Topic: Anthony Davis

Anthony Davis (born September 8, 1952) known as "AD", is a former American football running back. He played in the World Football League, the Canadian Football League, the National Football League, and the USFL. Davis played college football at the University of Southern California.

Anthony Davis was a college football All-American in 1974, and led the USC Trojans in rushing, scoring and kick return yardage for three consecutive seasons. He is long remembered for scoring 11 touchdowns in three games against Notre Dame. In a 45-23 USC win on December 2, 1972, he scored six touchdowns which set a school single game record. Two of those scores came on kickoff returns He returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown after the Irish won the coin toss and chose to kick. Later in the game after the Irish scored on a short pass and narrowed the Trojans' lead, he returned the following kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. In his career as a Trojan he returned 37 kickoffs for 1,299 yards, an NCAA record 35.1 yard average. His six career kickoff returns for touchdowns are also an NCAA record as well as his kickoff return average of 42.5 yards in 1974, which is the highest kickoff return average for any single season leader ever. He was also the first Pacific-8 Conference player to rush for more than 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons – 1,191 in 1972; 1,112 in 1973 and 1,469 in 1974. In all he carried the ball 784 times for 3,772 yards and 44 touchdowns. In his senior year (1974) he was a unanimous Consensus All-American selection. Davis was also a two time (1973-1974) first team All Pac-8 Conference selection. He was also the third multiple recipient of the W.J. Voit Memorial Trophy, awarded each year to the outstanding football player on the Pacific Coast. Davis won the Voit trophy in 1972 and 1974.

On November 30, 1974, he started an amazing rally which brought the USC Trojans back from a 24-0 second quarter deficit against #4 ranked Notre Dame to a 55-24 win. Just before halftime he scored on a 7 yard lateral pass from quarterback Pat Haden. Davis found paydirt a second time on a 102-yard kickoff return to open the second half. With only 3:25 elapsed in the third quarter Davis scored a third touchdown on a 6 yard run. Then with still 8:37 left in the same quarter, Davis added his fourth and final touchdown of the game on a 4 yard dash, dropped to his knees, went into his "endzone dance" , then added a two-point conversion and the Trojans had the lead 27-24. Incredibly, Davis had scored 26 of the Trojans' first 27 points.