Ray Davis Selected by Buffalo Bills in Fourth Round of NFL Draft

Kentucky senior running back Ray Davis was chosen in the fourth round by the Buffalo Bills as the 128th overall pick in the 2024 National Football League Draft, it was announced Saturday in Detroit.

Davis, a graduate transfer from San Francisco, transferred to Kentucky in 2023 after two seasons at Vanderbilt (2021-22) and two at Temple (2019-20).  In his lone season with the Wildcats, he had one of the best single-season performances in school history with 199 carries for 1,129 yards (11th on UK’s single-season list) and 14 rushing touchdowns. He also caught 33 passes for 323 yards and seven scores, totaling 21 touchdowns, a single-season school record. Davis became the 11th player in school history to reach 1,000 rushing yards in a single season. His seven receiving touchdowns are the most touchdown catches in a season by a running back in school history and led all running backs in the Football Bowl Subdivision in the ‘23 season. His 126 points also were a single-season school record.

Davis was named a Second-Team All-American by Sports Illustrated and was a First-Team All-SEC choice by the Associated Press, Phil Steele and USA Today. The league’s coaches voted him to the All-SEC Second Team.

Davis is believed to be the only player in NCAA history to total at least 1,000 rushing yards in a career at three different Division I schools (also Temple and Vanderbilt). He also became the first player in Southeastern Conference history to have 1,000-yard seasons at two league schools, also running for 1,042 for Vanderbilt in 2022. He had the fourth-most career rushing yards among active players in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (3,641).

In two seasons at Temple, Davis totaled 1,259 rushing yards and nine touchdowns, along with 27 catches for 243 yards and two TDs.

Davis’ two seasons at Vanderbilt featured 1,253 rushing yards, including his 1,042-yard campaign in 2022.  He totaled 34 pass receptions for 196 yards and three TDs as a Commodore.

In the classroom, Davis graduated in 2022 from Vanderbilt with a degree in communications studies. He earned an undergraduate certificate in business from UK in December of ‘23.

The 2024 NFL Draft presented by Bud Light kicked off Thursday, April 25 at 8 p.m. ET with the first round. Rounds 2-3 were Friday, April 26 at 7 p.m. ET and Rounds 4-7 are Saturday, April 27 at noon ET in Detroit’s downtown Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza. All rounds will be covered on NFL Network, NFL+, the NFL Channel, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.

 Kentucky/NFL Draft Notes:

• This is the fourth straight year that UK has had at least three players drafted, the first time that has happened since the 1987-90 drafts.
• Davis is the 27th player drafted who played under head coach Mark Stoops at Kentucky, the third player in the 2024 draft, joining defensive back Andru Phillips and linebacker Trevin Wallace. Twenty-three of those selections have come in the last six drafts.
• Davis is the third Kentucky running back since 2019 to be drafted. Benny Snell Jr. was drafted in the fourth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2019 and Chris Rodriguez Jr. was drafted in the sixth round of the 2023 draft by the Washington Commanders.
• UK has had at least one player taken in the first three rounds in six straight seasons, the first time that has happened since the 1975-80 drafts.
• There have been seven other Wildcats drafted by the Bills in Dave Gash (1962), Tom Hutchinson (1963), Will Grant (1978), Jerry Blanton (1978), Rod Stewart (1979, supplemental), Carwell Gardner (1990) and Stevie Johnson (2008).