Devante’s Diary: Crossing off my senior checklist

Welcome, everyone, to the first installment of my blog. I think you’ll enjoy following our team this year — but let’s start at the beginning and talk about the preseason.

Camp last month went well. We competed well on both sides of the ball and there were lots of positives. I was really happy with how it went. It was my last camp and my last time going to practice up in Ely.

Normally, after being there for almost two weeks, you’re ready to get back to Vegas. But because I am a senior and this was the last one for me, on my last day I was kind of nostalgic and didn’t want to walk off the field. As a UNLV player, camp becomes a tradition, and now it was the first thing on my senior checklist that I would be doing for the last time.

In Ely, it’s all football. There’s not much else to do, so we’re with each other all day and night and we really become like a family. If we’re not practicing, we’re playing dominoes or cards or cracking jokes or in the pool — just having fun with each other. You get to learn all the new guys’ names and faces and that’s big for building team camaraderie and friendship.

Last Friday we traveled down to Arizona to play our first game. We had chances in the first half to score but had some mistakes that set us back and let them get up on us. I think we made some plays but needed to make a lot more. They were a good, well-coached team and they got the victory.

This Saturday we play Northern Colorado at home and we’re excited to have a chance to get that bad taste out of our mouths. Just watching Northern Colorado on film, we know they’re going to come out and play. Their defensive coordinator, Larry Kerr, came from Colorado State and the Rams were always ready to play . So we know they’ll have their guys ready.

Going out and playing in front of our fans is something we love to do. We want to show the people in town that if they come out to Sam Boyd Stadium, they’ll love what they see this year. I can tell you that you are going to see a fearless football team that loves to play and is enjoying itself and wants to win games. We love our fan support. You help us get through games, especially when you are screaming on third down, encouraging us. I want you to know that we can hear it and it really helps.

The game starts at 7 p.m. and we can’t wait. It will be the last home opener of my college career — another thing on my senior checklist. We hope to see you all out there.

I want to close by giving a shout out to the newest Rebel, Isaiah Herring (born August 22), who is the son of our quarterback from last season, Caleb Herring. He’ll be coming out to the games soon and we hope you’ll join him in the stands cheering on UNLV.

—Devante

Devante Davis is a senior wide receiver for UNLV. UNLV hosts Northern Colorado on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Sam Boyd Stadium. Tickets are available by calling (702) 739-FANS or visiting unlvtickets.com.