Sacred geometry and Puerto Rico: Timarcus Davis stays curious

Timarcus Davis took two steps back, inching closer to the 50-foot light pole at ASU’s Kajikawa Practice Fields. He grasped his plain white helmet in his right hand, his mouthguard, inked to represent the state flag of Texas, slipped through the facemask and dangled from the strap.

Then the Arizona State cornerback readied in his stance. He bent his knees at an obtuse angle, suspended his free left arm straight down, his fingers wiggling and twitching like he was trying to feel something in the air. He dug his Adidas’ cleats in the ground, backpedaling about five feet before bursting forward along the same line.

“I don’t know,” Davis said, “this is like music. It’s almost theatrical because we’re rehearsing our plays over and over again. So you can think of it kind of like music. When you see the safeties, they’re rolling up and we’re rolling back. It’s like music being played -- something you can’t hear but you can feel. Harmonic, I guess. And that relates back to the numbers.”

When you really think about it -- and Davis has -- everything relates back to numbers. To spacing. To patterns. To shapes. To the makeup of our universe. To God. To sacred geometry.

For those unfamiliar, sacred geometry -- at its most rudimentary -- is the meaning associated with certain geometric shapes, patterns, proportions, and numbers. In a sense, how everything relates to everything else.

When he was just a junior at College Station High School, Davis took his mask off. He didn’t want to be like anyone else. Once important things were diminished. He wanted to be truer to himself, wanted to find what God meant to him, sought “to find some purpose.”

He wanted more answers. OK, maybe not answers -- answers don’t often exist in sacred geometry. He wanted more knowledge. He wanted to be able to look around and understand a little more why things are the way they are. He wanted to take meaning in the things he saw and apply it to his own life.

“Just trying to search for the truth, really,” Davis said. “Trying to expand my mind.”

He read books. He scoured YouTube for hours. Once Davis’ interest is piqued, he wants to become an encyclopedia on the subject, holding inside all known information.

Above all else, though, he talked to people. Most of sacred geometry is opinion, the meaning one places on something can be miles off from how someone else views the exact same thing at the exact same moment.

He’s not sure if there are aliens behind the gates at Area 51. He is pretty sure, however, there is life outside of Earth.

“It seems too broad to not be,” he said.

Then Davis paused, looking off into the distance past the football fields, at the darkness beyond the Tempe mountains.

“But if there wasn’t … I don’t know. It’s like, what do we really know?”

Don’t get in skewed, when the 5-foot-11, 175-pound redshirt sophomore cornerback drops back in coverage, he’s not looking for signs telling him what to do. He doesn’t notice the chalked-up blades of grass tilting right and think the receiver will cut that way. He doesn’t see the ball placed on the 22-yard line with two minutes left in the second quarter and think a two-yard slant is on the horizon.

“Nah, this is the playground,” Davis said. “It’s when I go home and I’m in the playbook and I see the numbers on the field.”

He believes sacred geometry has its place in football. Things connect to each other, relate to each other. If a teammate is tired at practice, Davis wonders why. Were they sitting on the couch all day? Did they not stretch? One just does not simply become tired for no reason.

Throughout fall camp, ASU head coach Herm Edwards has spoken to the team at length about mental strength. Davis is locked into those conversations. Among his many fascinations at the moment, how to become mentally stronger is at the top.

Recently, Davis watched a video involving Lewis Pugh, an endurance swimmer who has become famous for swimming in freezing-cold water. In 2007, he swam across the North Pole. In 2010, with just a Speedo on, he jumped in a glacial lake and swam under the summit of Mount Everest.

On multiple occasions, Pugh talked about controlling his breathing. Davis was sold, diving into the topic just as he has so many others. He started researching, listening to testimonials about others who found success controlling their breath. Then he started implementing his findings into his life.

“Just focusing on my breath,” he said. “Because I noticed that when you get around other people, a lot of people have shallow breaths when we’re working out. I know breath can help you control your mind.”

***

In high school, Davis thought he would major in philosophy. Having always been interested in the mind, he debated becoming a neuroscientist. Then he ended up in Puerto Rico.

OK, a quick backstory.

Davis racked up seven interceptions and 71 tackles his junior season at College Station, earning a spot on the All-State Second-Team roster, as voted on by the Texas Sports Writers Association.

A torn left anterior cruciate ligament sustained during the summer took away his entire senior season. Nonetheless, just a few months later, he flipped his commitment from the University of Houston to Baylor. His decision carried with it a very introspective, philosophical announcement.

“‘Why do we close our eyes when we pray? When we cry? When we dream? Or when we kiss? Because we know the most beautiful things in life are not seen, but felt by heart,” Davis wrote in a tweet. “I’m choosing to follow my heart and dreams. Using my mental as my guide. I have recently decommitted from the University of Houston. To follow my heart and commit to Baylor University. Where I WILL receive my degree.”

Under first-year coach Matt Rhule at Baylor, Davis appeared in 11 games but, with a limited snap count, only compiled 10 tackles.

The summer eventually crept up. Davis didn’t have plans -- other than trying not to make the 90-mile drive southeast back to College Station. He heard Baylor was rounding up some athletes for one of their many missionary trips.

They were headed to Puerto Rico. His summer was saved.

“I’m like, ‘Heck yeah I’m going to Puerto Rico,’” Davis said. “I went out there thinking I was going to be on vacation and have fun.”

He landed on the island tucked away in the Atlantic Ocean in late May. The devastation and destruction caused by Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 hurricane that struck in September 2017, was unfathomable.

“It got flipped upside down,” he said.

Davis, and the others from Waco’s private Christian university, aided in the disaster relief. They cleared rubble. They made ravished areas a bit cleaner. They worked hard for the people of Puerto Rico. Most importantly, though, they talked to those people, prayed with them, joked with them, were available for them.

In his white Arizona State jersey, Davis paused. He thought about the encounters he made in Puerto Rico, the feeling he obtained waking up each morning and not working for himself.

“Out here, you’re working for your team and for yourself in the long run,” Davis said. “Waking up in Puerto Rico, it was just different waking up and working for someone else. It was never about me.”

In August, following his return, Davis announced his transfer from Baylor. Captivated by the out-of-the-box hire of Edwards, he landed at Arizona State, which, under former coach Todd Graham, recruited him in high school. There, wanting to further help people down the road, he became an integrative health major.

While redshirting last season, and not even listed on the team’s online roster, he won the 2018 Defensive Scout Team MVP. Now with a year under his belt in Tempe, Davis has been flying around the field, both as a second-team corner and on special teams.

“One thing we love about Timarcus is that dude is an athlete, he’s a freak, freak-of-nature athleticism,” senior corner Kobe Williams said of Davis. “You see him do everything at full speed. He has different stuff to his game he can be great at.”

“He's going to play,” Edwards said of Davis in February. “It's going to hard to keep him off the field."

Last week, when the Devils made their annual trip up to Camp Tontozona, Davis nearly picked off backup quarterback Joey Yellen, later bolting off the edge and blocking a 45-yard field-goal attempt.

The highlight of his time in Payson, however, came during the first day of camp. Fresh off his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, ASU offensive analyst Kevin Mawae came down the dirt path donning his gold jacket.

Practice halted. The players hugged then gathered around Mawae. He challenged each guy to “pour out greatness.” Then the newly-minted Hall of Famer described the moment he stood on the stage when he looked over everyone that helped him reach the pinnacle of football greatness and realized “It’s never about you.”

Thinking back to Puerto Rico, Davis’ thoughts aligned with Mawae’s words.

“It kind of gave me a perspective on football,” Davis said. “A lot of guys are working to go to the NFL, everybody is. I was like, ‘I’ve got a shot to change my whole family’s lives, my children’s children’s lives.’ That’s what I’m doing here now, it’s not about me. It’s about my future family.

“It’s crazy how they’re connecting to things I’m trying to connect to in a whole different way.”

Then a comment was offered to Davis.

That’s like the sacred geometry of you at ASU.

“Pretty much, man,” he responded. “Pretty much.”

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