Not a bad month for 16-year-old Daniel Davie of Beatrice.

Four weeks ago, he won the all-class gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters at the Nebraska high school track meet.

Then Davie went to football camp at Kansas and ran a 4.34 in the 40-yard dash, earning a scholarship offer from Turner Gill.

Then Davie went to Nebraska’s football camp and received an offer at the end of the day. That same day, the Huskers accepted an invitation to join the Big Ten Conference in 2011. (We’ll get to the importance of that in just a moment).

Davie capped the series of events Thursday morning with a phone call to Nebraska assistant Barney Cotton. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound cornerback/wide receiver declared his intent to play for the Huskers.

“Here’s what it boils down to,” Beatrice coach Bob Sexton said. “His upside is tremendous. The University of Nebraska and all these schools know he’s very fast, explosive, he’s a good kid.

“I don’t know how they can miss on him.”

Davie, who had scholarship offers from Kansas, Ohio and North Dakota State, is the 10th known pledge to the class of 2011. He joins Crete offensive lineman Ryne Reeves on the list of in-state commitments.

Davie grew up in Detroit, but the family moved to Beatrice two years ago after the auto industry staggered. He cheered Michigan State throughout childhood.

Bo Pelini couldn’t personally extend a scholarship offer last Friday because he was attending a press conference to announce Nebraska’s acceptance to the Big Ten. Cotton instead made Davie the offer.

“It’ll just be cool to play against my hometown teams,” Davie said. “That’s just icing on the cake.”

Davie has been on Nebraska’s radar since performing well at a Husker camp last summer. He went to four NU home games in 2009. He accumulated more than 1,000 all-purpose yards for Beatrice last season, lining up mostly at receiver. He also can play running back.

At the state track meet in May, he said he wanted to win the 100 and 200 in part to make an impression on Nebraska. He grabbed golds with times of 10.73 and 21.95.

As a football player, Davie is still a bit raw — he doesn’t turn 17 until later this summer. He’ll play mostly running back this fall.

“He looks night and day different at our football camp now than where he was last year,” Sexton said. “He’s making great reads and cuts and obviously doing them fast.”

Pelini, who also spoke to Davie on Thursday morning, told the prospect that Nebraska was recruiting him as an athlete. The Huskers would find a position for him when he arrived.

That’s 14 months away. Hopefully for Davie, the future goes as well as the last four weeks.

“I wanted to go to state and win the 100 and 200,” Davie said. “Then I wanted to go to camp and earn an offer. I did that, so this year’s definitely been big for me.”

Contact the writer:

649-1461, dirk.chatelain@owh.com

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