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PROVO — After one of BYU's top running backs from the 2023 season declared for the NFL draft Tuesday, the Cougars went to the transfer portal to find a new ball carrier.
He just happened to be on the roster last year.
BYU running back Miles Davis withdrew his name from the transfer portal "two days ago," he said Wednesday in a text message to the Deseret News, after Aidan Robbins and tackle Kingsley Suamataia both publicly declared for the NFL draft.
A source close to Davis confirmed to KSL.com that he is, indeed, returning to BYU for what would be the rising junior's fourth season after playing in four games as a COVID freshman in 2020 and just two games due to injury in 2021.
Davis' return is no-doubt a welcome return for a Cougars running back room that was looking rather thin following the departure of Robbins to the NFL with one year of eligibility remaining and Colorado transfer Deion Smith to graduation. The speedster and former track star from Las Vegas broke out a year ago with 225 yards on 40 carries in eight games in what is classified as his redshirt freshman season.
LJ Martin, the freshman standout tailback from El Paso, led all BYU rushers last year with 546 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games, while Robbins was right behind with 506 yards and a touchdown.
Davis, who played in just five games this past season, ran for 79 yards in his sophomore season and publicly confirmed on social media that he had entered the portal.
2 Corinthians 5:7 💙 pic.twitter.com/hkp99RYD05
— Aidan Robbins (@theaidanrobbins) December 12, 2023
But after Robbins publicly acknowledged he was giving up his final season of collegiate eligibility after the former UNLV 1,000-yard rusher and Louisville native opted to take his shot at the NFL, Davis — like the "Wolf of Wall Street" — made know that he's "not going anywhere."
"God wants to produce patience in us to slow us down and to show us how to trust in him," Davis wrote in one of his more recent posts on Instagram.
That leaves the current portal contingent from BYU at John Henry and Michael Daley, defensive line brothers out of Lone Peak; wide receiver Dom Henry; graduate transfer long snapper Austin Riggs; running back Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters, the former quarterback and most outstanding offensive player of the New Mexico Bowl who was not with the team this past fall; redshirt wide receiver Maguire Anderson, a legacy recruit from Florida; and offensive lineman Dylan Rollins, who entered his name in the transfer portal while wrapping up his missionary service in Tacoma, Washington.
Only one other running back on the roster, Utah State transfer Enoch Nawahine, saw any snaps on offense during the 2023 campaign. Nawahine played in 11 games, mostly on special teams, but had just one rush for one yard during the Cougars' 5-7 campaign in their inaugural season in the Big 12.
The rest of BYU's running back room comprised of Hinckley Ropati, the former junior college standout whose senior year ended before it began with a preseason ACL injury, and former Tooele High standout Nukuluve Helu, who did not play in a season following his two-year church mission in Fresno, California.
With Martin and Davis in the room, the Cougars' transfer portal search can shift primarily to the offensive line, where Suamataia's departure after starting 22 of 24 games in three seasons since the Orem High product transferred from Oregon will leave a 6-foot-6, 325-pound hole in the line alongside departing seniors Paul Maile, Ian Fitzgerald and Simi Moala, with academic senior Connor Pay (772 snaps in 12 games) and tackle Brayden Game (663 snaps in 12 games) also potentially eligible for the NFL draft.
Aidan Robbins leaving doesn't help, but priorities are still number 1 O-Line...#BYUSN | #BYUFootballpic.twitter.com/KufEoifgOg
— BYUtv Sports Nation (@BYUSportsNation) December 13, 2023
BYU has reportedly identified its next offensive line coach in Georgia Southern's TJ Woods, whose previous stops include UNLV, Utah State, Oregon State and Wisconsin, among others. Woods' signature with the Cougars will not be formalized until at least the Eagles' bowl game Saturday against Ohio, a source confirmed to KSL.com.
"Maybe he can coax Connor back," BYUtv's Spencer Linton said Wednesday morning during his "Sports Nation" television show. "If he doesn't, however, we're talking about replacing four regular starters: a ton of guys with a ton of experience up front. That, to me, is still No.1 — along with someone to compete with Jake Retzlaff at quarterback, and the running back situation."
