CALEDONIA, Mich. — This offseason, Davenport football added former Georgia and Temple quarterback D'Wan Mathis to the roster. Mathis will be a part of a three-man battle for the starting job, but the battles he's faced off the field have been much more daunting than anything he's faced on it.
“Some days I’m out here and I’m like man, I really don’t want to do this and then I think about how God gave me another chance to do this, and I think there’s a reason I'm out here," said Davenport quarterback D'Wan Mathis.
In the summer of 2019, Mathis had it all. He was a four-star quarterback out of Oak Park, ready to begin his freshman season with the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned on this journey is never take anything for granted," said Mathis.
Mathis learned that lesson one day that summer in Athens because in the blink of an eye he almost lost it all. Agonizing headaches and sinus pain brought him to the Georgia medical staff, who recognized the signs of a brain cyst in Mathis.
“I wasn’t even able to process anything, it went from I am on my way to the hospital to I am in an MRI, now I’m on the surgery table within 30 minutes.”
Mathis said If the medical staff didn’t realize what he was dealing with he might not be here today.
“My parents got helicoptered there and they didn’t know if they were going to make it and they thought it might be my last time.”
While the surgery was successful, football was the furthest thing from his mind.
“How is he going to wake up from this surgery, is he still going to be able to talk?" “Is he still going to be able to talk, walk, read, be able to process?”
Six weeks later he was physically cleared to work out, a year later he played his first SEC game with the Bulldogs.
“When I finally did make it out of recovery, it just made me thankful. It made me work tremendously hard because I didn’t know if I’d ever play football again.
Since that day in the summer of 2019, Mathis’ football journey has been nothing short of a roller coaster. After a stint with Georgia, Mathis transferred to Temple where he played both quarterback and wide receiver.
Now, back in his home state, ready for his first season at Davenport, Mathis has a new lease on life and he plans to take advantage of every second.
“Just never taking anything for granted, you never know when it’s your last time, I just try to take away all the little things, appreciate breathing and being out here with the guys and having fun.”
Davenport opens its season on Saturday, September 7 on the road at Thomas More.