Davenport has extra incentive

Published 11:24 pm Wednesday, September 19, 2007

SEATTLE — Leaning against a wall surrounded by reporters Wednesday, clad in his usual black hooded sweatshirt, there was a touch of desperation tainting Byron Davenport’s usually happy demeanor.

Heading into the season, the game at UCLA was already going to be big for Davenport, who played for the Bruins before deciding to transfer for personal reasons. But a pair of hamstring injuries have put in doubt how much, if at all, Davenport will be able to play against his former team.

“Going back against UCLA is cool, it’s a plus, but I just want to get out there,” said Davenport, who sat out last season while attending junior college. “I gotta get out there.”

Davenport figured to come in and battle for a starting cornerback spot, but pulled his left hamstring in the first week of fall practice. He finally recovered from that, only to injure his right hamstring two days before the Huskies played Boise State. He managed to play briefly in that game, but aggravated the right leg injury while making a tackle for a loss on his first play as a Husky. Davenport played only four plays in that game, and did not play against Ohio State.

“This whole injury thing has been frustrating,” he said. “I hurt my left one, get that one better, then my right one goes out. Being on the sideline against Ohio State, it was pretty tough. I just want to be out there.”

Davenport said he practiced Tuesday, though he didn’t participate in all of the drills. The plan was to do more Wednesday and see how the right leg responds (he said the left hamstring injury is fully healed). No decision has been made yet on what his role will be Saturday, but Davenport is confident he will be with the team on the trip and on the field.

“It’s kind of important that I make this trip,” he said. “Not just because it’s UCLA, but because it’s time. This whole injury thing has been holding me out, but it’s time now.”

Tyrone Willingham sounded like he expects Davenport to help take the burden off of Washington’s thin secondary this weekend.

“We don’t know yet [what Davenport[`]s role will be], but if he’s healthy and his conditioning is good, then I would imagine we’ll probably use him fairly significantly in that rotation,” he said.

Davenport, known then as Byron Velega, spent two seasons at UCLA, redshirting his first year and playing in 12 games the next season. He said in an interview last month that he never wanted to be at UCLA, but that his stepfather forced him to play there. Davenport eventually cut ties with his stepfather, left UCLA and changed his name.

If he is able to make the trip and play, he will see plenty of familiar faces, including Bruins cornerback Rodney Van, a classmate of Davenport’s from grade school through high school, where they both played for Long Beach Poly.

When he talks about going against Van and other former teammates, Davenport’s familiar smile returns.

“The thing is, nobody has really been able to see me play yet, but those guys know how I am,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of talking. It’s going to be crazy. Those guys know what type of dude I am. It’s going to be a lot of talking back and forth. It’s going to be fun.”

Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington Sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog