Wisconsin Football: WR Danny Davis Will Return for 2021 Season

On Monday evening, the Wisconsin Football program received some excellent news as well as a huge boost for the 2021 season. Wide receiver Danny Davis announced on Twitter that he will be returning for his fifth year of eligibility.

Davis joins several other key members of this Badgers team to return for one more year. A few of which include Jack Sanborn, Jake Ferguson, Caesar Williams, Faion Hicks, and fellow wide receiver Kendric Pryor.

Davis is a former 4-star recruit from the 2017 class, and he made his impact felt right away. As a freshman, Davis totaled 418 receiving yards at 16.1 yards per catch with five touchdowns. He had identical production during his sophomore year, although he was targeted more often, and in 2019, Davis caught 30 of 34 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown.

Unfortunately, this past season, Davis — along with Pryor — battled injuries. He would only play in Wisconsin’s first two games against Illinois and Michigan, totaling three receptions on seven targets for 78 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Graham Mertz, however, had a passer rating of 123.8 when targeting Davis.

The Badgers would finish 4-3 in 2020, and as we all remember, struggled to move the ball with any consistency on offense. They didn’t have the same dynamic run game as they had in years past without Jonathan Taylor, and Mertz fought accuracy and confidence issues. When it was all said and done, the 25.1 points per game that Wisconsin averaged ranked 84th in the nation, and their 345.6 yards per game ranked 103rd.

With that said, a young quarterback playing without his top-2 receivers for much of the year doesn’t help things either.

With Davis back in the fold, the Wisconsin offense gets a much-needed downfield threat, and an experienced receiver, who has appeared in 34 games over his career and totaled almost 1,200 receiving yards with 12 touchdowns.

After Wisconsin’s Bowl win over Wake Forest, there was some uncertainty around what the receiving corps would look like in 2021 for the Badgers. But now Mertz will have a full year to work with Davis and Pryor; Ferguson is back at tight end, along with Chimere Dike, who had some flashes as a freshman. Not to mention incoming 2021 recruits Skyler Bell and Markus Allen as well.

All stats via Pro Football Focus ($)