Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis will be in Phoenix on Saturday, hoping to win another honor that’s eluded him.

Beth Downer has to work Saturday, but during her shift for Charlotte Area Transit, her thoughts will be with Davis, who helped change her family’s life.

“You have no idea. I can’t wait. I’m going to be thinking all day,” says Downer. “I pray he gets this because he deserved it last year.”

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Davis will find out if he’s finally gotten over his awards hump during the fourth annual “NFL Honors,” airing Saturday night on NBC. The other finalists are San Francisco 49ers receiver Anquan Boldin and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who could also be named the league’s MVP. In a way, this would be Davis’ MVP award.

“It would definitely be the highest honor that I’ve ever received as a player,” says Davis. “And to be able to celebrate it with [wife Kelly] and the rest of my board members, it would mean so much to me. They put in just as much work as I do to make this possible.

“If we’re able to win this year, I think it educates people more on what we’re doing. [It would] allow people to be willing to donate, hopefully. The more money we have, the more that we can do for these kids, and the bigger impact we can make on this community in Charlotte, in Georgia, and in South Carolina.”

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The Thomas Davis Youth Leadership Academy, an after-school mentoring program for middle schoolers, is the foundation’s cornerstone. It meets each Monday for eight weeks during both semesters of the school year. Unless the Panthers are playing on Monday Night Football in the fall, Davis never misses a class.

“We try to encourage them to branch out, do more, and be excited about what you’re doing. We try to instill in them confidence. Once we can get them to be confident in what they’re doing, the sky’s the limit for them,” says Davis, who annually gives college scholarships to two graduating high school seniors who went through the program.

When he welcomes about two dozen middle schoolers to this week’s class at the Charlotte School of Law, Davis reminds them to be respectful to the session’s speakers. He also tells them to get rid of gum if they’re chewing it.

Destiny Downer stands up to throw hers out. Her mom watches.

“She was constantly all about the boys,” Beth Downer says later. “Now she’s making A’s and B’s, she’s a cheerleader, and I couldn’t be more proud of her.”

Destiny, an eighth grader, is the second in her family to go through the Leadership Academy. She’ll be heading to high school next year. Her brother, Derek, is nearly done with that stage of his life. He almost didn’t get that far.

“I almost gave up. I really didn’t know where he was going to go,” Beth Downer says of her 17-year-old son. “I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of trouble I was having with him.

“He was into gangs, he was into smoking, he was into just about anything.”

But once Derek started spending time with Davis, things changed. He stopped missing school. His grades improved. He joined the Hopewell High football team. Even though he’s too old for the Leadership Academy now, Derek sometimes still goes. He wasn’t there this week because he was working at his part-time job.

As with any teenager, Derek occasionally doesn’t do what he should. For those times, Beth can depend on Davis.

“Because his dad is not here. I always let him know, ‘I can call Thomas if there’s going to be a problem,’” she says.

Derek’s response:

“‘All right, mom. Ok, mom.’ And he does what he has to do.”

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Most of the students at the Leadership Academy come from underprivileged homes. For many, this is the first time someone has truly believed in them. Davis knows both feelings well.

He grew up poor and without a father figure in Shellman, Ga. His mother and grandmother did their best, but Davis admits he got into plenty of trouble until his high school football coaches helped put him on a better path. He went on to star at Georgia, and the Panthers made him their first-round pick in 2005. But then, more hurdles.

Davis tore the ACL in his right leg for the first time in November of 2009. He did it again seven months later. Two weeks into the 2011 season, it happened a third time.

“There were a lot of people down on me,” recalls Davis. “I heard a lot of people say I should just retire. I have kids, and, ‘You want to be able to play with them someday. You want to be able to walk after you’re done.’

“I read all that stuff. But at the end of the day, I believed in myself. All I needed was the Carolina Panthers to believe in me, and they did. They gave me that chance, and I took advantage of it.”

The first known NFL player to return after three ACL tears, Davis just finished his third straight season in which he’s played at least 15 games and made 100 or more tackles. He turns 32 in March, but he doesn’t plan to quit anytime soon.

“I lost two and a half years to injury, but I also feel like I gained two and a half years,” Davis says. “My original goal coming into this league was to play 10 years. This was my tenth year, I’m going on year 11, and I still feel like I have a lot of football left in me.”

The Panthers have renegotiated Davis’ contract four times since 2012, and with his cap number expected to be around $10 million next season, the two sides will likely talk again soon. But this time it will probably be to extend a contract that’s scheduled to expire after 2015.

“We’ve got plenty of time for that,” Davis says. “At some point, I’m pretty sure they’ll address it.”

He’s repeatedly said he won’t play for a team other than the Panthers, so Davis isn’t going anywhere for a while. The two-time NFL Man of the Year finalist has more work to do in Carolina, and not just on the field.

“I’m going to be like a little kid in a candy shop if he wins Saturday,” says Beth Downer. “It’s going to be a big night for him. Either way, he’s a winner.”

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