On the third day of the 2020 National Football League Draft, the UCF Knights saw another one of its former players drafted to the league. The Buffalo Bills selected Knights receiver Gabriel Davis with the 128th-overall pick, the 22nd pick of the fourth round on April 25.
As product of Seminole High School in Sanford, Florida, Davis lived no more than 30 minutes away from his future collegiate alma mater. He reeled in 152 receptions for 2,447 yards and 23 touchdowns in three seasons with UCF. Davis earned first-team all-American Athletic Conference honors in 2018, when the Knights ended the season with a 40-32 loss to the LSU Tigers in the 2019 PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, and 2019.
In his first season in 2017, Davis caught 27 passes for four touchdowns and 391 yards, helping the Knights to an undefeated season capped by a 34-27 win over Auburn University in the 2018 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. A year later, he nearly doubled his stats: 815 yards and seven touchdowns on 53 catches. Davis’s final season in 2019 was his best: The 21-year-old eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark with 1,241 yards and 12 touchdowns on 72 receptions.
Davis’s 23 touchdown receptions are the second-most in school history; his receiving-yards total (2,447) is good enough for seventh in UCF history; and his 152 career receptions is 10th all-time in program history. Other active UCF receivers in the NFL include Breshad Perriman (2015, first round) and Tre’Quan Smith (2018, third round).
UCF has now had 42 players drafted to the NFL, including 10 receivers and three by Buffalo. Davis joins receiver Bernard Ford (1988, third round) and defensive lineman Torell Troup (2010, second round) as another Bills draftee. Wide receiver Brandon Marshall (2006, fourth round), who was also drafted in the fourth round, is UCF’s most successful NFL product: six Pro Bowl selections and two All-Pro honors.
Under third-year Head Coach Josh Heupel, the Knights have had two players drafted to the NFL: Davis and defensive lineman Trysten Hill (2019, second round).
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