JAGUARS TE TYLER DAVIS POST-DRAFT SELECTION

(On how he transitioned from a high school quarterback to a tight end and if any colleges recruited him as a QB) “Yeah. So, I went into UCONN as a QB, I redshirted my freshman year and was planning on playing QB my whole career. Then it came up to the time where I was going to be eligible and we had a cemented starter in place at the time that took us to a bowl the year before. And the head coach at the time, Bob Diaco, came up to me and he said: ‘Tyler, you’re too athletic to be holding a clipboard on the sidelines, we need to put you somewhere.’ So, he said what about TE and at first, I was hesitant about it and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it since I was a QB my whole life. But I took it because I’m a team guy and I wanted to do what was best for the team. Ever since that day, I just worked as hard as I could to become the best tight end I could possibly be and its crazy that we are sitting here now and I’m a new member of the Jacksonville Jaguars as a tight end.”

(On his conversations with the Jaguars regarding how they would like to use him and about his transition into the NFL) “Yes. So, it would be a lot of the same stuff I’ve been doing in college. Like I said, putting your hand in the dirt and then being able to play off the ball. Just do both and be able to use my athleticism to set up mismatches across the field. So, it’s been about that.”

(On his ability to participate in his Pro Day and how much of an impact it made on being drafted) “Yeah. How about that? I got really lucky. Huge. Huge impact because the night before my Pro Day, I had about a 45-minute conversation with a scout for the Jaguars and I knew that they were pretty interested. He was interested to see what kind of day I was going to have. Then I had my Pro Day and I was lucky to get it in and he saw the numbers after he said we will for sure be in touch after those number I put up. And then probably the next week or so I got a call from Coach [Ron] Middleton and he was just interested to see what I could do and then he watched my film more and more. I think just the interest grew building up to this thing and I’m just so happy that it ended up in Jacksonville.”

(On his experience going to a school with a young football program and how he will fit into a young Jaguars team) “So, going to Georgia Tech, like you said, was a really young team then and I think that was a big reason why I went there was to be a leader. And it’s just crazy when I went away for a couple months to train and to prepare for Pro Day and I come back, and a lot of the young guys are doing the things that I taught them about without me saying anything. Just seeing the impact, I had on those people, that’s what I do it for. That’s what this life is all about is making an impact on people, a positive impact on people. Those young dudes over there at Georgia Tech mean the world to me. They know that. I would do anything in the world for them. Literally anything. And going into a young team, I might be one of the youngest now coming in as a rookie. It will be an interesting perspective to see how things go, but like I said, I’ve been a part of a young team and I just can’t wait to see this side of it.”

(On where he’s training) “I’m on Long Island now, back home.”

(On who has the best pizza – Long Island, New York City or Connecticut) “Long Island. I’m going to give Gino’s of Bellmore a shout out here, they deserve it.”

(On if he wants to still be a Wall Street guy down the road) “Yeah, I would. It’s funny when people ask me that question. There’s a lot of, believe it or not, the way that I was as a kid I was always so fascinated by the stocks and how charts work and all that and I always just compared it to football because all you’re doing on the charts is just following a pattern and you’re looking for tendencies. That’s what I did as a kid, just looked at the graphs and tried to find tendencies in the graphs just like you do tendencies of a defense when starting at defense, so there’s a lot of carryover in my life that I used for that and it’ll be cool to be able to do that once this is all said and done. Hopefully I can play football for a good amount of time, you know, we’ll worry about that later on down the road.”

(On all the celebrating in the background) “Yes, I had to come to the backyard because I was getting blown up so much. People driving by, honking and there’s some people waiting out there right now that I can see over across the fence back there, just ready to congratulate me and it means the world. All the neighbors came out right when it happened too and it’s just an awesome experience and something that it’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”

(On scouts calling him “Travis Kelce Lite”) “Well, I watch a lot of tight ends and I think Travis Kelce is one of the top guys that I watch. He is a phenomenal tight end, I mean he’ll go down when he’s done as one of the greatest tight ends that has ever played this game. So of course, I try to emulate him and to be exactly what he does and study a lot of what he did the last year and just his whole career. I went back and started watching things he did at Cincinnati when he was back in college, just trying to be like him so I can see the comparison because I watch him myself. If I could be a little bit like Travis Kelce, I’d be a pretty good football player at the end of the day with how good he is. So, for sure, he is a guy that I watch.”