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NEW ORLEANS — Two weeks ago, Vernon Davis stood at a lectern and delivered his sermon. The sinner had been reformed; the child was now grown.
“It’s not about me,” he said, the eye contact strong and his voice rising. “It’s definitely not.”
Super Bowl 2013: Vernon Davis has grown into leader for San Francisco 49ers
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The San Francisco 49ers had just beaten the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC championship game. Davis, the 49ers’ 29-year-old tight end, had perhaps his best game of the season, on what at the time was the year’s biggest stage.
“Everything that we dream of, like going to the Super Bowl, that’s what it’s about,” the Washington native continued after the 28-24 win. “And I understand that. It took me a few years, but now I understand.”
Years ago, Davis was seen as an immature, occasionally petulant player whose attitude held back his potential. Now, as he approaches 30 and prepares to play in America’s biggest game, Davis has emerged as an unexpected leader. More than four years after Davis’s former coach, Mike Singletary, benched and famously blasted the young tight end and said he “would rather play with 10 people” than have Davis on the field, he has taken on a reduced role but nonetheless represents the heart and soul of San Francisco’s magical season and playoff run.
“If I can block, pass protect — I’m extremely happy,” Davis kept saying in Atlanta. “Last week I had one catch, but it was the happiest moment of my life.”
This week, Davis sat at the site of the Super Bowl and reflected on an occasionally tumultuous, often impressive career. He smiled and talked about the slip-ups of a young player, and how those were similar to the lessons he learned at Washington’s Dunbar High School. Even in those days, Davis had to be shown the way, rather than being told about its path.
“There’s a time to step up to the plate and do what you’re supposed to do,” said Craig Jefferies, Davis’s football coach at Dunbar. “Or be gone.”
Back then, Jefferies tried often to pull the best out of this young star. Davis picked up football only in high school, but Jefferies saw what he could be — if only Davis would allow it. The coach remembered a talented and driven youngster who worked hard on football and weightlifting, but when it came time to show leadership, would hit a wall.
Jefferies made Davis a captain in hopes that the title would bring out a feeling of responsibility, but Jefferies’s expectations seemed a poor fit for a young man the coach described as an introvert. Still, Jefferies said, Davis cared about the team’s direction; the coach found that if he yelled at the team, it would be Davis who felt the burden to fix what was wrong.
“He was still learning,” said Jefferies, who now coaches at Oxon Hill High.
Still learning even at the University of Maryland, where he became a star under former coach Ralph Friedgen, still learning when he emerged as a potential first-round draft pick, and still learning as a young pro — after the 49ers drafted him sixth overall in 2006. He was a blend of size and quickness, with dependable hands that led to comparisons of Davis with the great ones.
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