D.J. Davis will be entering his second season at North Dakota in 2025. In his first campaign as the running backs coach, Davis' backfield became one of the strengths of the offense. His running backs produced nearly 2,000 yards and 21 rushing touchdowns, while the offense churned out 194.9 rushing yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry.
Junior Sawyer Seidl, who led the team with 897 rushing yards, worked his way into UND's top 10 charts for single-season rushing touchdowns after finishing with 13 ground scores and earned second team All-MVFC honors under Davis' tutelage. Three different running backs scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to put away UND's opening-round 31-6 playoff win at Tennessee Tech.
Davis joined the UND staff after previously serving as the running backs coach at Lenoir-Rhyne. With the help of his leadership in 2024, the Bears reached the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs with a record of 10-3. Throughout the year, his running backs averaged 111.7 yards rushing per game. Alex Boyd, the leading rusher on the team, ranked No. 5 in the conference in rushing touchdowns (8) at the end of the season.
Before his time at Lenoir-Rhyne, Davis served as a graduate assistant at Charleston Southern in 2022 and was a graduate assistant at Southern Illinois in 2023. Under his direction, the Salukis reached the second round of the FCS playoffs in 2023.
He received his start in coaching as a running backs coach for Deerfield Beach High School in 2020 and held that position until 2022.
Prior to coaching, Davis was a running back for the Salukis and totaled 2,697 career rushing yards. His career rushing mark currently sits No. 5 in school history and he also hauled in 112 career receptions, which sits No. 11 in SIU history. He piled up five 100-yard rushing games as a senior and graduated from Southern Illinois in 2020 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. He is currently working on his master's degree in sports administration at SIU.
