Columbia lands Ohio running back Grayson Davis over Ivy rivals

Columbia did more than add a running back when Grayson Davis committed on Saturday. The Lions beat Yale, Penn, Dartmouth and Butler for one of Ohio’s more versatile young prospects, a head-to-head Ivy win that says as much about Columbia’s pitch as it does about Davis’ upside.

Davis, from Powell’s Olentangy Liberty High School, said the turning point came after he visited Columbia’s prospect camp on June 26 and followed up with head coach Jon Poppe. That visit gave Columbia a chance to show Davis how he would fit into the offense and the culture, and it helped the Lions separate from a crowded field of Ivy League suitors. For a program trying to prove its 2024 breakthrough was no fluke, landing a recruit with offers and attention from multiple Ivies matters.

Poppe’s first season gave Columbia real credibility in those conversations. Hired in December 2023, he led the Lions to a 7-3 record, a share of the Ivy League title and Columbia’s first conference championship since 1961. The seven wins were the most by a first-year Columbia head coach since 1899, and the five Ivy wins set a program record for a rookie coach. Columbia also stacked up 14 All-Ivy selections, beat No. 14/18 Lafayette for its first victory over a ranked opponent since 2015 and its first over a top-15 team since 1995. That is the kind of season that changes how recruits view a school’s ceiling.

Davis fits the next stage of that rise. Hudl lists him as a Class of 2027 athlete who has played running back, wide receiver, free safety and strong safety, a versatility package that makes him more than a one-position commit. Columbia’s staff has increasingly shown it can sell that kind of multi-role player on a path that combines Ivy League football, elite academics and New York City.

The Ohio backdrop adds another layer. Olentangy Liberty won the 2024 Ohio Division I state championship, beating Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller 28-14 on Dec. 6 and holding all six playoff opponents to 14 points or fewer. The Patriots followed that with an 8-5 season in 2025, winning games against Olentangy Berlin, Dublin Jerome, Dublin Coffman, Upper Arlington, Hilliard Bradley, Hilliard Davidson, Newark and Olentangy before falling to Olentangy Orange in the regional semifinals. Davis was named an All-Ohio Capital Conference selection in 2025, underscoring that Columbia is pulling from a program that has produced real high-school winning.

That is why this commitment resonates beyond one roster addition. Columbia is not just keeping pace in the Ivy League recruiting race, it is reaching farther for skill-position talent with power-conference-level versatility from outside the Northeast. Davis’ choice hints that the Lions’ pitch now travels.