Twin brothers are almost always close, and that’s certainly the case with Carlos Davis and Khalil Davis.
Both were standout athletes at Blue Springs High School in Missouri, and both earned football scholarships at the University of Nebraska.
Khalil Davis was the Cornhuskers’ defensive player of the year in both 2018 and 2019, and the defensive tackle had eight sacks as a senior and was team leader in tackles with 45. He had 116 takedowns during his playing days in Lincoln.
Carlos Davis, meanwhile, finished his Nebraska career with 125 tackles and nine and half sacks from his defensive end spot, but also became an All-American in track and field.
Today, both are professional football players.
Khalil Davis helped parlay a standout 2023 season with the United States Football League’s Birmingham Stallions into a roster spot with the Houston Texans, and now it’s Carlos Davis – a member of the United Football League Stallions – who hopes to use Birmingham as a springboard back to the NFL.
Thing is, they were almost teammates on the 2023 squad.
Carlos Davis was signed by Birmingham in October, 2023, but released from his contract two months later when the Atlanta Falcons came calling.
Khalil Davis stayed in the Magic City, ending his lone USFL season with 29 tackles and a sack.
So, did Carlos Davis ask for any brotherly advice when he was re-signed by the Stallions in January?
“Heck, yeah,” the All-UFL nose tackle said on Wednesday. “I mean, that was my whole decision. I really wanted to play with Khalil when he first did it, but I didn’t know too much about (the league). So, I kind of watched him go through it and then I was sold about halfway through the season.
“I went to about five games, so I knew some of the players and I had met some of the guys, and it was just the best fit for me, to be honest.”
Carlos Davis has seven sacks this season, putting him in a tie for second most in the UFL. He has 13 solo tackles and 10 assists, including four tackles for 29 yards in losses.
He has also forced and recovered a fumble, and helped the Birmingham defense become one of the stingiest in the circuit.
“There’s multiple things we can do to disrupt the game, but it starts with us up front,” he said. “We take pride in being that group that just kind of gets the defense going and just stepping up. We’ll disrupt the game any way we can, batting balls down – I mean, to me that’s more demoralizing when a quarterback’s trying to throw and we swat one down.
“So, any way we can disrupt the game, we’re going to do it.”
One off-the-field disruption came with the change at defensive coordinator. In late May, John Chavis and the Stallions parted ways. That moved Corey Chamblin to the DC role and Dr. Anthony Blevins – originally tapped to be head coach of the XFL Vegas Vipers before that team was dissolved in the XFL/UFL merger – was added to the staff.
“Both of them just have a couple of different styles of coaching,” Carlos Davis said. “With Coach Chavis, we were limited a little bit and could only run certain things. But after he stepped away, we just were able to open up the playbook a little bit more, and just do a little bit more things.”
Carlos Davis hopes a winning game plan is in place for his team’s third meeting with the Michigan Panthers. The teams clash in the USFL Conference Championship Game at Protective Stadium on Saturday, and Birmingham is looking for a sweep of their rivals after topping them 20-13 on April 7 and 20-19 last Saturday.
“It really just comes down to the coaching and everybody buying in,” he said. “I feel like every group is bought in and you know, we trust the coaches and we listen to them and they give us a great game plan to go out and execute.
“It’s really on us to go out there and do what they ask.”
Once this season is over, Carlos Davis wants to get back to the big league. He was on the active roster for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2020-22, and has 12 NFL tackles on his resume. And while he’ll listen to all offers, he really hopes a club running a 4-3 defense will give him a look.
“I’ve seen the production coming from a 4-3,” Carlos Davis said. “I’ve had a little bit of production on the 3-4, but honestly, I’m trying to go to where I can create the most plays, and that’s a 4-3 defense.”