Just a few months ago, Davin Wydner was all set to stay in the Orlando area and start his college career as an invited walk-on at UCF.
He had chosen the Knights over Rutgers, a childhood favorite of his after spending the first 13 years of his life in New Jersey.
Wydner, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound quarterback from Cocoa, Fla., grew up with baseball serving as his first love. His father, Dan, played for the London (Canada) Werewolves of the Frontier League, so baseball got the lion’s share of his attention.
When his family moved to Florida, “I kind of had a feeling football was going to be my calling and then my freshman year of high school, I was the starting quarterback on varsity at my first high school,” Wydner said. “ really felt that was something I could do with my life.
“When I started throwing the football around and playing football, I was like, ‘You know what? Quarterback is my spot. I love being the guy that’s in control and win, lose or draw, I want to be the guy to accept that failure,’ so quarterback was the thing that drew my attention. …It was a very long road to get to where I was today.”
Months ago, the coaching carousel turned, and for Wydner, that meant opportunity came calling. South Florida offered Wydner during his career at Cocoa High School. The Bulls’ offensive coordinator at the time was Charlie Weis Jr.
“Coach Weis was a really big fan of me and my film and so that was what kind of started the whole thing,” Wydner said.
Weis was hired at Ole Miss in January, replacing Jeff Lebby, who left to become the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. A couple of months later, Weis jumped in Wydner’s DMs. The direct message, Wydner said, was telling Wydner the Rebels needed a quarterback in the 2022 class and asked him to visit Oxford.
“My whole goal of going to college was being in a college town and I always looked at myself as a Power-5 quarterback and a Power-5 player,” Wydner said. “So when I really got the chance and me and my family sat down after my Ole Miss visit about three weeks ago, we thought it would be best that I go with a coach that I really respect and have a really good relationship like I do with Coach Weis, so in the end, it was almost a no-brainer to go to Ole Miss. It was kind of one of those things where it was a match made in heaven.”
Wydner talked to coaches and other mentors around Cocoa and they all said the same thing.
“They all told me that Oxford is the definition of where you want to play college football,” Wydner said. “A lot of people cherish these Friday night lights and stuff like that in Florida and hearing that Oxford was the place to be and a true college town, it kind of spoke to me. Having the opportunity one day to possibly play for a team like that and help a team win in a city like Oxford, it really kind of drew my attention.”
Wydner will report to Oxford in the coming days. He has no delusions of immediate grandeur. Instead, he knows there are no promises but lots of work to do.
“They have a quarterback battle in itself going on right now in Oxford,” Wydner said. “They just told me to come in, work my hardest and kind of get acclimated to an SEC West body and who I’m going to be playing against and the schedule I’m going to face. They just told me to come in, compete my freshman year, get some really good reps as a freshman in practice. There was obviously no guaranteed playing time as a freshman, but as a sophomore, depending on transfer portal things — (Luke) Altmyer and (Jaxson) Dart are NFL prospects, so if one can’t play, maybe one will go in the portal; you never know nowadays with this transfer portal business — as a sophomore I’ll have a really good shot to compete for that second-string or third-string job. Come my junior year, when Jaxson or Luke goes to the NFL Draft, they said it’s up to anybody.”
There has been speculation, of course, that an athletic prospect with Wydner’s frame could one day help at a position other than quarterback. For now, at least, Wydner is laser-focused on chasing his dream.
“As of right now, my whole goal is to be a college quarterback and an NFL quarterback,” Wydner said. “If things done’s pan out that way, maybe my athleticism can take me another route, but right now, it’s 110 percent being a quarterback.”
Wydner has an NIL deal with Lifestyle Bands, a deal still very much in place as he heads to Oxford.
“I’m really grateful for that opportunity,” Wydner said.
