By Kyle Coppola
Tyler Davis is Playing for More than Love of Football
Bryce Norflee
Tyler Davis wakes up every day thankful he gets to rise out of bed, head to school and play football.
Tyler, a well-spoken young man his teammates nicknamed “Unc” (Uncle) due to his approachable personality and wisdom, is the starting running back for the Tavares High School Bulldogs. He enters his senior season after rushing for 1,283 yards with 11 touchdowns on the ground and three touchdowns through the air for a total of 1,526 yards in 2023.
But his leadership skills are as impressive than his stats.
“I just love helping people,” Tyler says. “It’s my duty to help the younger guys come up to speed because at the end of the day, I want to leave a lasting legacy at Tavares High. I want to set the program up for success.”
Establishing his legacy hasn’t come easy.
In 2020, his father, Bruce, and mother, Felicia, were hit by a drunk driver and both hospitalized with serious injuries. It took months for the family to recover.
“I actually had to stop going to school during my freshman year to help care for my mom and dad,” Tyler recalls. “They’ve always provided for me so it was only natural that I would step up for them in their time of need. I thank the good Lord that both my parents are still here and can watch me play the game I love.”
The accident brought the family together.
“We cherish every moment with one another,” Tyler says. “Life can be taken away at any point. We love dancing, hanging out, my dad is a coach at Tavares High, but he is also my life coach. My parents mean everything to me, and I am proud to be their son,” Tyler adds, mentioning that he is also proud of bringing his GPA up after it had dropped to a 2.0.
“I worked hard and have raised it to over 3.4 now and still have work to do to raise it even higher,” Tyler says.
Tavares Head Football Coach Gavin Jones says Tyler is “a resilient hard worker who does what’s asked of him.”
“He’s strong mentally and physically,” the coach says. “He’s a great leader to have on the team.”
And as the oldest sibling, leadership comes naturally to Tyler.
“I have a younger brother, Bruce Jr., who we call JR, and a sister named Aria, and they both look up to me. I try to be the best I can be every day to show them what can be possible with hard work,” Tyler says.
Aside from football and schoolwork, Tyler enjoys working at the Eustis Recreation Center, where he is a coach and a youth recreational aide who helps with the after-school program, summer camp and being an overall role model for the area’s youth.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
