Warriors center Jackson-Davis gives his biased take on the CFP national title game

SAN FRANCISCO – Trayce Jackson-Davis once enjoyed a title reserved exclusively for basketball players at Indiana University. He was the big man on campus, the star athlete in the Hoosier state’s biggest sport.

While his powerful slams and stellar play helped IU reach the NCAA Tournament in both his junior and senior years, the football team was a doormat in the Big Ten and an afterthought on campus. 

But three years after the Greenwood, Indiana native graduated and began his NBA career with the Warriors, a lot has changed in Bloomington. 

Jackson-Davis is now the Bay Area’s biggest fan of college football’s preeminent juggernaut, a proud supporter of coach Curt Cignetti and former Cal quarterback and current Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza. 

Even though he will be duking it out with the Heat on Monday evening as the Hoosiers take on another Miami team in the Hurricanes for the national championship, that’s nothing new for Jackson-Davis.

When Indiana upset Ohio State for the conference title in early December, the Warriors only caught part of the second half on a projector in the Cleveland locker room. Jackson-Davis was only able to watch the first half of Indiana’s 56-22 demolition of the Ducks last week before taking on Sacramento. 

Even though he will be busy during the game, that did not stop the Warriors’ big man from offering up his prediction. 

“Indiana Hoosiers 35, Miami Hurricanes 24,” Jackson-Davis told the Bay Area News Group when asked for a final score prediction. 

Should Indiana win, it would cement the Hoosiers as one of the sport’s all-time improbable turnarounds. 

Well, improbable to everyone except Cignetti, who famously told reporters during his 2024 introductory press conference, “I win; Google me.”

The bravado made many laugh, including Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who has watched the press conference several times since then.

I remember laughing when I saw him at his press conference and he said ‘Google me.’ I remember laughing like, ‘Man, this guy’s got some you know what, and he was right,’” Kerr said. “Like hell yeah, that guy’s awesome.’”

Some dismissed Cignetti’s declaration, but it turned Jackson-Davis into a fan. 

“The way he was talking and how he was chatting, it was bold, but I was like, ‘If he’s gonna say it, then he’s gonna say it.’ He stood on business, and I like people who stand on business,” said Jackson-Davis, who met the coach shortly after the press conference.

And don’t dare call Jackson-Davis a bandwagoner. He went to his fair share of football games as a student, and was in the stands when Indiana secured one of its four wins of the 2022 season on a 51-yard Charles Campbell field goal as time expired against Western Kentucky. 

But although his Hoosiers are on top of the college football world, Jackson-Davis is sure to show proper deference when identifying the state’s premier football program. It will take a while to rip that mantle away from the storied university in South Bend.

“It’s like saying Purdue, having had recent success in basketball, is now the premier something in the state,” Jackson-Davis said derisively, sure to get a shot in at the rival Boilermakers. “Until we get a few of them, I’m still going to say Notre Dame. But we’re on the come up, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we pass them.”

Jackson-Davis’ fervor for his university naturally comes with being an alumnus of the school, according to the center who has carved out a role as a rim-running big man. He recently wore a sweater embroidered with “Indiana vs. Everybody” after one game, and said that kind of school spirit is not out of the ordinary for Hoosiers. 

Social media was abuzz when the red-clad Indiana fans seemingly outnumbered Oregon fans 10-to-1 in Atlanta a week ago. 

Jackson-Davis said to expect the fanbase to show up in droves again on Monday, even as the Hurricanes will be playing in their hometown. 

“We all represent cream and crimson, and we travel,” Jackson-Davis said. “Whenever you’re successful, it shows because that alumni and fan base will move heaven and earth to support their Hoosiers.”