The Senior Bowl turned some heads down in Auburn when the game’s initial list of participants went out due in part to one name not being on the list — Deshaun Davis.

The Mobile native is, of course, the heart and soul for one of the SEC’s best defenses, not to mention the unit’s leading tackler. Davis’ exclusion from the list was an eyebrow raiser, to say the least.

During his recent media availability, Davis was asked to share his thoughts on not being immediately selected to his hometown game.

“I wasn’t frustrated. A lot of other people were frustrated, tagging me in posts. My uncle sent me something on someone starting a petition — I had nothing to do with that, at all,” Davis joked. “It was all a surprise to me. I never got frustrated, I always kept my faith in God.

“I felt like if it was for me, it was for me. If it wasn’t, it wasn’t. I’m glad I got that phone call.”

Yes, the Senior Bowl did finally reach out to invite Davis and actually recorded the moment in a video that has since gone viral online. It appears that was the game’s intention the entire time, which was a relief to Davis and his supporters.

While the Auburn linebacker is thrilled to finish out his college career back home in front of his supporters, he also expressed how uninterested he would be in landing an invite based solely on being a Mobile native.

“What I didn’t want to happen was to get an invite because I’m a Mobile native. I know some people think, ‘Oh, he’s just getting an invite because he’s from Mobile or whatever the case may be’ but I feel I’ve showcased enough of my talents to be able to compete with the best of the best,” Davis said.

He clearly has and while he had to wait a bit longer than some, the call finally came.

When it did, it brought out a ton of emotion from Davis and his teammates.