COMMENCEMENT
Quarterback Cole Davis excels in athletics and academics
Published December 2017
Cole Davis is serious about football and academics.
He studies textbooks with the same intensity as an opposing defense. He listens intently to instruction. He shows up prepared on game day and test day.
He knows that’s what it takes to be successful.
“We talk on the team all the time about putting your personal standards above your feelings,” said Davis, a backup NDSU quarterback who is scheduled to graduate during NDSU’s winter commencement ceremony. “We have a certain standard we’ve set for our lives. We might not want to get up at 6 a.m. to work out or run in 95-degree heat, but we have a standard we hold ourselves and each other to. It’s a championship standard. And those same rules also apply to the classroom.”
Davis studied agricultural economics and business, academic pursuits inspired by his father, Mark, an entrepreneur who owns his own sports beverage company, and his grandparents who own a farm in Iowa.
He brought the same discipline to his studies that he brought to the football field, earning spots on the Missouri Valley Football Conference honor roll in 2015 and 2016, and the Missouri Valley Football Conference Commissioner’s Academic Excellence Award in 2016.
His NDSU teammates and coaches, including head coach Chris Klieman, have been deeply influential on his development as an athlete and as a student. His bond with them has strengthened each year since he came to Fargo as a freshman in 2013. They are like family, Davis said.
He credits friends and family for teaching him what it takes to persevere when things get tough. In September, he separated his shoulder while scoring the first rushing touchdown of his career. He spent most of his final season watching from the sidelines.
It was difficult to witness his last season of football tick away, but he always maintained a positive attitude, taking the necessary steps to heal and to continue to be successful in the classroom. And now he is ready for playoffs.
Davis and NDSU will take on Sam Houston State in the Football Championship Subdivision playoff semifinals Friday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m., at the Fargodome.
After graduation, he plans to stay in Fargo-Moorhead and work in agriculture or business. He decided to stay in the area because of the tremendous support he’s received during his time in Fargo.
“I have fallen in love with the community,” said Davis, who is from Kearney, Missouri. “The relationships I’ve built here in this community have been awesome. It’s really cool to be a part of, and I would like to experience it outside of football and school and see what it has to offer.”
