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‘He put recruiting on the front page’: Catching up with Forrest Davis
Posted on 6/15/20 at 9:12 am
Posted on 6/15/20 at 9:12 am
quote:
Before there were 24-hour online college football recruiting updates, before there were internet sites dedicated to individual team recruiting, before there was even an internet, there was Forrest Davis.
The Birmingham-area native wrote about and talked about recruiting in a variety of print publications, on the radio and on television for nearly 30 years beginning in the late 1970s. In that time, Davis took what was once a little-discussed-but-always-important facet of college football into something that fans devoured with nearly as much enthusiasm as they did the games between the lines.
At its height in the 1990s, the Forrest Davis Southern Football Recruiting Annual was printing and distributing 50,000 copies per year, counting Hollywood legend (and ardent Florida State fan) Burt Reynolds among its subscribers. Davis also wrote a regular column during recruiting season in the Birmingham Post-Herald.
As both a host and a guest, Davis made regular appearances to discuss recruiting on numerous radio stations across Alabama. And he later hosted Countdown to Signing Day, a show dedicated entirely to college football recruiting, which aired on the SportSouth cable network out of Atlanta.
To help identify the top recruits in the Southeast, Davis relied on conversations with recruiting coordinators at the various schools in what was then the Southeastern Conference footprint — the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. In those days, one could call assistant coaches in their offices, and they would usually either pick up the phone or return messages.
By 1979, Davis had formed a friendship with Ben Cook, a longtime Birmingham sports writer and radio personality. Cook (who died in 2015) was then editor of the SEC Sports Journal, a Sporting News-style magazine that focused on football and basketball.
One day, Cook suggested Davis begin writing a football and basketball recruiting column for the magazine. It was so popular that in 1981, Cook, Davis and business manager Ken Flowers began publishing a mail-order recruiting newsletter, the Gold Star Recruiting Guide, which they continued in various formats for the next five years.
It was during this time that Davis first came up with his now-ubiquitous “power rating” system, ranking prospects from one star up to five.
‘He put recruiting on the front page’: Catching up with Forrest Davis
Posted on 6/15/20 at 9:19 am to paperwasp
Still doesn’t explain why Georgia does less with more.
Posted on 6/15/20 at 9:57 am to paperwasp
I absolutely remember Forrest Davis. My dad bought his recruiting guide every year. He was following football recruiting before it was cool.
Posted on 6/15/20 at 10:41 am to Captain Crown
He was a trend setter and I will give him that. His bama bias was also evident and I think that did not help him. He was the one that said Tyler Watts was NFL ready out of high school.
Posted on 6/15/20 at 10:49 am to Auburn80
Asked what he thought about this Peyton Manning kid out of Louisiana, Forrest said "well, he's no Freddie Kitchens."
Posted on 6/15/20 at 10:56 am to Aight is Enough
quote:
Asked what he thought about this Peyton Manning kid out of Louisiana, Forrest said "well, he's no Freddie Kitchens."
When was Manning an NFL HC?
Posted on 6/15/20 at 10:56 am to paperwasp
I remember hearing him on the radio in Atlanta on occasion. His bias regarding Alabama was rather comical. Every big time recruit, anywhere in the South, had Alabama on their short list.
Posted on 6/15/20 at 11:03 am to paperwasp
Ah yes, the good 'ol days
Posted on 6/15/20 at 11:04 am to ALA2262
Kitchens was a Bama QB back in the day
Posted on 6/15/20 at 11:56 am to paperwasp
Davis had two grading standards:
Is the player likely to go to Bama?
Or not?
Your Forrest Davis Grade depended heavily on the derived (or already announced) answer to this important question.
If memory serves, ol’ Forrest had Tyler Watts winning three Heisman Trophies as soon as Watts put pen to paper on his Bama LOI.
Is the player likely to go to Bama?
Or not?
Your Forrest Davis Grade depended heavily on the derived (or already announced) answer to this important question.
If memory serves, ol’ Forrest had Tyler Watts winning three Heisman Trophies as soon as Watts put pen to paper on his Bama LOI.
Posted on 6/15/20 at 12:06 pm to bunkerhill
quote:
remember hearing him on the radio in Atlanta on occasion. His bias regarding Alabama was rather comical. Every big time recruit, anywhere in the South, had Alabama on their short list.
You could tell it was nothing more than hobby that he attempted to turn into a business. His "recruiting guide" had the quality of a grocery store newspaper.
I don't think he put much effort into it compared to guys like Jamie Newburg.
Posted on 6/15/20 at 12:38 pm to RD Dawg
quote:
You could tell it was nothing more than hobby that he attempted to turn into a business. His "recruiting guide" had the quality of a grocery store newspaper.
I don't think he put much effort into it compared to guys like Jamie Newburg.
Davis started his recruiting magazine before anybody ever heard of Jamie Newburg. Davis was also the original host of Countdown to Signing Day before Newburg. As much as Davis promoted Alabama, Newburg tried to tear it down. I remember the night before signing day one year and Newburg swore some major player in the state of Tennessee was UGA bound. The guy signed the next day with Alabama, and I reminded Newburg about it on an open chat at Bamamag forum. He denied saying it, which was a lie. Screw liars.
Posted on 6/15/20 at 2:07 pm to ALA2262
quote:
quote:
Asked what he thought about this Peyton Manning kid out of Louisiana, Forrest said "well, he's no Freddie Kitchens."
When was Manning an NFL HC?
Well, when was Freddie?
I mean, didn't he spend a year proving he wasn't?
Posted on 6/16/20 at 12:29 pm to BLG
quote:
Davis started his recruiting magazine before anybody ever heard of Jamie Newburg.
Joe Terranova and Max Emfinger were doing recruit/recruiting analysis before Forrest Davis's balls dropped.
This post was edited on 6/16/20 at 2:14 pm
Posted on 6/16/20 at 1:14 pm to paperwasp
this guy was the father of the "Bama Bump." If a 2 star from Gordo signed with Alabama by the time the ink was dry Davis somehow gave him a 4 and was "a rising star!" Consequently if a guy who Alabama thought they had committed wound up signing with Auburn,Tennessee, etc he went from a 5 to 4, 4-3, etc.
This post was edited on 6/16/20 at 1:16 pm
Posted on 6/16/20 at 1:24 pm to BLG
quote:
Davis started his recruiting magazine before anybody ever heard of Jamie Newburg. Davis was also the original host of Countdown to Signing Day before Newburg.
WGAS? Doesn't mean he didn't suck at it and he was one of few doing it in South.
Like him or not, Newburg was more organized, intelligent and had a much bigger grasp of players all over the country.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 3:21 pm to beatbammer
quote:. What’s he up to these days?
Max Emfinger
Posted on 6/16/20 at 3:56 pm to I-59 Tiger
quote:
this guy was the father of the "Bama Bump"
He's been collecting REC checks for years
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