Michigan State Football: Felton Davis III reveals he was denied 5th year by NCAA

Felton Davis III is a Michigan State football fan favorite and he was closing in on legend status before an Achilles tear ended his senior year six games early.

He was carrying the offense through the first six games of 2018 after a breakout 2017 season and then one sharp cut ended up as his last in a Spartan uniform as he went down with a non-contact injury against the Wolverines.

Fans knew right then and there that it was probably the last time they’d see the budding star in the green and white, and it was a defeated feeling.

But the NCAA could have made an extra year happen.

I got a chance to ask Felton a hypothetical question that I received a surprising answer to on my podcast, A Podcast Divided, on Thursday night. I asked: if COVID-19 happened in the season of his injury and he was given a free year to come back in 2019, would he do it? His answer surprised me.

Without hesitation, he said “oh yeah” and then explained that he was trying to return for a fifth season with the Spartans after suffering that season-ending leg injury which was never made public. In true NCAA fashion, his request was denied.

You can hear his part of the podcast around the 1:13:26 mark below.

Hearing him say that he applied for a fifth year and an injury redshirt and that he was denied despite writing a handful of letters and doing the math on how many plays he actually participated in as a freshman was disheartening.

The NCAA could have helped out a player who was in the middle of his playing career when the new rule came out that you could play in four games and still redshirt and yet didn’t let him retroactively utilize that. He recorded stats in just two games as a true freshman and played in just 20 total plays, but because it spanned over seven games, he was denied.

Felton played in just five games as a sophomore and six games as a senior before his season was cut short in the middle of the sixth contest due to the Achilles tear. Yet the NCAA didn’t think that was good enough for a medical redshirt.

That’s a bad look for the NCAA.

What could have been for Felton, Michigan State football

It’s hard to play the ‘what if’ game, but if Felton came back, a lot could have turned out differently.

Felton would have been a No. 1 receiver and Cody White wouldn’t have had to shoulder the load for Brian Lewerke’s aerial attack. The offense also probably wouldn’t have been so lifeless.

Lewerke had a nice bounce-back year, throwing for over 3,000 yards and 17 touchdowns with a near 60 percent completion rate. He looked like he was closer to getting back to his old self but with a receiver like Felton on the roster to complement White, he may have thrown for over 3,500 yards, at least, with 20-plus touchdowns. And the interception numbers would have gone down.

We could have seen Lewerke drafted after a year like this, Felton may have approached 1,000 receiving yards and played himself back into a draft prospect, shedding the worry about his Achilles by NFL scouts, White may have returned after playing the WR2 role and not quite having a huge year, and Mark Dantonio may still be around — he could have helped lead MSU past Arizona State and the momentum would have been in the Spartans’ favor heading into the Ohio State game.

Imagine a 5-0 Michigan State team with a decent offense and confidence heading into the Ohio State game. It may not have resulted in a win, but it wouldn’t have been a demoralizing loss.

The same could be said for the Penn State, Wisconsin, and Michigan games.

The NCAA ultimately made a poor decision to not give a kid who recorded stats in seven games in his first two seasons and suffered a season-ending injury in the sixth game of his senior year a medical redshirt and if it did the right thing, Michigan State might look completely different.