COLLEGE FOOTBALL: WAVERLY’S DAVIS TO PLAY SPRINT BALL AT MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY (May 12, 2026)

By TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
WAVERLY — Waverly senior Daltton Davis signed his National Letter of Intent here Tuesday to continue his football career with the Mansfield University Sprint program.

Sprint football is a fast-paced, full-contact intercollegiate sport with the same rules as traditional college football, but with a maximum weight limit of 178 pounds. It also emphasizes speed and agility over raw size.

“It's different, but it'll be nice,” Davis said. “No one can be heavier than, like, 185 pounds, so everyone's around your size, so I think it'll be a lot more fun.”

He doesn't have to worry about the weight restriction as he never played close to either weight for the Wolverines and never competed at a weight higher than 145 in his two seasons with the wrestling team.

Davis is hoping he will play slot receiver for the Mountaineers and he feels like he has plenty to offer the program.

“I feel like a lot, to be honest,” he said. “Speed, a little bit of everything, but I think that's about it really.”

“The great thing about the Sprint sport is Daltton is the perfect size for it,” said Jason Miller, Waverly’s football coach. “He would've been able to compete at Division III level.

“What I love about it is the fact it's a quick game, it's a passing game in a lot of ways, and he's our first player to go play Sprint there, so he's going to continue his success. They're going to throw the ball and he's going to have an opportunity to contribute.

“(He’s a) dynamic receiver. Does a great job after the catch, and I'm excited to see him go there.”

Davis also realizes there are several areas in which he can improve in order to benefit the program.

“Everywhere almost,” he said. “Get stronger, get faster, as fast as I can. Just everything a receiver needs to be better, just get better at that.”

“He's going to compete,” Miller said. “It's not necessarily the mental side of it. He's competitive. Doesn't like to fail, likes to be successful.

“I think that no matter who it is, what level they're going to, the transition to being really just a full-time football player, you get to really focus on your skills.

“It's going to be a new offense once again for him, so just getting familiar with the people around him, getting new teammates, going out and competing every day in practice to earn a spot, earn a position, earn playing time, and sometimes that's not an easy transition for kids.

“I think Daltton will be able to transition quite well and adapt. And he's learned, in a lot of ways, that the only way to survive is to adapt and take it one day at a time, and he's going to have to have that approach in college football.”

Davis knows how to battle. Hodgkins Lymphoma ended his junior wrestling season early, but he fought back and reached the podium in seventh at the NYSPHSAA Division II Wrestling Championships as the third-place qualifier out of Section IV. The top two competitors at the sectional tournament finished as the state champion and the runner-up.

He is also playing baseball this spring — second base for the state-ranked and recently crowned STAC Central Division champion Wolverines.

As for football, he was back on the field about six months after being diagnosed with cancer.

Earlier this year, Davis was presented with the New York State High School Football Coaches Association’s "12th Man Award," given to a player who has faced and overcome substantial adversity during the past year.

Waverly athletic director Rich McIntosh noted that Davis was a seventh team Class B all-state selection, which is pretty impressive considering the high level of competition in New York, not to mention Section IV. As a receiver, he had 38 receptions for 602 yards.

On the wrestling mat, he went 42-12 and was the STAC champion at 138 this past season. He also had six other top five finishes.

Waverly wrestling coach Devan Witman said, “Ever since you came over (from Athens), Dalton, you’ve been a Wolverines and you’ve been a leader across all the platforms and that you’ve come across. Whether it’s on the field, on the mat, in the classroom, you’ve been through a lot man, right? And you’re going to be remembered at this school for not what you had, but how you overcame it and the success that you had.

When it came time to pick a school, the university itself, as well as the people he met there, were big drawing cards when Davis made his decision where to continue his education and football career.

“The campus was really nice,” he said. “All the coaches, they were very nice, and the players, I know a lot of them from old school, so it was just nice, and everyone's very nice there.”

Also nice is the fact Davis will be playing his home games less than one hour away from the Valley.

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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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