Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

HOOVER, Ala. — It's hard not to root for Knile Davis, even for a group — the media — that inherently isn't supposed to "root" for anything or anyone, but just report objectively and offer opinion.

But there were several members of the media Wednesday at SEC Media Days making sure the Arkansas running back made his way to a different corner of the main interview room, rather than the table where he sat last year. At that table he told the media what he expected from the season after a breakout 2010, only to see it all come to a sad end with a broken ankle in August.

No one wanted Davis to experience any deja vu for 2012. So they made sure the interview process didn't start out the way it had in the exact same place a year ago.

In both cases Davis came in well-dressed in a suit that looked darned near fresh off the rack, and he was well-spoken as he looked every questioner in the eyes. There's a reason Arkansas has sent Davis in back-to-back years to help represent the football program at Media Days, and it's not simply because he's an outstanding running back.

And just as it's hard not to root for Davis, to hope he has a little better luck on the health front than he's had for much of his high school and college career, it's hard to imagine he was being anything but genuine when he proclaimed himself the best running back in the Southeastern Conference.

Yes, some eyebrows may have raised. There are homers in other regions of the conference who swear by Marcus Lattimore's greatness at South Carolina.

But the fact is, when Davis was healthy in 2010 — and Lattimore has been banged up in his two seasons with the Gamecocks — he outran the rest of the SEC to the tune of 1,322 yards. The SEC leader in rushing that season was not Alabama's Mark Ingram or Trent Richardson, nor any of the great stable of backs at LSU. It was Davis, and no one will question the competition he faced as, seemingly improving each week, he helped lead Arkansas to a 31-23 victory over LSU that sent the Hogs to the Sugar Bowl.

"I don't want it to sound conceited," he said of his self-assuredness.

It didn't.

But Davis, a product of the talent-rich Fort Bend, Texas, area outside Houston, also seems strangely injury-prone, with three broken ankles over the past several years and a couple of major shoulder injuries. He came to Arkansas early, skipping his spring semester of high school, and immediately was hurt during spring practice.

Davis said it bothered him to read the media reports that labeled him a broken bone waiting to happen. He insists he's not injury prone, but rather has been subject to bad luck that's part of the game.

He didn't take a hit this past spring, leading to more concern that he wasn't fully healed from the break and the ankle pin and the surgeries to put the pin in and take it out.