Comforts of Home: Northwest’s Markez Davis is part of LSU’s recruiting surge

by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

He’s not accustomed to receiving such phone calls.

Northwest High football Chris Edwards was on the other end of a conversation six years ago from an assistant coach from one of his feeder schools in St. Landry Parish – Lawtell Elementary – altering him of a fifth grader named Markez Davis.

“He said you can’t let this one get away,” Edwards said. “We’ve typically had kids that had gotten taken away from us. He said that he was a generational talent, that I had to work on him now. I visited him (Davis) every year to make sure he was going to be a Raider.”

Davis arrived at Northwest High, located in Prairie Ronde outside of Opelousas, as a freshman and promptly helped the Raiders to the Division II non-select state semifinals against Cecilia. He was also a starter on the team’s basketball team that advanced to the state quarterfinals.

He contributed game-changing plays to the success of both teams, signaling a bright future that came closer into focus last week when the 6-foot-3, 180-pounder cornerback prospect became the school’s first player to commit to LSU.

During their freshman year I’ll ask certain kids of their dream school,” Edwards said. “Markaz said it was LSU. He told me when he got to their campus, and if they offered, he was going to commit and that was before the official visit.”

Davis’s potential on defense was built in a short amount of time. The standout wide receiver didn’t play defense until the final two games of the regular season – wins over Crowley (37-0) and Iota (45-14) – to give him experience and help bolster the Raiders’ secondary.

Edwards said Davis, who is coached by former LSU starter and Port Barre All-Stater Daniel Franic, had two interceptions in the playoffs where Northwest (7-5) advanced to the state regionals, falling to eventual state champion Iowa.

“People were starting to take notice because of his length,” Edwards said. “He’s definitely an exceptional athlete. Once I started to see what coach (Davis) was doing with him at cornerback and how it was starting to translate, I could see he was good at this. It kind of took off from there.”

That was the starting point for Davis, a three-star prospect, toward becoming a hot commodity. He’s rated the nation’s No. 28 cornerback and state’s No. 15 prospect according to On3.

Davis made official visits to LSU and Houston and also received scholarship offers from Mississippi State, Texas Tech and West Virginia.

Not only did he become the first commitment from Northwest High headed to LSU, he’s also the state’s fourth player to choose the Tigers along with tight end Ahmad Hudson of Ruston, four-star quarterback Peyton ‘Pop’ Houston of Evangel Christian Academy and four-star wide receiver Braylon Calais of Cecilia.

“His highlight tape was 95% receiver stuff,” Edwards said. “His first clip in basketball was him taking off from free throw line and dunking it which gets your attention. Northwest’s not known for it because people don’t come this way. They may start coming more now.”

Davis showed he belonged on the varsity level as a freshman.

“You could see the kid was going to be special,” Edwards said. “He made big catch after big catch for us. He started in basketball and made a big game-winning shot. So, we knew the moment wouldn’t be too big.”

Northwest upset No. 6 Wossman (24-14 and No. 3 Assumption (46-44) to reach the state semifinals during Davis’s freshman year in football.

Edwards said it was after the team’s loss to Plaquemine the following season in the regionals, 49-34, that he convinced Davis to give cornerback a try.

“I told him that if we had had some defensive backs that would have changed that game,” he said. “He said he was going to start working.”

Davis caught 33 passes for 668 yards with 10 touchdowns his first two years. The Louisiana High School Coaches Association made him an all-state honorable mention selection at wide receiver in 2025.

With athletes spread out in different sports Edwards it was difficult to have spring training and conduct a spring game, something he hadn’t been able to do the previous eight years.

Because of the interest in Davis and wanting to further expose him to college coaches, Edwards said he pushed the start of spring practice back two weeks.

Northwest hadn’t hosted a group of coaches so large as the one that arrived during the spring. 

LSU was among the Power 4 Conference schools along with Florida State, Houston, Texas Tech and West Virginia, which were by joined Alabama-Birmingham, Grambling State, Louisiana Tech, Nicholls State, South Alabama, Texas State, Tulane and UL.

“I told Markaz we were going to have to do something because people wanted to come by and see him, here’s your chance to be great,” Edwards said. “He was drawing so much interest. They were all at practice videoing Markaz and the camera always caught one or two more kids.

“I couldn’t wait for him to get with (LSU defensive backs coach) Corey Raymond,” Edwards said. “I told him (Raymond) to just sit tight, let him develop and he may be ready. He’s always been that guy since the sixth grade. I told (Davis) to trust the process, and you could be a Sunday (NFL) guy. That’s why they’re coming at you.”

Francis brought Davis, who has scored in excess of 1,000 points in basketball, to work out at LSU’s camp and the Tigers extended an offer on May. 30. Following official visits to LSU and Houston, he committed to the Tigers and canceled scheduled trips to Texas Tech and Tulane.

“There was never any question,” Edwards said. “He did some things at camp, and they liked what they saw. I told him not too many kids get to be coached by Corey Raymond. The fact that he’s identified you without being a cornerback says a lot. He’s got faith and trust in you. There’s no place like LSU on a Saturday night.”