"This movie is not for Ray Davis. I may have my name tagged to it, but this movie is for every kid, and every adult who's gone through some things, and they just need that push, and they just need that view of somebody else wanting to show them the way."
If you've followed the Kentucky Football Wildcats in the last five years, you've heard Ray Davis' story. Growing up in the foster care system in San Francisco, while looking out for his siblings, reconnecting with his father, and how Big Brothers Big Sisters played a role in finding his path.
Davis' journey to all-pro kick returner and running back will now be told in a sports drama, "Breakaway Ray."
Ever since he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 2024, he's had this vision of sharing his story.
"Me and my writer, um, Peter Iliff, we honestly just hopped on Zooms. It was almost like twice a week interviewing people, interviewing myself, and they would sometimes be 3 hours long, 4 hours long. Whatever it took, really, to just start talking about those days and those moments. It took a lot for me to kind of dig deep in some of those childhood traumas, but I think mentally it just made me look at things a lot differently and really appreciate where I am now today."
It's a meticulous approach to documenting a life of resilience. Davis says he's a man who keeps receipts—and that attention to detail is exactly why sharing his story matters.
"The world sees the final product, and I think for me, I really want them to understand what it took to get here and every trial and tribulation. I can only speak about it, but now you have the ability to see it and see it at firsthand like everyone else who was there during those difficult times. Of what it really took, the fighting the scratching the claw and the being told ‘no, you'll never make it.' And, you know, the lack of love, and I can go on and on, but it just has everything in it to where you'll see that his story is not just a football story, it's a life story, and that it could resonate with everyone."
A powerful trio is backing Ray's journey—the NFL, the Buffalo Bills, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. The mentorship organization holds special significance, woven throughout Ray's life story.
"We started to put this script together, 'hey, this is kind of a big advertisement for Big Brothers, Big Sisters,' because of Patrick and how close we grew and how monumental he was for my growth as a young man, and the way we met obviously was through that program and organization. So talking to them and telling them this is the direction that we'd love to go."
And this isn't Davis' first time behind the scenes of a film. Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story hit the Hallmark Channel in November of last year, and Davis got to sit in the director's chair after his scene.
"First day there, I started screaming to the top of my lungs, they're like, 'Hey, I have a movie, I have a movie, I've, I've written the script,' and anybody who was willing to listen, from the main actors to even the stand-ins. Thankfully, Daniel, who was the producer at that time, and everybody else from the director, and everybody else that was a part of the production company, they somehow loved my scene, and they loved me as a person. This is all their words," Davis quipped.
“This story is not just a football story, it’s a life story. It resonates with everyone.”
— Sierra Newton (@SoFlossieWrites) May 14, 2026
A preview of my conversation with Ray Davis. The Buffalo Bill & Kentucky Wildcat is using his platform to show others they can make it through any hardship. pic.twitter.com/FaobFtZEDz
They invited me back, and I got a chance to sit behind with them and be in the director's chair, and so I just was like a sponge. I was absorbing everything and every question that someone asked him."
I would listen and just take in everything and every wisdom and advice that they'd give."
The movie is currently in the casting phase, but once it's all said and done, Davis' time in Kentucky Blue will be featured. So, of course, he wants to come back for a premiere.
"I hope that I can do a premiere somewhere in Kentucky. And that I can invite over 30 foster kids and families, roll out the red carpet, and let them just enjoy that whole moment, cause the day is essentially for them."
In the same week of his movie announcement, he launched the Beat The Odds Foundation, an organization dedicated to empowering foster youth and underserved communities.
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