By By Nick Pipitone
Pride fans and teammates might have been a bit worried when Anton Clarkson’s left shoulder injury started acting up in the team’s 44-41 loss at Furman Sept. 24. The following week, the injury was even more evident, hampering Clarkson and the entire Pride offense, as it suffered a 42-10 home loss to James Madison.
Going into Delaware this past Saturday, Clarkson was not cleared to play by the team doctor, so the Pride decided to go with unproven sophomore Dennis Davis.
“There was really no decision to make,” head coach Joe Gardi said. “There was no thought of even playing Clarkson. We knew Davis was going to start a few days before the game. I was concerned with the first two plays of the game, he started off a little shaky. But he didn’t lose the game for us, which various quarterbacks have done the past three years.”
Before this past Saturday’s start, Davis had thrown a total of only 18 passes in his college career, completing seven of them for 53 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Against Delaware, he was 26 for 41 for 266 yards with one interception and one rushing touchdown, the game-winner.
“I may be young, but I’ve been here for two years so I know the offense pretty well,” Davis said. “I took most of the reps during practice [before the Delaware game] and [offensive coordinator Warren] Ruggiero sat down with me to make sure I knew everything that was going on, so I was well-prepared.”
Davis may have seemed a little nervous on the Pride’s opening drive. On the first two plays, he ran into RB Terry Crenshaw on a handoff and then dropped a snap, but for the remainder of the game, he only made a few mistakes. His sole interception midway through the second quarter was the result of a dropped ball by senior wide receiver Devale Ellis. Compared to his first collegiate start against Maine last season, Clarkson said it was “like apples and oranges”.
“He was the complete opposite of me,” the junior quarterback said. “Against Maine [Clarkson’s first collegiate start in Sept. 2003], everything was going 100 miles per hour. For Dennis, it looked like it was a walk in the park, like he was playing catch with his boys back home.”
Davis’ confidence and poise on the field was evident. On the Pride’s game-winning touchdown drive, the sophomore ran the ball himself after a broken shovel pass, a play that sophomore wide receiver Charles Sullivan described as “very smart”.
“I was comfortable with Davis starting,” Sullivan said. “I wasn’t nervous about him starting, because he did good all week in practice. Ever since he got here, he’s been doing well, he just had to wait his turn.”
Ellis agreed.
“We knew after the James Madison game (Oct. 1) that Anton was really hurt, so going into the week of practice, we knew that Dennis was going to get most of the reps,” he said. “He seemed a lot more composed during the [Delaware] game than I thought he was going to be.”
Clarkson was cleared by the team doctor Monday afternoon to play in Saturday’s homecoming game against Maine, but it is still uncertain who will make the start. He says that his left shoulder “doesn’t feel 100-percent, but close to it” and he “hopes to be ready” for the game.
However, after Davis’ performance last Saturday, both the team and the coaching staff would be fine going with either quarterback.