WHEELING — Whenever a college athlete transfers to a new school there is some amount of guesswork involved. Javon Davis’ ties to the Ohio Valley run so deep, however, that transferring to the Wheeling University football team this offseason was more akin to returning home than going to a new school.

“It’s going to be emotional coming back home,” Davis said after the Cardinals’ practice Wednesday. “But I’m just super excited, I can’t wait to play.”

A 2018 Steubenville graduate, Davis originally matriculated to Indiana University (Pa.) to continue his football career. After receiving sporadic playing time across the last four seasons, Davis decided to look elsewhere to continue his collegiate career and ended up back home in the Ohio Valley with the Cardinals.

“I’m really excited and I know my parents are too,” Davis said. “It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive for them (to IUP) and my grandparents weren’t able to come see me a lot. Now with me being a hop, skip and a jump away, it’s a lot easier for them to come see me.”

Davis, who led Rid Red to an Ohio state championship as a senior, has been named the starting quarterback for the Cardinals’ season-opener against Seton Hill at Bishop Schmidt Field next Thursday.

“We have a countdown clock and every time I go into the locker room, I pass it and take a peek at it,” Davis admitted. “I just can’t wait.”

Davis beat out returning fifth-year seniors Trent Jackson and Chad Palmer for the starting job. Head coach Zac Bruney said Davis has simply been the best quarterback during his time on campus.

“He’s had the best camp and he had the best Spring so the best player wins the job,” Bruney said. “But there’s still plenty of room for improvement and there’s plenty of competition there.”

The Cardinals are looking for more consistent play out of its signal-callers this year after three players saw time under center in 2021 and the position was fluid throughout the season.

“He came to us in January so he had the ability to be here for a full offseason,” Bruney explained. “Right away he jumped right in and meshed real well with the guys. The buy-in was right where it was expected to be from a bona fide leader and a bona fide winner.

“He understands what it takes to be good and he understands that it’s hard to win.”

Davis learned how to win from one of the absolute best in Steubenville head coach Reno Saccoccia — who became the winningest coach in Ohio history last week with win No. 402.

“Discipline is the biggest thing,” Davis said of playing under Saccoccia. “That determines how good you’re going to be, how disciplined you are. Discipline was probably the biggest thing I took away from him.”

Winning was something Davis did a lot of in high school, especially as a senior when he quarterbacked Big Red to a perfect 15-0 record en route to winning the 2017 state title. That season he threw for 2,081 yards and 25 touchdowns and saved the best for last when he scored six times in the state championship.

“That whole entire day was surreal,” Davis recalled of the 50-36 win over Clinton-Massie in 2017. “It’s everybody’s dream to do that in the state championship game and I’m just grateful that I was able to step up and fulfill that.”

Davis’ history in the Ohio Valley — and with Bruney — goes far beyond his time at Steubenville, however.

The older generations of football fans will recall Davis’ father, Jose, and uncle, Nate, who both starred at quarterback for Bellaire in the 1990s and 2000s and both went on to have highly-successful college careers and Kent State and Ball State, respectively.

Go back a little further, however, and Bruney’s father, Dave, enters the story. As Davis tells it, his grandfather and Dave Bruney were high school best friends when the pair attended Martins Ferry High School several decades ago.

“Dave Bruney was best friends with my pap in high school,” Davis said. “My pap went to Martins Ferry with the Bruneys so that connection goes back a long way.”

As fate would have it, Jose Davis and Dave Bruney would eventually end up coaching on opposite sides of a local rivalry when Davis took over as head coach of Bellaire in 2009 and Bruney was in the midst of his Hall of Fame coaching career at Martins Ferry.

To throw one additional connection in the mix, Zac Bruney’s brother-in-law played alongside Nate Davis as a wide receiver at Ball State.

“Football’s funny because it brings people together and families together in a really unique way,” the younger Bruney said.

Now, all these years later, that familial connection continues at Wheeling University.

“We’re excited to have him back (in the valley),” Bruney said. “And I’m sure the people in this area that saw him grow up and saw him play at a high level in high school are excited that he’s here with us.”

Davis’ Wheeling debut will come in less than a week when the Cardinals open the season at home against Seton Hill next Thursday at 7 p.m.

“Now that I’m closer to home, it makes me feel a lot better,” Davis said. “Especially getting my family here to watch me play.”