From Big Apple to Little Easy: New York Jets linebacker with Natchez ties signs autographs at meet-and-greet
Published 12:57 pm Monday, June 23, 2025
Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson and New York Jets linebacker Jamin Davis share a laugh during their meeting Saturday in the courtyard behind 1720 Gallery. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
Joseph Smith takes a selfie with Mayor Dan Gibson and New York Jets linebacker Jamin Davis in his office at 1720 Gallery on Saturday (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson and New York Jets linebacker Jamin Davis hold an autographed football at 1720 Gallery on Saturday. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
A full house at 1720 Gallery & Gift Shop gathers to meet NFL athlete Jamin Davis on Saturday hosted by BlackNatchez.org. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
Jamin Davis signs autographs at Saturday's meet and greet. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
Jamin Davis' great-aunt Gerrie Mitchell, aunt Lisa Westmoreland and cousin Nickie Bruce. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
Deshante Butler and her daughter Emery meet their cousin Jamin Davis at Saturday’s meet and greet. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
Many of New York Jets linebacker Jamin Davis' family members attended the meet and greet on Saturday. Pictured from left is Deshante Butler, Ken Griffin, baby Emery Butler and Dorothy Butler, Nickie Bruce, Lisa Westmoreland, Gerrie Mitchell, Jamin Davis, Johnny McMorris, Jodeei Woods and Tanga Davis. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
From left, Tanga Davis, Jamin Davis and Joseph Smith at the MLK triangle outside 1720 Gallery & Gifts where a meet and greet with the NFL linebacker Jamin Davis was held on Saturday. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
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NATCHEZ — “What’s it like, living in New York?” Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson asked New York Jets linebacker Jamin Davis at a meet and greet Saturday at 1720 Gallery & Gift Shop in Natchez.
“Honestly, I don’t go out in the city much,” Davis answered, adding he is more accustomed to country than city life.
Davis, 26, was raised in Georgia but has ties to the Little Easy, also known as Natchez, through his mother Tanga Davis who is a Natchez native. Therefore, it wasn’t hard to convince him to come back to the smaller city for a free meet and greet on Saturday, which many aunts, uncles and cousins in the Davis family attended wearing New York Jets green gear.
“I want to help inspire young people and remind them that with hard work and discipline, anything is possible,” Davis said in an interview before Saturday’s meeting.
Davis was drafted by the Washington Commanders in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft and was claimed by the New York Jets off waivers on Dec. 31, 2024.
He played nine games last season split between Washington and Minnesota and made a total of 18 tackles, including 12 solo, and one sack while taking 106 defensive snaps.
Davis before advancing to the NFL, he played college football at the University of Kentucky, where he started 11 of 36 games over three seasons. The 2021 NFL Scouting Combine was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Davis garnered an abundance of attention after his pro day performance, where his 42-inch vertical jump would have ranked second among all players at the 2020 combine.
Davis’s mother, Tanga Davis, is a 1993 graduate of Natchez High School.
After high school, she enlisted in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii, where Jamin was born. The family moved to Hinesville, Georgia, when Davis was a year old, and he later went on to attend Long County High School in Ludowici, Georgia. Davis has two siblings, Treyon and Tenisha Davis.
“I’m so proud of my kids and I want them to love Natchez as much as I do. I love this community. I have been all over the world and truly nothing matches Natchez — the food, the people, the culture. I want to always give back to this community,” said Tanga Davis.
“Right now, I’m trying to help my church, Bright Star Baptist Church, raise money to repair the roof after storm damage. Jamin is helping us by auctioning some of his items but I also wanted the community, especially the young people, to have an opportunity to interact with him.”
And on Saturday, 1720 Gallery had a full house of people of all ages lined up to meet Davis, get his autograph.
Joseph Smith, who is the owner of the 1720 Gallery restaurant and gift shop and founder of the non-profit BlackNatchez.org, said he was proud to host Davis for the community and share with them the meaning of BlackNatchez.
“In case you all don’t know, 1720 is the first year on record that Black people were here in Natchez,” Smith said. “Natchez was first settled by the French in 1716, so for as long as there has been Natchez, there has been Black Natchez. Natchez belongs to all of us.”
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