Davone Bess Information & Davone Bess Links at HealthHaven.com

**Davone Bess**
	; Bess with the Dolphins in 2009
	No. 15 Miami Dolphins
	Wide receiver
Personal information
	Date of birth: September 13, 1985 (age 24)
	Place of birth: Hayward, California
Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Weight: 190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
	College: Hawaii
	Undrafted in 2008
	Debuted in 2008 for the Miami Dolphins
Career history
	As player:; Miami Dolphins (2008–present);
	Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
	WAC Freshman of the Year (2005); 3× First-team All-WAC (2005–2007);
Career NFL statistics as of week 11, 2009
Receptions	100
Receiving Yards	951
Receiving Average	9.5
Receiving TDs	1
Stats at NFL.com

Davone Atrayo Bess (born September 13, 1985 in Hayward, California) is an American football wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He was originally signed by the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at Hawaii.

[edit] Early years

Bess attended Skyline High School in Oakland, California and was a student and a letter-man in football, basketball, and baseball. In football, he was a first team All-City wide receiver as a junior. As a senior, he led his team to the League Championship and was a second team All-City quarterback. Davone Bess graduated from Skyline High School in 2003.

Bess grew up five minutes away from the Oakland Coliseum as an avid Oakland Raiders fan and even played a high school playoff game for Skyline High during his senior year at the Coliseum. His favorite player was Tim Brown.^[1]

Bess has stated that "sports pretty much kept me busy, kept me out of trouble, kept me off the streets." Largely raised by a single mom, Bess was the first person in his family to attend college and the first on his father's side to attend high school. Bess said of his father: "My dad pretty much wasn't there. If anyone was there it was my brother's dad, but not really because he was a big time drug dealer. He was in and out of jail himself and going back and forth so he wasn't a reliable source."^[2] At the age of 10, Bess witnessed the murder of his uncle at a birthday party.^[3]

[edit] College career

[edit] Oregon State University

Bess lost his scholarship to Oregon State when he was sentenced to 15 months in a juvenile facility after allowing a friend to put stolen items in his car. During his time in the juvenile facility, Bess played in a seven man flag football team created by the facility. During a game against another seven man flag football team, Bess did exceptionally well and caught the eye of a Hawaii recruiter in the stands and was given a four year scholarship.

[edit] University of Hawaii

Davone Bess joined Hawaiʻi in 2005 and quickly gained a starting spot at wide receiver.

As a freshman, Bess caught 89 passes for 1,124 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns. Selected WAC first team and WAC Freshman of the Year.

As a sophomore, caught 96 passes for 1,220 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns. Named WAC first team.

In his junior year, he finished with 108 catches for 1266 yards with 12 TDs.

During his time at Hawaii, Bess was named to the Associated Press' 2007 All-America third team; the Sporting News, Football Writers Association of America, and Rivals.com's 2005 Freshman All-American team; and was named to the All-WAC first team in 2005, 2006, and 2007.^[4]

[edit] NFL career

[edit] 2008

Despite going undrafted, Bess earned a spot on the Dolphins active roster. He managed to catch his first NFL touchdown in Week 7 against the Baltimore Ravens. He mainly worked as a slot receiver until starter Greg Camarillo was injured. Bess moved up to starting duties beginning in week 13 against the St. Louis Rams, and has become a reliable target for quarterback Chad Pennington.

Bess finished the regular season third among NFL rookies in receptions (54), behind two second-rounders—Denver's Eddie Royal (91) and Philadelphia's DeSean Jackson (62).^[5] His 54 season receptions is the second most in NFL history for an undrafted rookie (behind only Wayne Chrebet with 66 catches in 1995).^[6]

[edit] References

^ "Dolphins Try To Separate From Pack Versus Raiders; Bess Has Close Ties To Oakland; Other Notes", MiamiDolphins.com, November 14, 2008, http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/news/top_story.asp?contentID=6191, retrieved January 5, 2009
^ Salguero, Armando (January 2, 2009), "The amazing, inspiring story of Davone Bess", Miami Herald, http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2009/01/if-i-tell-you-t.html
^ Hyde, Dave (December 13, 2008), "Bess Story: From being caught up to catching on", South Florida Sun-Sentinel, archived from the original on December 13, 2008, http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sun_sentinel/access/1611499651.html?dids=1611499651:1611499651&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current
^ Tsai, Stephen (January 5, 2008), "UH's Davone Bess to pass on senior year", The Honolulu Advertiser, http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Jan/05/sp/hawaii801050340.html
^ Thompson, Ed (June 25, 2009), "7 Points: Turn Up The Volume", Scout.com, http://sea.scout.com/a.z?s=114&p=2&c=874848
^ Farrar, Doug (January 1, 2009), "The Curious Case of Davone Bess", Field Gulls, http://www.fieldgulls.com/2009/1/1/706747/the-curious-case-of-davone

[edit] External links

[Miamidolphins.com-0] "Dolphins Try To Separate From Pack Versus Raiders; Bess Has Close Ties To Oakland; Other Notes", MiamiDolphins.com, November 14, 2008, http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/news/top_story.asp?contentID=6191, retrieved January 5, 2009

[1] Salguero, Armando (January 2, 2009), "The amazing, inspiring story of Davone Bess", Miami Herald, http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2009/01/if-i-tell-you-t.html

[2] Hyde, Dave (December 13, 2008), "Bess Story: From being caught up to catching on", South Florida Sun-Sentinel, archived from the original on December 13, 2008, http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sun_sentinel/access/1611499651.html?dids=1611499651:1611499651&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current

[3] Tsai, Stephen (January 5, 2008), "UH's Davone Bess to pass on senior year", The Honolulu Advertiser, http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Jan/05/sp/hawaii801050340.html

[4] Thompson, Ed (June 25, 2009), "7 Points: Turn Up The Volume", Scout.com, http://sea.scout.com/a.z?s=114&p=2&c=874848

[5] Farrar, Doug (January 1, 2009), "The Curious Case of Davone Bess", Field Gulls, http://www.fieldgulls.com/2009/1/1/706747/the-curious-case-of-davone

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