Big commitment: 6’8″ Davin Berry commits to U of R Rams

Davin Berry is expected to provide a big boost for the University of Regina Rams – both literally and figuratively.

The towering offensive lineman has committed to play U Sports football with his hometown Regina Rams.

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“He’s big guy. He’s massive – six-foot-eight, 300 pounds – but not only that, he checks every box you look for in a recruit,” said Rams head coach Mark McConkey.

“He’s super athletic. He’s a high-level football player. He’s one of the top recruits on our board, and he’s been on our board since he was in Grade 10 when he first started playing football.”

McConkey said the Rams have been after Berry for multiple years.

“To finally have him officially commit and sign this past week was awesome,” the head coach said.

“It’s been probably one of our biggest signings of the year. He’s just a freak athlete, really good basketball player, really good football player, and he’s going to be a special player for us for four years before he goes and plays professional.”

The Riffel Royals’ offensive lineman was widely recruited across the country, with even some schools in the United States taking a look at him.

“I even had other U Sports coaches call me who were recruiting him and trying to get them there. They said, ‘Hey, nice job. That’s a big time signing – keeping a player like that local and staying here.’ So even other coaches realize how big of a signing it was for us,” McConkey added.

Big is an appropriate word to describe Berry, even when he first arrived at Riffel as a Grade 9 student.

“I haven’t grown that much in high school. Like, I think I was in Grade 9 and I was like six-foot-five or six-foot-six already, so only a couple inches in the past couple years,” Berry said in a previous interview.

“It’s always funny, because whenever I’m walking through the hallways I can just see everybody’s top of their head. A lot of people might be intimidated by me before they really meet me, but then once they get to meet me they know I’m a nice guy and everything.”

Riffel football coach Derek Pilon had heard rumblings that an athlete of Berry’s size would be coming to the school.

“You hear these rumours about kids coming in, and you’re like, ‘OK, we’ll see when he actually shows up.’ Then, when you see him on the first day of Grade 9 and welcome week, it is like, ‘Holy! OK, the rumours are true,’” Pilon said.

But Berry had never really played football prior to coming to the school, so Pilon had some convincing to do.

“I think after a while, he thought about it, he thought he’d give it a shot, but still in regards to saying basketball was his first sport,” Pilon said.

“Once he realized how good he was in football and how much fun it was, he started to transition from football taking the lead in terms of his favourite sport, and kind of looking to go a post-secondary in that aspect.”

Berry said he remembers how much interest he was getting from the football coaches.

“I remember my first day of Grade 9. I got talked to by the head coach and the defensive co-ordinator. All the football coaches immediately wanted me just after seeing my height,” Berry said.

“I never really got into tackle football until my Grade 10 year at Riffel High School. So that’s when I really started to get into football, and I eventually made the switch from primarily playing basketball into playing football in Grade 11.”

Davin Berry didn’t start playing football until Grade 10, despite getting a lot of interest when he walked in the doors as a Grade 9 student. (Derek Pilon/Submitted)

Berry quickly turned into one of the best players the Royals had on the field, and was named the team’s most-improved player in Grade 10, the most important offensive lineman in Grade 11 and then the co-winner of the Royals offensive player of the year in Grade 12.

But according to Pilon, he’s also one of the best players off the field.

“Very smart kid, like high academics in the 90s, so he’s very organized in terms of his athletics and balancing that with his academics. Quiet, but hard-working, really dedicated, really nice kid, great, parents that raised him the right way,” Pilon said.

“He’s one of those generational type of kids that you come in contact with and you’re like, ‘Wow, this kid.’ You’re probably never gonna see another one of those come through these doors.”

While he’s excelled at football, Berry is still putting some time in on the basketball court as well.

“I’ve played (basketball) basically all my life. I’m a pretty good player, but in Grade 9 I won the city championship with the junior team. Grade 10 I won the senior city championship, and then in Grade 11 I also won the senior city championship, so I’m going for another city championship this year,” Berry said.

But his future in sports will see him on the gridiron, something he was excited about even before he committed to the Rams.

“I didn’t expect this, especially only starting to play football in Grade 10,” Berry said.

“I’m glad I have the opportunity to do, so I’m hoping to have a lot of fun in post-secondary football. Hopefully go pro as well.”