Former Maryland star Vernon Davis was among the 167 players nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025, the league announced on Wednesday. This marks the first year that Davis is eligible after last playing in 2019 given the mandatory five-year waiting period.
Davis shined primarily with the San Francisco 49ers during his 14-year playing career, totaling over 7,500 receiving yards and 63 touchdowns on 583 receptions. Davis started for the 49ers in all 16 games from 2008 to 2012 before being traded to the Denver Broncos in 2015 where he went on to become a Super Bowl champion. The Maryland native ended his career in Washington where he posted over 1,700 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.
Despite playing just three seasons at Maryland, Davis still finds himself in the program’s record book in multiple categories. His 871 receiving yards in 2005 still marks the seventh-most in a single season, while his three touchdowns vs. Duke in 2004 has him tied with four other players – including WR Tai Felton – for the second-most in a single game. After staring at nearby Dunbar, Davis made his decision to become a Terp as then-assistant Mike Locksley built a close relationship with his family.
“A story about Vontae Davis, who I recruited out of Dunbar in DC. My taking players to church started with Grandma Adeline, who raised Vontae and Vernon. I recruited Vernon to Maryland then she said, ‘I thought you said Maryland was the place’ and then I took Vontae to Illinois. And she said ‘well if he’s coming out there, he’s got to go to church every Sunday, coach. You know how I am.’ And so, every Sunday that Vontae Davis was at Illinois, I had to take him to church. I wasn’t the guy that went every Sunday but because I sat in her living room and told her I would, I did. And it became a thing to where after the first time I took him, a bunch of players said ‘coach, I want to go to church.’ Next thing I know, we’ve got 35, 40 players going to church and Illinois goes to the Rose Bowl,” Locksley said after the spring game.
Davis was also back in College Park for the Big Ten opener vs. Michigan State, as was his son, 2026 Bishop McNamara TE/DE Jianni Davis.
Meanwhile, former Maryland defensive analyst NaVorro Bowman was among the 20 linebackers nominated. Bowman spent the 2023 season as a defensive analyst working with the linebackers before reuniting with the Los Angeles Chargers and first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh as the new linebacker coach in 2024.
“I had Navarro Bowman. [He] was an analyst who came and worked under us and we gave him some skills and helped him to where NaVorro is one of those guys that I think can be like a Jerod Mayo,” Locksley said at Big Ten Media Days.
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