AUSTIN, Texas - Steve Sarkisian’s list of freshmen pushing for playing time this fall had the expected names on it Monday. Derrek Cooper.
Jermaine Bishop. Richard Wesley.
Rocky Cummings. And then there was Toray Davis.
That last name stood out for a reason. Davis had barely registered in the conversation since he got to campus in January, which made his inclusion one of the more unexpected notes to come out of preseason camp.
It’s easy to see why he has flown a little under the radar. The Boulder, Colo., Fairview product came in as a modestly ranked prospect, checked in by the 247Sports Composite as a consensus low four-star and the No. 399 player nationally, and ranked as the No. 19 athlete. Among Texas’ 23 non-specialists in the class, he landed 15th.
His recruitment didn’t exactly scream blue-chip chase, either. Davis took official visits to Kansas State, Oklahoma State and UCLA during the summer and committed to the Bruins in late June while in Westwood.
Then his senior season started turning heads. Wisconsin and Arizona State offered in the fall, which led to a visit to Madison in mid-October.
Indiana jumped in a week later, Texas offered after that, Washington also entered the picture, and Davis made it to Seattle late in the month.
The visit that mattered most came to Austin for the Texas A&M game. Davis flipped to Texas the day before the early signing period and signed with the Longhorns on ESD.
The late rise, the lack of a rival flip, and the relatively modest ranking all combined to make him one of the quieter additions in the class, even though Texas was clearly pleased to land another defensive back late in the process.
The testing numbers didn’t help his profile, either. But the production was impossible to ignore.
As a senior, Davis put up a massive all-purpose season and led the state in receiving yards with 1,557 and total touchdowns with 39. He ran 62 times for 535 yards and 23 touchdowns, including one 100-yard rushing game, and caught 70 passes for 1,557 yards and 16 touchdowns.
On defense, he added 56 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, six interceptions and seven pass breakups.
That wasn’t a one-year burst, either. Davis scored 17 touchdowns as a junior while intercepting four passes, forcing three fumbles and recovering one. As a sophomore, he had four interceptions, two of them returned for touchdowns, plus a fumble recovery.
There’s also some family history in the mix. His father, Elton Tory Davis, played defensive back at Colorado State in the mid-90s.
What stands out on the field is the same thing that made him such a productive high school player: ball skills and toughness. Davis has the hands of a receiver on defense, which fits given his background on offense, and his 14 career interceptions reflect that instinct for finding the football.
He’s physical, too, willing to lower his shoulder to deliver hits or finish a play in the end zone. Since arriving at Texas, there’s been an emphasis on tightening up his tackling technique so he can square up opponents more cleanly.
Defensively, Davis moves smoothly. Offensively, he showed real burst against his level of competition, though his overall speed projects more as above average than elite unless more definitive GPS tracking says otherwise.
In Other News...
Texas Suddenly Faces A Tough Call On Its Michigan Showcase
Texas nonconference plans have hit an unexpected snag as the Longhorns try to map out their future marquee games. Steve Sarkisian said the program remains committed to its scheduled showdowns with Ohio State and Michigan in 2026 and 2027, but he also made clear that everything beyond that stretch is still being sorted through as Texas balances the demands of a changing schedule with its desire to keep big-ticket opponents on the board.
The issue now is whether the Michigan series can be preserved without forcing Texas into an awkward reset on the calendar. The matchup was supposed to be a centerpiece for 2027 in Austin, but the broader nonconference picture is already crowded with other high-profile possibilities, including Notre Dame, and that is where the next decision could get complicated. For Texas, the question is no longer just whether to play Michigan, but how to make the rest of the future schedule work around it. [Read more 🡒]
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Several of the incidents were serious enough to bring discipline, with some people declared ineligible and others terminated after the violations came to light. Texas also redacted the names of the individuals in its report, leaving the public with a fuller picture of the problem but not the identities behind it. The one football case that was disclosed involved a player who was ruled ineligible after placing a small amount in wagers on college and pro basketball, a reminder that even modest bets can carry major consequences. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Landed A 2027 Back With Exactly The Mindset Fans Want
Landen Williams-Callis gives Texas a running back commitment that fits the Longhorns pitch perfectly: production first, flash second. The four-star from the 2027 class built his reputation in Houston, where his 2025 season put him in rare company and even moved him past several notable Texas A&M backs on the areas all-time touchdown list.
What stands out most is the way Williams-Callis talks about himself. He has made it clear he wants the focus on what happens between the lines, not on the outside praise that follows a big year. For Texas, that kind of mindset matters just as much as the ranking, especially with A&M also in the picture before he chose the Longhorns. [Read more 🡒]