By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
SPRINGFIELD – Freshmen usually have a hard time cracking a varsity football team’s lineup.
But a year ago, Effingham County’s Jmere Doe-Davis smoothly nestled into the Rebels running back mix with region Player of the Year A.J. Butts and Jayden Evans, who was a 1,000-yard rusher two years earlier.
Doe-Davis also contributed as a defensive back and a kick returner on special teams.
“I just came ready to practice and put in work and give effort to get more playing time throughout the season,” he said.
It was a strategy that worked. The 5-foot-8, 155-pounder averaged nearly 12 yards a touch (15 carries for 171 yards and four receptions for 56 yards) out of the backfield and 33 tackles with an interception and fumble recovery in the defensive secondary.
Now an experienced sophomore, Doe-Davis, who earned honorable mention all-region honors during his first year, won’t change his approach despite a clear path to playing time after Butts and Evans graduated.
“(Jmere is) soft-spoken, but a hard worker. He’s mature beyond his years,” ECHS coach John Ford said. “He has unbelievable balance, great vision, and a great burst.”
With great anticipation, Ford watched from afar two years earlier when Doe-Davis, as an eighth grader, helped Ebenezer to a Coastal Middle School region championship.
A year later, Doe-Davis was a Rebel, playing in the team’s preseason scrimmage against Screven County. On a simple, off-tackle run, he stripped the Gamecocks’ quarterback of the football and sped about 75 yards in the opposite direction for a touchdown.
“You see a play like that and realize he might be a ninth-grader but he’s got something you just don’t teach,” Ford said.
From birth, Jmere might have been destined to be special. He said his godmother pitched the name ‘Amere’ to his mother. According to the website Seven Reflections, the name Amere means “Powerful and Complete.”
But mom had the last say and changed the A in Amere to J.
Jmere picked New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara, a powerful and complete running back, when describing his running style. Kamara can run between the tackles or bounce to the outside in space. He’s also a threat catching the ball out of the backfield.
Against Brunswick, in a game that determined the region championship, Doe-Davis did his best Kamara impersonation, slipping through a hole on the left side of the line before breaking three tackles and sprinting 26 yards for the first touchdown. ECHS won 31-28 and claimed its first region title since 1995.
“I’m just trying to grind. I want to get more yards to help the team this year,” Doe-Davis said. “I want to be a 1,000-yard rusher. We’re trying to win a state championship.”
ECHS has a scrimmage against Wayne County on Aug. 8 before kicking off the season for real against Houston County on Aug. 23.
