By Max Cohen / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The crowd around Niko Davis swelled into the dozens more than a half-hour after the Steelers ended practice Thursday.
Most of the team’s players had long ago retreated into the recesses of the locker room, but this undrafted defensive end out of Division I-AA Liberty remained on the field, signing autographs for young fans. He did not exit the field until every person in his vicinity had been accounted for, 45 minutes after the conclusion of practice.
The routine has become common for Davis in his first NFL training camp, a chance to give back to the fans in Latrobe. Davis is far from the only Steelers player who takes chunks of time to sign autographs, but the fact that he is in a position to sign them at all would have been unimaginable to him six years ago.
Then, Davis was working as a street performer in Florida, and his greatest football highlights came only in ragtag pickup games. In May the Steelers signed him as an undrafted free agent, giving this 25-year-old a shot at a dream he once didn’t know he had.
Davis rarely had thoughts about being a collegiate or professional athlete as a kid growing up. When he finished high school in Buffalo, N.Y., Davis did not go off to college to play football; he moved to Fort Myers, Fla., to attend the Florida School of Discipleship, perhaps to eventually become a chaplain.
READ MORE: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2015/08/12/Steelers-Davis-goes-from-street-performer-to-NFL-hopeful/stories/201508120077
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