‘Tough Tony’ still earns nickname
Andrea Hoy/First Down
Davis
By Steve Sipple
First Down Reporter
Nebraska freshman defensive line coach
Tony Davis says he coaches his players just
as “tough” as he used to run as a fullback
from 1971 to 1975.
Davis earned the nickname “Tough
Tony” during Ins playing days at Nebraska
because of the punishment he inflicted on
several defenders. He rushed for 2,495 yards
during his career, including 1,008 as a so
phomore.
Davis, who is now in his first season as a
Huskcr coach, is instilling that same lough
ness in the defensive players he coaches.
“He’s still that type of person,” Nebraska
Ircshman coach Shane Thorell said. “For
defensive linemen, that’s die type of player
they need to be. There in the trenches, it’s
pretty physical. Tony lets them know v> hat it
takes to gel the job done and and lets them
know when they don't get their job done.”
T'X_' ..._1
Davis agreed.
“It might be that I'm lough,” Davis said.
“I loll my players two things: No. I, they'd
better hit, and No. 2, they’d belter hustle. II
they don t give me hustle and they don't hit,
they won't play.
“They know il they don’t meet my expec
tations, they’ll meet my wrath,” he said.
“But I love them. They're my own.”
Though Davis makes his players work.
1 horell said, he keeps a good rapport with
them.
“II you don’t know him, you might think
he's hard on them." he said. “But (the play
ers) like him. He jokes around a lot with
them.”
Da\is, who was named most valuable
player in the 1974 Colton Bow land the 1975
Sugar Bowl, said that coaching defensive
players after being involved w uh offense for
22 years isn’t difficult because of his attitude
toward football.
“My attitude is kind of a defensive atti
tude to start w ith, he said. “1 wasn't a big,
fast gu\, but 1 liked hitting. 1 want my kids
to play like that. It's kind of natural for me
to coach defense, really.”
Davis said he plans tocoach the Nebraska
freshmen this season and next, and then get
a major college coaching job “as soon as
possible. He said being able to put Ne
braska on a resume w ill help.
“What do you think?” Davis asked. “If
you ha\e on \our resume that you coached
at Nebraska, that's about as good as you
get.”
Da\ is was a fourth-round draft choice of
the National Football League's Cincinnati
Bengals in I97f> and earned team mvp hon
ors the following >ear. He played for the
I am pa Ba> Buccaneers from 1979 to 1982,
and then l unshed Ins professional football
See DAVIS on Pacie 13
