TCU’s 2026 countdown has reached 36 days, and that number belongs to one of the program’s most productive backs: Kenneth Davis.
The Horned Frogs are closing in on their season opener against North Carolina in Dublin, Ireland on Aug. 29, and Davis fits the spot at No. 36 after a career that packed plenty into four seasons in Fort Worth. He played in 34 games and finished his TCU run with 2,994 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns.
Davis’ final college season in 1985 was cut short. He missed all but one game while serving a suspension after confessing he received cash payments from boosters.
Even with that cloud hanging over his senior year, the NFL still came calling. The Green Bay Packers took him in the second round of the 1986 NFL Draft.
His biggest leap at TCU came as a junior, when he turned into one of the Southwest Conference’s top playmakers. Davis carried 211 times for 1,611 yards and 15 touchdowns, all career highs, and added two touchdown catches.
That season brought All-Southwest Conference and All-American honors, plus a fifth-place finish in the Heisman vote. TCU opened 8-1 before finishing 8-4 after a Bluebonnet Bowl loss.
Davis carried that production into the NFL, where he played 131 games and made 23 starts over nine seasons. He spent three years with the Packers and six with the Buffalo Bills, rushing for 3,513 yards, catching 135 passes for 878 yards and scoring 32 total touchdowns.
His best pro stretch came in the early 1990s, when he put together consecutive 600-yard rushing seasons and scored 10 rushing touchdowns from 1991-92. Davis also reached four Super Bowls with Buffalo, which lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV, the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXVI, the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXVII and the Cowboys again in Super Bowl XXVIII.
In Other News...
Texas Tech Linebackers Just Earned Major Big 12 Respect
The Big 12s linebacker picture is getting a reset this fall, and that matters for a league that lost a big chunk of last years production at the position. With several starters gone and a wave of transfers arriving to fill the gaps, the conference is leaning on a mix of returning veterans and new faces to stabilize the middle of defenses. That makes the preseason pecking order especially interesting, because it is as much about who is ready to step up as it is about who already has the name recognition.
Texas Techs Austin Romaine sits at the top of that conversation, with BYUs Cade Uluave close behind, giving the league two of its most respected linebackers before the season even starts. For TCU, the broader takeaway is just as relevant, since the Horned Frogs are watching a conference where opportunity is wide open and one of their own, Max Carroll, is viewed as a player with real breakout potential. The only question now is whether the early respect turns into the kind of on-field production that can separate the true anchors from the rest of the pack. [Read more 🡒]