knew I had a chance to take it all the way with the bigger guys on the field, the offensive and defensive linemen on the field I knew I was going to be able to run it. Q. Could you tell it was going to be short the whole way? CHRIS DAVIS: I could tell it was going to be short the whole way. Q. And the ball is coming down? CHRIS DAVIS: Yes, sir. Q. Was there any return plan in place there? Did you guys talk about we're going to go left or right or up the middle? CHRIS DAVIS: It wasn't set up, you know, I think from our players going to the sideline getting ready for over time but when they seen me they just set up the blocks. Because the Alabama players were watching the kick and our players were going to the sideline. It feel like we set up a return but we didn't. It was great blocking all the way down the field so I give the other guys on the team credit. Q. At what point did you think, "I can get to the end zone." I assume you were just trying to pick your way through, but was there a moment? CHRIS DAVIS: When I stayed in bounds on the sideline I knew from that point on I was going to have a chance. Q. Couple of your team mates, they were watch it go and they were saying as you were heading toward the sideline the ability to stay in bounds was key. Do you have any recollection about that? CHRIS DAVIS: I knew I was going to be close so I decided to tip toe the sideline and not let my heels touch the ground and it played out as I wanted it to. Q. Chris, how much is this turn around, y'all's turn around married your career? You started out slow, you weren't highly recruited out of high school, and now here you are, how much has it mirrored your career? CHRIS DAVIS: Growing up this is what I dreamed of, to be in this type of situation. I had my up's and down's here, fighting injuries every year but I never gave up. That's where we came into the season with, you know, because we're going to face adversity. You know, this year's a season to remember, especially coming off the season from last year, the one we had. It's one of the biggest turn‑arounds in college football now we just trying to finish it off. Q. Who else besides Auburn recruited you? CHRIS DAVIS: South Carolina. Q. South Carolina? CHRIS DAVIS: Yeah. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: Yeah, time fly by. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: Yeah, it has. I just enjoyed the moment. Been times that I got down on myself from being injured but, you know, I kept God first and I was just blessed with this opportunity. God has a plan for me and I'm trying to live it out. Q. They said when you went to class Monday you got a standing ovations and the city of Birmingham had a proclamation to commemorate what you did, anything else? CHRIS DAVIS: That's about it. Q. Did you ever figure how much money you could make signing pictures? CHRIS DAVIS: No, I never thought about that and I ain't thinkin' about that. (Laughter.) Q.  You are on your way to the end zone. At what point, if any, did you understand the magnitude of what you had done? CHRIS DAVIS: When I ran in the end zone I knew, like, I was saying to myself, wow, this is unbelievable! And it's just a great feeling. As a player you always dream of getting in that situation and just embracing the moment, still. We are just here right now trying to win a National Championship. Q. What were some of the things your teammates were sayin to you as they were piling and jumping on you? CHRIS DAVIS: I couldn't hear that, getting hit up side the head and getting jumped on, it was all good. Q. Were you aware almost an identical play occurred, an LSU player ran almost the same route on the a missed field goal? Are you aware of it now? CHRIS DAVIS: No. No, sir. Q. It's almost identical, he ran almost the same route you did starting to the right and going to the left. Beating one person. CHRIS DAVIS: Uh‑huh, I never seen that. Q. Florida State blows everybody out, they're No. 1 defense, No. 1 scoring offense. Can you conceive this Auburn team might get beaten badly? CHRIS DAVIS: You know, I ain't gonna get into all that. The game is Monday, and I'm sure you will be watching. We gonna leave it all out on the field then. Q. We see the yardage that gets piled up sometimes. How much do you think the secondary is kind of overlooked when you get in these situations? CHRIS DAVIS: You know, whenever teams passing the ball for a lot of yards the secondary is going to get overlooked, but we leave plays on the field. We give up trash yards on busted coverages, but overall I think we got a pretty good secondary. We'll get that attention that I think we need to get. Every week we get this receiver, that receiver but that come with the game. We ready for any task that is put in front of us. Q. Do you think because you guys are so battle tested, Chris, this is the first straight top‑5 team you played. You've played a lot of good quarterbacks this year, does that help you with your performance? CHRIS DAVIS: We gonna approach it like any other game. Like I said we take it week bi‑weekly and right now we takin' it day by day to the National Championship game. I guess we'll see how it unfolds when that time comes. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: Playing in the SEC we see all types of receivers and Florida State, they got some pretty good receivers and we got pretty good defensive backs, too, like we say, our offense sometimes gets overlooked but we ready for the task. We'll be ready to play Monday I guess those good receivers. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: Whatever the game plan is, we will be ready for 'em. Q. Why are you so confident? If there is a facet of the defense that people say is so strong how do you defend against that. CHRIS DAVIS: We just got to limit explosive plays. Q. What do you like about your guys? What gives you the confidence? CHRIS DAVIS: That I've been through the battles with these guys, you know?  We done seen it all. I love the secondary, all those guys are like my brothers and I know any given day they're going to go to war with me and especially on Monday. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: You know, we played a lot of good receivers. I don't know. I can't single‑handedly point one person out. Like you said, FSU got some good receivers and we'll be ready. Q. Did you play much in 2010? CHRIS DAVIS: I played pretty much. Q. Did you play ‑‑ CHRIS DAVIS: Defensive back, also. Q. Talk about that season? CHRIS DAVIS: It was a heck of a season, kinda like this year. It was kinda the same way as 2010 with the defensive backs. They never got any exposure. They seemed to get overlooked at times. But we not worry being all that. We go in there with a game plan and, you know, we going to do our best to come back with a "W." Q.How much are you looking forward to that second play this game? Obviously the first play of the game you have the jitters, how much are you looking forward to the second play? CHRIS DAVIS: I hope I get to the second play. (Laughter.) I'm not worried about that at all. Hopefully it don't happen again but if it do, then so be it. I guess I've learned by it. Q. Chris, your coach said there were distractions that other players at Woodlawn had to deal with, how did you focus on your goals? CHRIS DAVIS: Staying grounded and staying humble. I always knew I wanted to play college football and I wasn't sure where I was going to end up but I always knew I wanted to play college football and I really was trying to better my living, like my Momma's conditions and I knew I was the only kid that was going to be able to do so. Q. What was the toughest part growing up that you wanted to get past? CHRIS DAVIS: The toughest part about growing up is being raised by a single parent, not having a father around. Some people say not having a father around to play catch with and do all that. I try to do all those things with my son. I try to take advantage of the opportunities that I got him around. Q. How old were you when you first thought‑‑ when you first latched on to that college football dream? CHRIS DAVIS: I latched on to that‑‑ I started playing football when I was 7 and growing up I played for a team called the Seminoles and we looked just like the Florida State Seminoles (Laughter. I guess since I started playing football I always knew I wanted to go to college and start playing football. Q. What's your son's name? CHRIS DAVIS: Chris. Q. Last name? CHRIS DAVIS: Bird. Q. How old is he? CHRIS DAVIS: Three. Q. How did you want to be remembered at Auburn and how did you want to be remembered? CHRIS DAVIS: It's crazy. How I want to be remembered? I can't speak on that, you know? How I think I'm going to be remembered? I know I'm going to be remembered around this place and that's a good thing, all the hard work done paid off. Q. Chris, how much do you rely on individual plays? Seems like the secondary plays for the play, like third down or certain situations they come up big when they need to. CHRIS DAVIS: You know like I said this once before, we make stops when they need 'em, critical moments, you know? That's one good thing about the secondary, we going to come up big when we need to make a play and we done that all season. Q. You go into those situations with that mind‑set? How do you approach those? CHRIS DAVIS: I actually go into the game trying to make every play, you know, that's my mentality and I'm quite sure that's everybody's mentality on the back end. Q. Rashad Green said he wouldn't play man against themselves and the other wide receivers. CHRIS DAVIS: That's his opinion. We going to go in and do what we been doin'. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: I mean, you know, it's part of the game. It's a business, when it's all said and done. Players know that also as coaches so we just hoping that the best man gets the job here and Gus has done an awesome job with the program and we are just thankful that he's our head coach. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: I didn't consider leaving. I can't speak for the other players, though. Q. (No microphone.) CHRIS DAVIS: You know, just nagging ankle sprains and all that. But, you know, I'm not‑‑ I'm 100% right now so I'm just thankful to be in this moment. Q. Weren't you hurt in a kick‑off? CHRIS DAVIS: High‑ankle sprain. Q. Did you get nervous when you got hurt earlier this season that the injuries were coming back? CHRIS DAVIS: I did, but I stayed focused and kept prayin' and I got over that injury, thanks to God. Like I said, hopefully I can last more than one play! (Laughter.) Q. What was it like to sit out during that time? That was the LSU‑‑ that was the turn‑around when this team made that transition toward where they're at now. What was it like watching that happen? CHRIS DAVIS: It was hard watching as a competitor, because I wanted to be out there with my team and help those guys win. Also I had to be a player/coach on the side lines and at practice. Motivate the guys to want to get better, and tell them that we still got a chance. That's what I did. I was a players' coach, I think. Q. Did you see the transition happening as just a player off the field, did you see that change happening after the LSU game? CHRIS DAVIS: After the LSU game I didn't know what the team was going to do, go up or down but I know we stayed together through it all and by staying together that got us to this point. Q. How many games did you miss this year? CHRIS DAVIS: Two. Q. Ankle deal? CHRIS DAVIS: Uh‑huh. Q. Your teammates talked about how Malzahn has you guys go through the crazy preparations. Was there any preparation for a missed field goal? Had you guys done anything on that? CHRIS DAVIS: No, we never had any preparation on that but after the game we went and did some preparation on it after that game. (Laughter.) Q. Did you catch the Sugar Bowl? CHRIS DAVIS: I watched a little bit of it. Q. Were you surprised? CHRIS DAVIS: I was. I thought Alabama was going to win the game but Oklahoma was a good team and it was a great game. I guess the better team won. Q. Does that tell you anything about what can happen in bowl games and what can happen Monday night? CHRIS DAVIS: No, I'm just ready for Monday night to get here. That's about it. Q. Were you anxious in high school wondering where recruiters were? CHRIS DAVIS: You know, by me going to Woodlawn it wasn't a big football school, and I never attended any camps, so I wasn't worrying about the office and the recruiters, as long as I got a shot, and I tried to take advantage of the opportunities. Q. Why didn't you go to camps? CHRIS DAVIS: I never really wanted to. It's crazy but I never really wanted to. Q. Was it tough when your first high school closed? CHRIS DAVIS: Yeah, it was. I loved that high school. I had‑‑ I played basketball at Hayes, I played with an NBA player right now, Eric Bledsoe and I was sad when Hayes closed. Q. You talked about getting out and making a better life for yourself. Were there other kids that had the talent to do that but made mistakes along the way? CHRIS DAVIS: Yeah, there is talent in the area and some people are easily influenced and be around the wrong people. With me I stayed level head and had stayed with the things I grew up with. Even if they was making wrong decisions I knew right from wrong and that's why I got here. Q. You talked about your making a better life for yourself and your mother and family. As big as Monday night is like how much are you looking forward to that next step? CHRIS DAVIS: I'm not focused on that right now, after the game I be focus odd that but right now I'm just trying to win a National Championship. Q. If Florida State lines up for a long field goal are you going to be running down to the goalpost or to the edge to block? CHRIS DAVIS: I don't know! (Laughter.) Q. Would you like that situation to repeat itself or is that kind of a once‑in‑a‑lifetime deal, do you think? CHRIS DAVIS: Would I like it to repeat itself? Yeah, I probably would, but I don't control that. Q. Chris, have you watched much Canadian football? CHRIS DAVIS: No. Q. The reason I ask is the goalposts are up on the goal line and in the CFL there were eleven touchdowns returned on field goals so you're a bit of a cult hero up there. How would that fit in the game here in American football? CHRIS DAVIS: I don't know I never see the up rights in front of the end zone, so, I don't know. I can't really speak on that. Q. You said that you knew the difference in right and wrong. Who do you instill with that? CHRIS DAVIS: My Momma, my auntie and my grandma. Q. What's your aunt's name? CHRIS DAVIS: Michelle Brown and my grandmother is Edith Brown and those were the three women that raised me and they taught me a lot and growing up and right from wrong was one of the things they taught me. Q. I heard after the kick‑off return your grandma was on the field and she was the first person you saw when you got out. CHRIS DAVIS: She was one of the first people I saw. I asked her how she got down there, I don't know how she made it with all those people on the field but it was a great feeling to see her. Q. How old is she? CHRIS DAVIS: 63. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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