NFL prospect Ray Davis opens up on his incredible journey from homelessness to the NFL Draft… after becoming a star running back at Kentucky to make it as ‘the 1 percent’

NFL prospect Ray Davis has described himself as ‘the 1 percent’ after surviving homelessness and putting himself on the cusp of his football dream.

Davis, who played at Kentucky last season, grew up in foster care in San Francisco while his parents were reportedly in and out of prison.

But after a hugely productive 2023 season in which he racked up 1,129 rushing yards and 21 total touchdowns, Davis is expected to be called up later this month.

“Statistically, I’m the 1 percent that got out of the situation I was unfortunately in, but I made it,” he said. said at the NFL Draft Combine.

‘I’m not doing this for myself. I do it for many other kids who are in that situation, if not an even worse situation. To know that I can provide a platform and be a speaker for the kids who don’t have that, that’s the reason I keep going every day, that’s the reason I keep fighting.”

According to The Athleticshe went to a foster home at the age of eight and lived in a homeless shelter at the age of 12.

He played at Kentucky last season and racked up 1,129 rushing yards and 21 total touchdowns

“The system was against me and everyone told me I wasn’t going to make it,” he told reporters at the Draft Combine in February. “When they look back in ten or twenty years and have to look me in the eye again one day, I want them to say, ‘I’m sorry.’

He was later cared for by his former teachers, Ben and Alexa Klaus, for three years, while the mother of an ex-basketball teammate of his later became his temporary guardian.

When his father was released from prison around the same time, he regained custody of Ray, allowing the teenager to be sent across the country to Trinity-Pawling boarding school in New York.

There, Davis established himself as a star athlete, but playing in college wasn’t easy, as he was still one credit short of graduating, according to The Athletic.

Davis, featured at the NFL Combine, is expected to be a mid-round draft pick later this month

So after impressing again during a prep year at Blair Academy in New Jersey, he embarked on a college tour that spanned Temple, Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

Davis finished his college career with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, and is now projected as a “good backup with starter potential.” NFL.com.

“I want to be known as someone who kept fighting, who tried to beat the system, who gambled on himself, who against all odds didn’t fold, didn’t buckle under pressure and attacked it head-on,” he said. . ‘This is how I attack life.’

The NFL Draft starts on April 25.