University of Georgia Athletics
Davis In Good Company At Georgia
May 13, 2026 | Track & Field, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
For most of the past decade, there has been a Jordan Davis competing for the Georgia Bulldogs. The current Jordan Davis is a javelin thrower. Before him, there was Jordan Davis, the equestrian rider, and before her, there was the massive 6-foot-6 and 340-pound defensive lineman Jordan Davis on the football team.
Most famous, and by far the biggest of the bunch, was Jordan Davis, the Georgia football player, who terrorized offenses as an All-SEC defensive lineman and helped the Bulldogs have one of the greatest defenses ever en route to the national championship at the end of the 2021 season. That Jordan Davis, a Bulldog from 2018-21, also won the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024.
The equestrian-riding Jordan Davis was a freshman in the fall of 2021, and went on to a good career in the Horsemanship discipline that included helping the Bulldogs win the program's eighth NCEA national championship in 2025. She also earned multiple NCEA All-Academic First Team honors.
Georgia's current Jordan Davis, a powerful, 6-foot graduate transfer from Wallingford, Conn., has a lot more in common with the football player than the equestrian rider. In fact, he played football for two seasons at Division II Southern Connecticut State while also competing on the track team. Davis was a running back and receiver, and in 2022, he had 43 carries for 242 yards and four touchdowns; he also caught six passes for 54 yards.
"It was fun while it lasted," he said of his football career. "I started getting better with track, and figured sacrificing one would be best, and football is the one I sacrificed."
Throwing the javelin and running the football do have some things in common. Both require mental and physical strength, and the sharper your technique is, the better.
"I feel like my mindset is more aggressive (than most throwers)," he said. "It's like, if I put my mind to it, I'm going to do it. When I decided I want to track full-time, I was all in, and there was nothing really to stop me."
In the spring of 2022, after giving up football, Davis won the NCAA Division II national championship with a throw of 72.54 meters (238 feet 0 inches). He placed fourth at the NCAA meet the following year, and last season, his breakthrough year distance-wise, he threw 83.77 meters (274-10) at a regular-season meet, and then won his second NCAA title with a throw of 84.45 meters (277-1).
After sitting out last season, Davis transferred to Georgia, where he has continued to excel. His season-best mark so far is 80.38 meters (263 feet 8 inches), which ranks third in the country so far this year and fourth all-time at Georgia. Texas A&M's Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi has the best throw at 84.68 meters (277-10 feet), and Keyshawn Strachan of Nebraska is second (81.86/268-7). Georgia teammate Nick Reynolds ranks sixth at 77.55 meters (254-0).
Davis said a big reason he came to Georgia was Associate Head Coach Don Babbitt, who has been one of the top throws coaches in the world for decades.
"He's the greatest," Davis said. "He's switched my mindset on everything. I thought you just need raw power to be successful at this, that you just need to hit the weight room and then go down and just throw it as hard as you can. He showed me that's not at all what you need.
"The best throwers in the world aren't all super strong. They're technicians. He taught me that it doesn't matter how strong you are if you can't throw it right. I used to lift five days a week, and now I'm only lifting three times, and I'm just as strong, and my technique is better. He knows his stuff."
On late Thursday afternoon at the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Davis will compete for a conference title. After that, he will try to win his third national championship and his first one at the Division I level. He will then continue to train at Georgia as a professional.
"I'm staying here," he said. "I mean, I can't lose a coach like Babbitt. It's definitely an honor to be under him and be at a school like Georgia."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
