Austin Davis Austin Davis ( born June 2 , 1989 ) is a former starting quarterback for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles college football team , and a current backup quarterback for the NFL ' s St . Louis Rams . A walk - on to the Golden Eagles program , Davis redshirted the 2007 season and became the starter a year later . He ended the year with a combined total of 15 school records for both game and single - season marks and led the Golden Eagles to a bowl game victory in the 2008 New Orleans Bowl . He was selected to the Freshman All - Conference USA team and earned a Freshman All - American honorable mention by CollegeFootballNews . com for 2008 . Davis attended West Lauderdale High School where he became the most successful quarterback in the school ' s history . He was a four - year letterwinner , received all - area honors , was named best offensive back in the district and played in the Mississippi / Alabama All - Star game . Early life and high school career . Davis was born on June 2 , 1989 in Ringgold , Georgia to Greg and Lori Davis . His cousin Jason Smith plays baseball for the Houston Astros organization and his brother , Bo , plays baseball for the San Diego Padres organization and helped lead the Southern Miss Golden Eagles to its first College World Series appearance . Davis attended West Lauderdale High School in Collinsville , Mississippi , where he was coached by Stan McCain . He would become the winningest quarterback in the school ' s history . As a senior , Davis threw for 1 , 100 ; yards passing with 15 & ; touchdowns , rushed for 600 yards with six touchdowns and recorded a 67 percent completion rating . He was a four - year letterwinner and was named team MVP . During his career , Davis received all - area honors , was named best offensive back in the district and played in the Mississippi / Alabama All - Star game . Davis proposed to longtime girlfriend Heather Evans on December 17 , 2011 at a Southern Miss basketball game at the Reed Green Coliseum on the Southern Miss campus in Hattiesburg . On April 23 , 2012 , they tied the knot the weekend before the NFL draft , holding the reception in downtown Hattiesburg , MS at the Bottling Company . College career . Davis was a walk - on to the University of Southern Mississippi football program and redshirted the 2007 season . For 2008 , Davis was named the starting quarterback by head coach Larry Fedora and became the first freshman to be named the starting quarterback at Southern Miss since 1991 . Davis began the season with five 200 - yard passing games , more than any other Southern Miss quarterback has put together , and nine altogether for the season , tying a school record for most in a season . For the year , Davis set a new school record with 3 , 128 passing yards and broke Brett Favre ' s school record for most touchdown passes by a freshman with 23 . He ended the year with a combined total of 15 school records for both game and single - season marks , which included most passing yards in a game ( 461 ) and most rushing touchdowns in a contest ( 5 ) as well as total offense for a season ( 3 , 323 ) . Davis was ranked 16th nationally in total offense ( 279 . 7 ) and 52nd in passing efficiency ( 128 . 6 ) in the Football Bowl Subdivision ( FBS ) . His total offense average was the highest among freshmen quarterbacks in the country , ahead of the likes of Kellen Moore of Boise State ( 265 . 9 ) and Robert Griffin of Baylor ( 244 . 5 ) . In the 2008 New Orleans Bowl , Davis threw for 276 yards and two touchdowns and became the first freshman quarterback to lead the Golden Eagles to a bowl game victory . Davis was named to the All - Conference USA freshman team and a freshman All - American honorable mention by CollegeFootballNews . com . Before the 2009 season , Davis was named on the Manning Award watch list . Davis got off to another great start in the 2009 season by completing 108 - 156 passes ( 69 % ) for 1 , 165 yards and 10 touchdowns against just 2 interceptions . He gained some national notoriety following a 35 - 28 loss to nationally ranked Kansas , in which Davis matched All - American candidate Todd Reesing yard for yard . . However , his promising start was cut short by a broken foot suffered in the fifth game of the season against UAB . Davis returned in 2010 and put up another good season , throwing for 3 , 103 yards with 20 touchdowns against just 6 interceptions while running for another 452 yards and 10 touchdowns . On November 30 , Southern Miss went on the road to face the eventual C - USA and Liberty Bowl champion Central Florida and their highly rated defense . Davis responded by completing 21 - 34 passes for 264 yard and 4 scores , leading the Golden Eagles to a 31 - 21 road upset over the ranked Knights . He delivered an encore the next week in an emotional game against the Houston Cougars . Following the shooting of three teammates , Davis responded with the best game of his career , completing 24 of 31 passes for 293 yards and 2 scores while running for 111 yards and 4 more scores as Southern Miss topped Houston 59 - 41 . In the Papajohns . com Bowl against Louisville , Davis passed Brett Favre on the schools passing touchdown record with a 32 - yard pass to Quentin Pierce in the first quarter . Davis would go on to throw another touchdown as well as catch one in the 31 - 28 loss . Heading into his senior season , Davis had either broken on was on the verge of breaking nearly every passing record in Southern Miss history . He passed Favre ' s yardage record in the second game of the season at Marshall . Davis had arguably his best career performance on October 8th , at Navy . He completed 21 of his 23 passes for 283 yards and 3 scores as well as running for 75 yards and another score , posting a QB rating of 237 . 7 . Davis led the Golden Eagles to a C - USA Eastern Division championship and a spot in the conference championship game against undefeated and 6th ranked Houston and their record setting QB Case Keenum . Despite being a 15 point underdog and being overshadowed by Keenum prior to the game , Davis outplayed Keenum , connecting on 17 of 34 passes for 276 yards and 4 touchdowns as he led Southern Miss to one of the biggest wins in school history . Davis finished his career with a 24 - 17 victory in the Hawaii bowl over Nevada . Davis ' last pass as a colligiate QB was a touchdown in the final minutes to secure the win . Davis ended the 2011 season by throwing for 3 , 496 yards and 30 touchdowns , both school records , while also rushing for 352 yards and four touchdowns . His final career numbers at Southern Miss were : 933 - 1527 ( 61 . 1 % ) for 10 , 898 yards , 83 touchdowns against just 27 interceptions . He also ran the ball 460 times for 1 , 375 yards and 25 touchdowns . He also caught 2 passes for 25 yards and a touchdown . Davis accounted for 109 touchdowns in his four - year career . = = Professional career St . Louis Rams . Davis went undrafted in the 2012 NFL Draft and signed a free agent deal with the St . Louis Rams . Davis was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 2012 MLB Draft in the 31st round