Facing one of nation's best, Gabriel Davis showed off NFL talent of his own
UCF dominated Stanford, getting out to a big first half lead and cruising to a 45-27 victory.
There were many battles won within the game, the most notable being between Gabriel Davis and Stanford cornerback Paulson Adebo. UCF's junior wide receiver caught four passes for 63 yards and a touchdown, several times burning Adebo, a preseason All-American and likely top NFL Draft pick, with double moves.
The matchup was highlighted many times during the ESPN broadcast.
"Adebo got roasted and toasted by Davis!," play-by-play voice Mark Davis exclaimed after Davis hauled in a 38-yard touchdown grab.
Later, a remark was made that Davis was "working Adebo like a part-time job."
For a player who has NFL aspirations of his own, Davis said Monday that he was especially looking forward to facing such a highly-touted prospect.
"I heard before the season started that he was a preseason All-American," Davis said. "Once the week finally came up, I was actually really excited. I was watching film on him. I actually lost sleep over it because I was so ready to play against him. I just wanted to show I can play against guys like that and make big plays and compete. He was a great corner, probably one of the best I've gone against. He was really good. Class act kind of guy. I'm happy I was able to compete against him."
Davis analyzed all the Adebo film he could get a hold of, trying to pinpoint tendencies and tells that revealed what he would often try to do.
"It feels good when you're able to study a player so much that you can actually pick up on what you can do against them, things you can do to be successful," Davis said. "When you execute it, you feel proud about yourself because you know you put in the time, the work, the effort and the practice to be able to do it on Saturday."
Davis was also asked about the continued lack of national respect, given the fact a team that's compiled a 28-1 record over the last three seasons still finds themselves quite low in the polls - No. 15 in this week's AP.
"I don't know what we have to do to keep proving that we can compete with those guys," Davis said. "Yeah, we did lose to LSU but it's not like they blew us out of the water like these other teams are getting blown out. They beat us by eight points. A loss is a loss, but still. We can compete with anybody we step in front of. We show that every single year now."
He doesn't let it bother him though.
"We're just happy to be playing together," Davis added. "Happy to be winning. Happy to put on for Orlando. They can't take the joy away from that."
Freshman quarterback Dillon Gabriel's performance earned him not only conference player of the week honors, but national as well. Davis wasn't surprised.
"He's a cool, calm, collected guy, but he puts the work in," Davis said. "That's how you get confidence. He was in the hotel room, he's sitting in there calling every single call given to the o-line as soon as we see the signal. This guy was over preparing. He was ready to go. Every time he looked at the signal, he went straight to the o-line and knew exactly what to say. Every time he comes into the meeting he tells me why he threw a certain ball. He can tell me what the safeties were doing in why he made the decision, the rules that he follows. He over prepares. He knows what he's doing out there."