Gator Nation is sending well wishes to one of its own this weekend. Former Florida running back Malik Davis, the Tampa product who spent five seasons in Gainesville, has been placed on injured reserve by the Dallas Cowboys after a hip injury that required Saturday surgery and will cost him the entire 2026 season, via the NFL transaction log.
Davis was carted off the practice field Friday at The Star in Frisco, just two days before Dallas opened the year against the New York Giants.
Reports followed quickly that Davis would undergo hip surgery and land on IR. The team made it official Saturday, signing Israel Abanikanda from the practice squad to take his roster spot.
For a player who spent years fighting his way up from undrafted free agent and practice-squad limbo, the timing is especially cruel.
Davis had won the backup job behind starter Javonte Williams after a strong training camp and preseason. Last season he finally got a real look, rushing for a career-high 250 yards and two touchdowns on 52 carries, including 103 yards on 20 attempts in a Christmas Day win over Washington.
That grind was familiar to anyone who watched him at Florida. Recruited out of Jesuit High in Tampa, Davis played 46 games for the Gators from 2017 to 2021, finishing with 1,470 rushing yards, eight rushing touchdowns, and 70 receptions.
He was never the featured back in a crowded room, but he was durable, versatile, and always available — traits that later kept him in the NFL when bigger names came and went.
Dallas signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2022. He bounced between the active roster and practice squad, was waived and brought back more than once, and still kept showing up. By late 2025 he had earned a two-year contract and a clear role. A hip injury in a September practice wiped that out overnight.
For Gators fans, this is another reminder of how thin the line is between a breakthrough season and a year on the sideline.
Davis never became a household name in orange and blue the way some running backs did, but he represented the program the way so many UF backs have: tough, unselfish, and willing to wait his turn. That same approach got him four-plus years in the league.
He will miss at least the 2026 campaign. Estimated return dates stretch into February 2027.
At 27, he still has time to come back, and his history says he will try. Until then, the former Gator is on IR — and Florida fans who remember the kid from Tampa working behind the scenes in The Swamp will be hoping the rehab is clean and the next chapter starts soon.
