2021 Mountain West Football Top 50 Players: #33, Hawaii CB Cortez Davis

The Warriors defender is the highest-ranked cornerback on our countdown of Mountain West football’s best heading into 2021.

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The conference’s premier shutdown corner.

With a lot of good quarterbacks in the Mountain West, it’s rarely easy to be a defensive back… unless you’re the caliber of player who can make our annual countdown of the conference’s top performers like our next entry.

Hawaii’s Cortez Davis flew under the radar throughout his first season as a starter in 2019, when he picked up 53 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a pick-six to go along with 13 passes defended, but 2020 only burnished his case as perhaps the Mountain West’s top cornerback. Davis became the second Warriors defensive back to make the all-conference team, joining Mike Edwards from 2012, after making 30 tackles, forcing two fumbles, and generally doing things like holding Romeo Doubs to one catch for ten yards in Hawaii’s upset win over Nevada.

The Decatur, Georgia native was so good in 2020 that offenses began paying the ultimate respect of avoiding him altogether: According to Pro Football Focus, he was targeted at a conference-low 11% rate. As the leader of what now looks like a stingy secondary, Davis is in a prime position to be a difference maker as Hawaii takes aim at stunning the doubters to claim another West division title.

"It just means all my hard work is starting to pay off. The goal is still to get to 1st team."
Honorable Mention ➡️ 2nd team All-@MountainWest.
Each season #GoBows CB Cortez Davis (@1Tez_Davis) continues to improve.

📝 @c_shimabuku 👉🏼 https://t.co/UXzNsajdd8 pic.twitter.com/bBSixWNxna

— Alan Hoshida (@AHoshidaSports) December 15, 2020