Ray Davis says he’s “blessed to be here,” praises o-line following strong UK debut

The Kentucky Wildcats offense struggled at times in their Week 1 win against the Ball State Cardinals. One player who did not, however, is Vanderbilt Commodores transfer Ray Davis.

In his first game with the Wildcats as RB1, Davis showed out against a veteran Cardinals defense, finishing the game with 112 yards on 14 carries while also adding in two touchdowns.

The veteran running back is no stranger to college football and is definitely no stranger to Kroger Field, as he showed out last season for the Commodores, pushing Vandy over the Cats for their first SEC win in several seasons.

Now, Davis is excited to be in Lexington for good and is “blessed” to be here with this team and to have his offensive linemen.

“I’m just blessed to be here,” ” Davis said after the win. “I’m blessed to have the opportunity for Coach (Mark) Stoops to bring me along and the team to accept me. Shoutout goes to my line. Jager (Burton), (Eli) Cox, (Jeremy) Flax, (Kenneth) Horsey, Court (Courtland Ford). I could name a lot of those guys. The whole game goes to them.

“I’m just happy. I’m blessed to be here.”

Davis later continued, “The reason why I end up in the end zone is because of those five guys, and if I’m blessed to keep ending in the end zone, it is because of those five guys.”

Davis also made sure to praise the fans for bringing it today at Kroger Field.

“The energy was live,” said Davis. “It was exciting to run out of the tunnel and see the whole place screaming and yelling. It definitely fed into our team and gave us energy. It was a slow start, but as the fans started to get into it, I think that we started to turn it up a little bit more and have a little bit of fun and become ourselves.

“It was electrifying and a lot different than what I had been used to in my years of playing football. It was exciting to see the crown stick with us from the start to the end.”

Heading into this season, the BBN had some questions regarding the running back position, as it is the first season since 2016 that Benny Snell or Chris Rodriquez have not been in the backfield. Both UK superstars in their own right, Davis proved in the win that he is ready to pave his way to being mentioned as the next great Kentucky running back in the Mark Stoops era.

Going to be fun to watch him work the rest of this season.

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