Calvary Day football coach Jason Cameron said inside linebacker Davis Witherington was like having a coach on the field last season.
“He’s so naturally gifted in the sense of understanding scheme and being smart and being able to put guys in the right place,” Cameron recalled. “Davis always had us in the right situation. All of our defensive calls (signaled in from coaches) ran through Davis. … He did an outstanding job.”
Calvary Day’s Davis Witherington, No. 12, joins his teammates arm in arm before a game during the 2025 season. Witherington will serve as a student assistant for the Cavaliers after a medical diagnosis ended his playing career.
[PHOTO COURTESY OF CALVARY DAY SCHOOL ATHLETICS]
Witherington, then a junior, played through injuries to the labrums in both shoulders and an AC joint (connecting the collarbone and shoulder blade) before his season ended after 10 games for surgery.
The Cavaliers went on to advance to the GHSA Class 3A state championship game, with Witherington supporting teammates at practice and from the sideline with his first-hand experience and understanding of coaches’ directives for better communication.
“It’s like I bridge the gap between the players and the coaches,” Witherington recalled. “I’ll have a meaningful conversation with a player, and then I’ll ask the coach and figure out what they mean by it in a different way.”
Davis Witherington emerged as one of Calvary Day's defensive leaders during the 2025 season before a congenital spinal condition brought his football career to an end. (Photo courtesy of Calvary Day School Athletics)
The expectation then was for Witherington (5-foot-11, 207 pounds) to come back healthy this fall for his senior year. But in a follow-up appointment after shoulder surgery last November, he told his surgeon about numbness in his fingers lasting for hours at a time. The surgeon suspected a neck-related issue.
After an MRI exam on his neck, Witherington said he met with an orthopedic spine surgeon in late November or early December who told him he should not play contact sports such as football and possibly lacrosse. Witherington also was a standout lacrosse player at Calvary Day who had broken his hand as a sophomore and was eager to get back in the spring of 2026.
He was diagnosed with congenital cervical spinal stenosis, a structural, inherited narrowing of the spinal canal in the neck limiting space for the spinal cord. Individuals are predisposed to early nerve compression, myelopathy (difficulty with balance, coordination and fine motor skills) and a higher risk of acute cord injury following trauma, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Trauma could come from high-impact or collision sports and result in transient quadriplegia, “burning hands syndrome” or permanent spinal cord damage, according to NIH.
The bottom line: Witherington was born with a narrower-than-normal spinal canal and is at risk of being paralyzed if the spinal cord is compressed.
“It’s funny how we say God works,” Cameron said. “It was a blessing in disguise that he hurt his shoulder because we were able to find this when he had his tests done.”
‘Like a bomb getting dropped’
Witherington, attending the meeting with his parents, Chris and Elizabeth Witherington, said they were caught by surprise. The issues had been with his shoulders, not his neck and spine.
“I kind of felt bad for the guy who told me it, honestly,” Davis Witherington said. “You could tell, it was like a bomb getting dropped. We had no clue it was coming.”
His first thought was he didn’t want to give up football, which he has played since age 5 or 6, following his older brother Grady into the sport. Davis also played baseball and basketball until high school and kept up with lacrosse.
“I thought if I played with it for 16 years, I think I could play with it for another year next year,” he recalled of his immediate, short-term mindset.
The doctor told him to get a second opinion, which he did from a neurosurgeon, Witherington said. The doctor told him he shouldn’t play football or lacrosse.
“(The doctor) said he didn’t want to speak in absolutes, but if this was my son, the risk that I have is exponentially greater than anyone else’s out there on the football field,” Witherington recalled.
The decision whether or not to continue playing contact sports wasn’t only up to him; he understood.
“My parents took it upon themselves to figure it out. They didn’t feel like it’s fair for me to make that decision at 16 years old,” he said.
Davis, who turned 17 on April 2, is literally no April Fool. He’s a 4.0 student who is taking honors and advanced placement courses this fall. He was one of a few rising seniors selected to be student prefects for his leadership, organizational skills and overall record at Calvary. Bridging the gap between students and school staff, he has volunteered to oversee student life activities such as homecoming, prom and football game days.
“He’s such a smart kid and a tough kid,” Cameron said. “He was determined to play (last) season as long as he could. Forget how many tackles he had (36 in 10 games, including one sack). I couldn’t care less how many tackles he had. He was huge from his leadership role, and what he meant to us was way more important than any tackle he made.”
Making an impact
Witherington had really looked forward to playing in 2025 after being on the junior varsity as a freshman (appearing in two varsity games) and in eight varsity games as a sophomore. He played special teams and was a backup quarterback to now-three-year starter James Mobley IV.
He was accustomed to being a starter on both sides of the ball on his earlier teams and called being a reserve a struggle. Witherington said he was “really on the fence” about returning to the team before Cameron encouraged him over several heart-to-heart talks with him and his father ahead of the 2025 season.
“Last year completely changed the way I am, and I can’t be more thankful for that,” Witherington said. “Everyone said the team felt different. I wanted to be around that as much as I could and contribute to the culture as much as I could.”
Calvary Day linebacker Davis Witherington played through shoulder injuries during the 2025 season before additional testing revealed a congenital spinal condition that doctors said made it unsafe for him to continue playing contact sports. (Photo courtesy of Calvary Day School Athletics)
With the revelation of his condition, his situation is different for 2026. He initially wanted to play on the teams, but Cameron, lacrosse coach Phillip Yount and others at Calvary, as well as his parents, knew the risks were too great.
So did Witherington’s friends, such as teammates on the lacrosse and football squads who could imagine a worst-case scenario.
“It just would have messed with people in a way that nothing else probably could,” Witherington said.
“My thing was I didn’t want them to have to live with it, like they paralyzed their best friend because they accidentally hit me the wrong way. That was kind of what it was for me.”
He had considered the possibility of playing one of the sports – more likely lacrosse – in college. That was over. He is targeting three universities – Mercer, Augusta and Georgia (where Grady attends) – and would like to study medicine, possibly to be a surgeon. He also could follow in the family business, as his father owns a dental lab.
Witherington is not done with Calvary’s football squad, however, as he will be “like a graduate assistant” in college, Cameron said, assisting defensive coaches Stephen Miros and Donald Chumley.
“When a kid who’s played sports his whole life is told he can’t play anymore, at that point you want to be as supportive as possible,” Cameron said. “The first thing I said is, ‘You’re not done with this program. You’re still a huge part of what we do, no matter capacity it is.’ ”
Witherington will help with game planning, for example. As the same generation as the players, he “can speak to them in a way and get a little deeper than maybe we can,” the coach said.
The opportunity agrees with Witherington, and likely his parents, who hosted his defensive teammates for large dinners at their home every Thursday of game week.
Calvary Day linebacker Davis Witherington, second from left, with defensive players who gathered for a Thursday night pregame meal at the Witherington family home during the 2025 season. The weekly dinners reflected the close-knit culture Davis Witherington helped build and will continue supporting as a student assistant. [PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WITHERINGTON FAMILY]
“I don’t believe there are too many 17-year-old kids, or high school kids in general, that would agree to what he’s doing,” Cameron said. “One is to sacrifice what he sacrificed, and two, agree to be a student assistant.
“He could go to the student section (on game days) and have a great time and hang out. Once again, he’s sacrificing his time to be at practices, be at Sunday meetings. The expectation for him to do essentially everything our coaching staff is doing.”
Coaching could be in Witherington’s future, he said. He was more definitive about trying out for the Calvary golf team for the first time. The rising senior has increased his golfing in the past 18 months or so, and he points out that it’s a sport “you can take with you the rest of your life.”
Although he won't wear the pads this season, Davis Witherington will continue leading the Cavaliers from the sidelines, proving that true leadership isn't measured by the snaps you take, but by the lives you impact. (Photo courtesy of Calvary Day School Athletics)
Photos courtesy of Calvary Day School Athletics
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Team physicians include Dr. Don Aaron (Bryan County), Dr. David Sedory (Benedictine, Bradwell Institute, Liberty County), Dr. David Palmer (Calvary Day, Richmond Hill, South Effingham), and Dr. Thomas Alexander (Savannah Country Day, St. Vincent’s Academy).
