It's widely known that quarterback
Nate Davis chose Ball State because the school had an academic plan to help with a learning disability that impairs his memory. But what isn't widely known, what Davis now laughs about, is that that learning disability kept one of the nation's best quarterbacks from knowing his playbook until the middle of his sophomore season.
"I have a hard time comprehending things that are long in a short period of time, so I have to go over things a couple more times than I'd normally have to," Davis said of his disability. "But the thing with football is, if it's something that I love to do, it's a lot easier for me. Something about history or something like that, it takes me a lot longer."
Davis won't have any trouble with the plays as the Cardinals look to continue their undefeated campaign tonight in the Mid-American Conference championship against Buffalo at Ford Field in Detroit.
Davis' play now is a far cry from his freshman and sophomore seasons in which he has said his playbook was about throwing to the open man. He didn't recognize routes or the names of plays. He took whatever signal was given to him, relayed it to the team and then threw whatever felt comfortable.
Davis said most of the players that were in his class knew their playbooks front-to-back within a year while he was still struggling to learn the basics.
"It was really frustrating," Davis said. "My freshman year I just went in and I was pretty much playing backyard football. Me and [offensive coordinator] coach [Stan] Parish worked very hard to learn the playbook, and now I know it."
Amazingly, Davis still put up numbers that rivaled most of the MAC quarterbacks and some of the better quarterbacks in the country. During his freshman season in 2006, Davis completed 61 percent of his passes for 1,975 yards, 18 touchdowns and eight interceptions. His sophomore year, those numbers jumped to 3,667 yards, 30 touchdowns and just six interceptions.
And now, on the cusp of what could be his final MAC game if he decides to leave early for the NFL, Davis has thrown for 3,095 yards, 25 touchdowns and six interceptions.
"It's a lot easier now," Davis said. "It's all about timing and once you know where a guy is supposed to be, it's a lot easier."
