Although Fort Worth Dunbar defensive back D.J. Davis didn’t publicly announce his commitment to Texas A&M until Saturday at the U.S. Army All-Star Game, he kind of knew where he wanted to go all along.

“I probably decided whenever Coach Fran got there” he said.

You mean as in December 2002?

“Yeah” he replied. “Really, I knew where I wanted go but wanted to give other schools a chance.”

What was the main thing that you liked about him?

“I went to a camp at TCU in eighth grade when he was there. He seemed like a fair coach. He was teaching me college football like the older kids.”

But other schools were always in the mix…

“I tried to keep the same outlook but A&M was up there at the top of my list” he said. “But I really wanted to take trips and to be open when I took my trips”.

“Penn State was my first trip so I put A&M on the back burner at the time. During the season I was still thinking about Penn State (his high school favorite) big time. I didn’t want to go on the trip and think of A&M in that way and not have any fun. I wanted to be open minded.”

“On my Penn State visit (October 3) I didn’t know what to look for. I didn’t have too much fun at Notre Dame (November 1). Missouri (December 5) was phenomenal. I’d never heard about the stuff they did before. Going from two boring trips to an ideal trip - that one blew me away.”

So A&M had a lot of work to do going into Davis’ official visit on December 12 although Davis treated the visit like he did all of the rest.

“I didn’t want to put anyone in front of anyone else the week before A&M” he stated. “I wanted to have an open mind like I did on my other trips. I didn’t want to be biased going into it.”

Okay, so you’ve told us about Coach Franchione and his influence. What was it that caught your attention about A&M?

“We went out as a group. I noticed these guys hang out together both in and out of the program. At Penn State and Notre Dame, the players went out separately and didn’t get together. At Missouri, they went out separately but they wound up together. A&M players went to the same places at the same time. If someone wasn’t having fun they would suggest another place and go there.”

“The atmosphere… the players. Especially me being close to home so my folks can see me play. That weekend I thought to myself ‘I can go somewhere I want go and parents really want me to go and they can see me play.”

The Saturday night of the A&M visit is when he made up his mind and told his parents he wanted to go to A&M (“I kind of just told them and of course they agreed”). From there, Davis wanted to make sure he was in control of the process.

“After I took my trips I wanted to announce. But at the same time, I wanted to call off the dogs. I had everyone on the edge of their seats.”

(It worked, didn't it?).

And now that he’s made his announcement, played in the prestigious U.S. Army All-Star Game, and gotten back to Fort Worth, what are his plans?

“Run track in the spring, graduate from high school, pack my bags, and go to A&M as soon as possible.”

The 6 foot, 180 pound Davis becomes A&M’s 13th verbal commitment for 2004.