Washington commit Dermicarus Davis has game and personality to match

Humble and hungry, the talented quarterback nicknamed "Mar Mar' closes out regular season Thursday at home against Damien

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CALIFORNIA — It’s a hot day at Etiwanda High School and the bright sun glints off broken shards of glass in the parking lot.

The day before Etiwanda fell 35-7 to Rancho Cucamonga, rangy Dermicarus Davis was easy to spot while running plays.

“Bull. Left. Drive. Zorro. 53,” Eagle offensive coordinator Bob Baiz calls out. Davis runs the play, as he has for two seasons.

Etiwanda senior QB Dermicarus Davis closes out the regular season of his senior season Thursday against Damien.  / Photo: John Murphy

“He’s a great kid with a great personality,” Etiwanda coach Nick Baiz (brother of Bob) says. “He’s never negative or angry or any of that. And he plays better with the game on the line.”

Davis, after leading Etiwanda to a section title last season and to a winning record this year, will soon be off to the University of Washington on a football scholarship. But the road to Seattle was a circuitous one.

Adversity

Davis, known as “Mar Mar” to family and friends, has a tattoo of a tiger head on his left forearm along with the words, “Humble, hungry, and hunt.”

“Humble enough to do without what I don’t have,” Davis explained. “Hungry enough to hunt for what I want.”

The 3-star Davis wants to play pro football. But it wasn’t always so.

“He was afraid of concussions and all that,” his mother Tinishia Taylor said. “But then he just fell in love with it.”

The Eagle star grew up in the Pasadena area but then his parents divorced, and his mom moved to Upland. Davis enrolled at Upland High as a freshman but that was the COVID-19 year and there was only spring ball.

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He transferred to Serra High in Gardena for his sophomore year. But the Cavaliers had star Maalik Murphy at QB and Davis played junior varsity. He broke his foot in the first game, against Chaminade of Los Angeles.

“It was kind of a setback, so I wanted to get a fresh start somewhere and I had moved to Rancho Cucamonga, right down the street from (Etiwanda),” Davis said. “And my mom’s job is here so I came here for a new start.”

Comeback

Dermicarus Davis led Etiwanda to a Southern Section Division 5 championship in 2022 / Photo: John Murphy

Tall and thin (6-foot-4, 190 pounds) and blessed with a strong arm, Davis was a perfect fit for the Eagles. He threw for 3,390 yards and 21 touchdowns last season in leading Etiwanda to the CIF-Southern Section Division V title game against visiting St. Francis of La Canada.

But things quicky went awry, and Etiwanda trailed by 26 points in the third quarter. Then Davis got white hot, throwing for 267 yards after halftime and completing his last 11 passes in an improbable 45-42 Eagle victory.

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“My head coach (Nick Baiz) told me he believed in me,” Davis said. “There were just a couple of reads where I messed up. I just watched a little film on the iPad at halftime and understood my mistakes. It was just a matter of capitalizing from there.”

Davis finished with a career-high 451 passing yards. He completed 18 of 20 second-half passes. That included a late, fourth-down, 22-yard pass to Jaymiere McDowell that gave the Eagles their first section title since 1990.

Mar Mar

Dermicarus Davis leads Etiwanda into a Thursday regular-season finale against Damien / Photo: Courtesy of 247Sports

Following a 6-0 start to this season, things turned for Etiwanda. The Eagles lost 39-38 in overtime to Chino Hills to open the Baseline League season, lost by 28 to Rancho Cucamonga, and fell 42-28 to Upland in its last game.

“If all three phases of your game aren’t clicking, you can find yourself struggling in this league,” Nick Baiz said. “It’s one of the toughest leagues in the state. But (Davis) was 16 of 19 in our last game. He did a great job of getting the ball to our receivers.”

Heading into Thursday’s home game against powerhouse Damien of La Verne, Davis has completed 150 of 220 passes for 1,983 yards and 22 touchdowns, with only five interceptions. Damien is ranked 16th in the state. 

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So yes, Davis is a star. But off the field, he’s just “Mar Mar.”

“He’s a big comedian – he likes to do Tik Tok videos with his older sister,” mom Tinishia said. “And watching him learn to drive was funny because he drove like an old lady. We were going down Victoria and I was like, ‘Mar Mar, can you pick it up a little bit?’ But he’s a good kid, and an all-around good person.”

John Murphy is the sports editor for Century Group Media of Southern California. Follow him at @PrepDawg2. 

(Photos below by John Murphy)