Utah State cornerback Jalen Davis was one of 25 players tabbed to ESPN’s midseason All-America team, it was announced Monday.
The 5-foot-10, 185-pound senior from La Mesa, California, was the lone representative from a non-Power 5 school to make the list, which features 11 offensive, 11 defensive and three special teams players.
This is what the article on ESPN.com had to say about Davis: “It took more than one game for Davis to make the list, but that one game, woo boy. It’s hard to imagine any defender doing more than Davis did Sept. 29 against BYU. He had three interceptions, returning two for touchdowns from 50 and 30 yards out. Davis, the first FBS player with three interceptions and two scoring returns in a game since 2012, also became Utah State’s career leader for pass breakups.”
This is the seventh different award Davis has collected after helping lead the Aggies to their come-from-behind 40-24 victory over the Cougars. He was also named the CBSSports.com National Player of the Week, the College Sports Madness MW Defensive Player of the Week, the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award Player of the Week, the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week, the America First Credit Union USU Student-Athlete of the Week and the FBS College football Defensive HERO of the Week with nearly 67 percent of the vote.
Utah’s Matt Gay was the only other player from the Beehive State to make ESPN’s midseason All-America team as he was selected as the special team's placekicker.
Davis’ three interceptions against BYU are the second most in a single game in school history and tied for the most in a single game in Mountain West history. Davis now has 11 interceptions in his career, which is tied for fourth in school history.
The two pick-sixes he had are a single-game school record. The senior also recorded the 28th pass breakup of his career against Colorado State for the most in school history, and Davis’ 227 career interception returning yards are second all-time in USU history.
Davis is the first FBS player to have three interceptions and return two of them for touchdowns since 2012 when Fresno State’s Phillip Thomas accomplished the feat against Colorado.
On the season, Davis leads the team with his five interceptions for 120 yards. He also leads the Aggies in pass breakups (six) and shares the lead in sacks (2.0), to go along with his 17 total tackles — the second most by a Utah State cornerback.
Utah State (3-3, 1-1 MW) returns to action this weekend as it hosts Mountain West-foe Wyoming (3-2, 1-0 MW) on Saturday, Oct. 14, at 2:30 p.m. The game is slated to kick off at 2:30 p.m., and it can be seen live on Facebook.