The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1466831
MAY/JUNE 2022 ■ 33 S P R I N G F O O T B A L L 2 0 2 2 BY MATT CARTER hen NC State third- year sophomore de- fensive lineman Da- vin Vann was in high school and preparing for his final home opener at nearby Cary (N.C.) High, he was seen headbutting a teammate during warmups. There's nothing unusual about two football players using that technique to unleash some of their pent-up energy and emotions before an anticipated game. What is strange is to do what Vann did, headbutting a teammate who was wearing his helmet without wearing one himself. Turned out, it was not the only time Vann had done that. The headbutting-players-without- his-helmet days are probably over, but Vann's competitive nature is as intense as ever. "I really don't like losing," he admitted. "I take it personal. I have been working on that, a lot." Since middle school, Vann has been a competitive athlete. That's when he switched his focus from basketball — an experience that "didn't go too well," he admitted — to football. "From there, I tried every sport I could," Vann noted. "It's always been fun to com- pete." Not only did Vann enjoy competition, but he also excelled at it. As a freshman in high school, he took up wrestling, some- what reluctantly, as a way to stay in shape after football season was over. Two years later, he was a state 4-A heavyweight champion. Vann also thoroughly enjoyed track and field. As a junior, he was second in the state in the shot put and won a regional title in the discus. Football, though, is the sport at which Vann broke out. Going into his junior year, Cary hired a new defensive line coach, Coleman Tyrance, who shared with him that he had real potential. "He always told me he never had a player do things like me with the pass rush," Vann remembered. That's partially because Vann, for his size, is a high-level athlete. The 6-foot-2, 295-pounder is capable of doing back- flips. In the spring of his junior year at Cary High, he was laser-timed at 4.65 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the Nike Opening, and he also had a vertical leap of 30.7 inches. Vann was not surprised by the mea- surables he posted. Colleges took notice, especially with his camp performances coming on the heels of a junior season in which he had 13 sacks. He received his first scholarship offer from Louisville. "My junior year was when I realized I was good at football," he said, "but I didn't think I was going to be a Power Five player." When NC State offered, that proved to be a difference-maker for him. His older sister was a Wolfpack women's basket- ball fan, and her affection for the school proved influential. Also, the Raleigh cam- pus was close to home. In the end, Vann said, "It was an easy decision." However, the transition from high school to college wasn't as easy. Vann had to get used to the speed of the game, and he learned that he needed to shift his fo- cus from making an immediate impact to "trusting the process." It didn't help that Vann was part of the freshman class that enrolled at NC State under the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not long after its fall semester began, the university began sending stu- dents home. "It was an interesting experience. … I was moving out of my parents' home, living on my own, but not having a class in person and not walking on campus my freshman year," Vann recalled. "I never got the true freshman experience." That changed in 2021. Students were back on campus, fans returned to the stands, and Vann was becoming more comfortable on and off the field. Developing into one of the Wolfpack's top reserve defensive linemen, he made two starts and finished with 4.5 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks. He put himself into a position to be a pass-rushing mainstay going forward. In hindsight, Vann appreciates the pace at which he was able to mature. "I wasn't thrown into the fire with no- body else to help me," he recalled. "I had a lot of older guys help me." Off the field, Vann noted he has become a much more serious student, extend- ing his competitive desires to the class- room and no longer content to get average grades. "In high school, I didn't really care for academics," Vann confessed. "It was like C's were my goal, but now it's why not do the best I can?" Vann's goal this spring was to improve his ability to stop the run, and he'll also have the added responsibility of showing his younger brother Rylan Vann, a likely center or guard at NC State, the ropes like others did for him when he arrived on campus. Rylan Vann will be a true fresh- man this fall. "Our relationship has improved a lot since we got older," Davin Vann said. "We are a lot closer now. I think it's awesome that we could play together." The younger Vann has that trademark family intensity in him, too. Like his older brother, he is a state champion wrestler. In time, Rylan will learn how to harness the intensity just as Davin is doing. "In some situations, it's an asset, and in others it kind of gets out of hand," Vann confessed. "I think I do a good job of it now. "We're all competitors here." ■ W CONTROLLED BURN Defensive Lineman Davin Vann Has Learned To Channel His Competitive Fire