CSU football feeds off strength coach's energy

It’s game day, and Ryan Davis is bouncing off the walls in the locker room, chest-bumping players and exchanging high fives.

When it’s time for the CSU football team to take the field, Davis is out front, holding them back in the tunnel and getting them hyped up emotionally. By the time he leads the team out, everyone’s adrenaline level is sky high.

 “He’s always full of energy,” senior safety Jake Schlager said. “I don’t know how many Red Bulls he drinks before the games.”

None, Davis insists.

The Rams’ strength and conditioning coach doesn’t need energy drinks to get himself going. He’s fired up by his job.

“Have you seen what I get to do for a living?” said Davis, 33. “… I lucked out. I’ve been blessed and probably a little bit lucky that this is what I get to do.''

It’s Davis’ job to get players pumped up for every day, not just game days.

He’s just as wound up for a 6:15 a.m. session in the weight room on a cold, snowy day in February as he will be on the sidelines Saturday night, when the Rams (4-2, 2-0 Mountain West) face Nevada (1-5, 1-1). He’ll be hollering at players on the field, giving quick words of inspiration between plays and greeting as many of them as he can with chest-bumps, high fives and pats on the back when they come back off the field.

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“… You couldn’t tell me how many people you affected today,'' he said. "You couldn’t tell me how many people you positively affected in the last month. For me, I get to see the guys that I have a positive effect on day in and day out and get to see the development of it right in front of me.''

He is, by definition, the team’s emotional leader. Strength coaches, by NCAA rule, are able to spend far more time with football players than the head and assistant coaches. They’re with the players nearly every day, year-round.

“He’s got passion; he’s got energy,” Colorado State University coach Mike Bobo said. “You’ve got to motivate guys every day, and you’ve got to bring that passion and try to make an impact on what you do every day, and I love how he does that.”

Davis leads the Rams’ character-development program and often serves as a counselor to players who are going through difficult times.

His primary duty “is to give the coaches the best version of what they recruited,” Davis said.

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And to do that, he often has to push them physically beyond what they believe they’re capable of doing.

Davis, his assistant, Michael Ray, and the graduate assistants working alongside them, have done a remarkable job in that area, Bobo said.

All of the Rams’ returning players are bigger, stronger, faster and in better condition aerobically than they were a year ago. The defensive linemen added 15 to 20 pounds apiece, Bobo said, and are better able to hold their ground against the 300-pound offensive linemen trying to clear them out of the way.

“He made us work a lot harder than I think we’ve worked in a long time during the offseason and in the summer,” said senior Jakob Buys, who added 18 pounds to his 6-foot-4 frame to get to 280. “… I feel a lot better out there, and I don’t get pushed around or driven out.”

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Davis designs specific training programs for each position group, based on what coaches and players tell him they need the most, then tweaks them a bit for each individual.

His training program is based largely on what he learned during his three years at Alabama, learning from longtime football strength coach Terry Jones Sr. and Scott Cochran, the program’s director of strength and conditioning. Davis, who played college football at Rowan University, an NCAA Division III school in his home state of New Jersey, also worked on the strength staffs at Louisville, West Florida and Samford before coming to CSU.

Bobo learned of Davis while he was interviewing for a job at Georgia during the coach’s last season there in 2014. Kirby Smart, Alabama’s offensive coordinator, vouched for Davis as did Ronnie Letson, the quarterbacks coach Bobo hired from Samford when he got the CSU job.

Davis spent a couple years working in the family business, working for his brother’s moving company, before realizing it wasn’t for him. He spent two years working for free, as a volunteer intern, at his alma mater and another small school before getting his first paid position.

As an athlete, Davis said he “always took pride in having myself in the best physical condition.” He felt more at home in the weight room than he ever did on the field.

“A lot of people close to me knew that I was going to do this before I did,” he said. “I was probably one of the last to find out.”

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Now, after 10 years in the business, he can’t imagine doing anything else.

It’s why he’s so fired up all the time. He can’t sit for long unless he’s watching a movie, and even then, he’s often taking notes he’ll later use in inspirational talks.

The energy, players said, is real. Pure Ryan Davis.

“Absolutely,” junior linebacker Josh Watson said. “That’s his whole mentality. That’s who he is. He’s a person that brings energy.”

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and listen to him talk CSU sports at 11:35 a.m. Thursdays on KFKA radio (AM 1310).

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When/Where: 8:15 p.m. MDT Saturday, CSU Stadium (capacity 36,500)

Watch/Listen: Watch on ESPN2 (Comcast Ch. 28/670 HD, DirecTV Ch. 209, Dish Network Ch. 143); Listen on KARS (FM 102.9) and KRDO (AM 1340 and FM 104.7)

Facebook live pregame show: Join Coloradoan reporters Kevin Lytle and Kelly Lyell at 7:15 p.m. Saturday on the Coloradoan Facebook page for a look at the matchup and their thoughts on the game

Twitter updates:@Kevin-Lytle, @KellyLyell

Saturday's weather in Fort Collins: Mostly sunny and windy, with a daytime high of 55 degrees and overnight low of 28. Forecast calls for winds of 20-30 mph out of the north-northwest.

Tickets: All seats available to the general public have been sold, but student tickets and a limited number of $27 standing-room-only remain. Standing-room-only tickets are available by calling 800-491-7267 or 970-491-7267 or in person from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the McGraw Athletic Center Ticket Office west of Moby Arena

Coaches and records: CSU is coached by Mike Bobo, who is in his third season and is 18-14. Nevada is coached by Jay Norvell, who is 1-5 in his first season.

Betting odds: CSU is favored by 24½ points.