UC Davis cornerback Jacob Horne will never forget the moment he first saw linebacker Teddye Buchanan.

Because Buchanan was sitting in the freshman dining commons nonchalantly devouring an avocado.

“I remember he was eating avocados, whole, before it was cool,” said Horne, who became one of his best friends. “I was like what is this guy doing? … He had the pit of the avocado in his mouth. He was going crazy on it.”

Over the next four years, that was a common sight: Buchanan eating one, maybe two avocados a day; Buchanan microwaving a sweet potato on a plate and eating it whole; Buchanan filling the pantry with non-processed foods only; Buchanan taking over the kitchen with their teammate Noa Masui and creating meals to fuel their football performances.

This may sound like the typical devotion you’d expect from a star athlete, but players at UC Davis tend to have more modest aspirations. Buchanan was steadfast in his devotion, though, and it propelled him all the way to the NFL. He made his debut for the Ravens on Sunday night in a searing 41-40 loss to the Bills, but his play was a bright spot. The fourth-round pick had the second-most snaps at middle linebacker (Roquan Smith played all of them) and made three solo tackles.

He never truly imagined he’d get this far, but his habits stem from a talk he was given as a young child about being the best version of himself.

Since the day his dad, Arron “Teddye” Smith, told 5-year-old Buchanan he’d have to do 50 pushups a day to be strong enough to be a football player, Buchanan has embraced the idea that his body is like an “F1 sports car” that needs the right maintenance for the best performance, as Masui described it.

By 12, Buchanan had taken the lesson from his father, as well as his mother Kim Buchanan, who’s a big believer in fitness and nutrition, and made it his own. Little did Smith know how that would backfire on him.

“He’s hella irritating,” Smith said recently with a laugh. “Because if he sees you eating something, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t eat that, Dad. That’s not good for you, Dad.’ … Like even when he came home the last time, I was like, ‘Man, let me get a Haagen-Dazs ice cream cone.’ ‘Dad, you don’t need that. That is too many calories. Put that down.’”

As 2-star recruit with few offers, Buchanan’s methodical, holistic approach to his body and his career has helped him overcome the odds. At each level, he’s continued to get bigger, faster and stronger — to the point that even Pro Bowl Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith looked on with envy.

“Those boys [Buchanan and Trenton Simpson] are yoked up,” Roquan Smith said. “I was like, ‘I never looked like that.’ Whatever plan they’re on, I probably need to look into it.”

Now, Buchanan’s journey to become the best version of himself may lead to an important role with the Ravens.

First impressions

Everyone else showed up in basic black tees and shorts. But not Buchanan.

When the high schooler came to UC Davis’ camp, he was rocking an MTV shirt.

Looking back, former UC Davis linebackers coach Isaiah Jackson wonders if someone told him to wear something that stuck out. Purposeful or not (“I don’t know what I was doing, honestly,” Buchanan said), it worked.

Buchanan stood out first and foremost for his football skill. But his unique attire made it a whole lot easier for Jackson to point him out among the “million kids” to head coach Dan Hawkins, who laughed at the memory. Hawkins told Jackson he could offer Buchanan if he felt good about him, to which Jackson responded “I feel great.”

The offer seemed like a long shot. Despite being a two-star recruit (which bewilders his father to this day), Buchanan seemed way too good for a small program like Davis. But other schools didn’t seem to see the same thing in Buchanan, who opted to join the Aggies.

When summer workouts rolled around, there Buchanan was in the dining commons and the gym. Despite COVID-19 limiting what they could do, Buchanan immediately left an impression on his new teammates.

Outside linebacker Luka Sarac thought Buchanan looked as big as the seniors — and sure enough, he was moved up out of the freshman weight-lifting group immediately.

Horne said Buchanan was the fastest on the team, making him wonder how out of shape he, as a cornerback, must be.

“I remember just being like, why did this guy slide to Davis?” said offensive lineman Miles Meynell, expressing a common sentiment. “He’s good at school, nice dude, easy going, really good at football. I was like, ‘What did they not see that let them do this? Who recruited bad and missed this guy?’”

As they got to know him, they learned he had been a quarterback before injuring his thumb junior year and switching positions. His father was still determined to see his son get a chance at QB — until Buchanan went out on the field as a linebacker for the first time and “blew up.”

“One of my best friends that I coached with … his name is Bill, he said, ‘Well, no more quarterback,’” Smith recalled. “And I said, ‘Man, shut up.’”

The position switch meant Buchanan went unnoticed by many recruiters. Buchanan’s eventual position coach at Cal, Peter Sirmon, also recalled Buchanan being on the small side. And Jackson said St. Ignatius High School was not as well-recruited as other schools in the area. And of course, there was that two-star rating.

And so UC Davis benefited.

Buchanan was one of two freshmen to travel with the team. By his sophomore year, he might have been the best player on the entire roster, Meynell argued.

But it wasn’t enough for Buchanan to simply be the most talented. He also had to be the hardest working — and not only on the field or in the weight room.

Jackson, the linebackers coach, was an artist and encouraged Buchanan’s interest outside football. Others might argue with the concept, but at Davis, they believe well-rounded people make better football players, Hawkins said.

Jackson gave Buchanan a book called “Why We Sleep,” which had Buchanan drinking cherry juice before bed and thinking about the optimal hours and environment for sleep.

“You want to have a cool room, okay?” Buchanan said. “Like, as cold as you can get it ... just kind of mimic a cave. And then you want to get the overhead lights off closer to bed. … If I do need light, I try and make it low and red, because it kind of mimics a fire.”

Buchanan was already a healthy eater. He’s loved avocados for as long as he can remember, citing a children’s book called “Avocado Baby” that led the little boy to being big and strong. He did clarify that he normally eats his avocados with eggs, but did not deny the story from the dining commons Horne recalls so fondly. As he moved out of the dorms and into an apartment, his nutrition took the next step.

“When I first started realizing I had to cook for myself, I had a decision to make,” Buchanan said. “And I realized that I have the agency to kind of eat healthy and make my own choices and from there, I realized the power that you can have when you cook for yourself and do those type of things.”

Buchanan’s teammates-turned-roommates, neighbors and best friends were entertained by Buchanan’s explorations — but also eager to join in.

Masui joined Buchanan in the kitchen, and the others were eager to sample their meals. The best meal they made was a chicken alfredo dish. Horne joined in with Buchanan’s barefoot grounding walks, which Buchanan would sometimes take around campus with his cat.

Buchanan would basically get back from workouts and do another workout, Meynell said. Horne called him a “chronic stretcher.”

“Like, we would be having a conversation, and he would be in downward dog,” Horne said.

His teammates found Buchanan quirky but didn’t question his methods because they made him a machine on the field.

As the only offensive player in the group, Meynell was the only one to compete against Buchanan in practice. Or, more accurately, be destroyed by Buchanan in practice. Meynell said he can’t remember a single time he bested Buchanan in “any significant way.” The others had the benefit of Buchanan directing them on the field and cleaning up their mistakes.

By his sophomore year, his friend group thought he could make it to the NFL. To Buchanan, it didn’t seem that obvious. While it was a dream, it was not necessarily the goal. It felt like a “far reach.”

“It’s all about improving from where you’re at,” Buchanan said. “Not trying to, you know, make leaps and bounds in one day. It’s just consistent steps, compound interest, things like that. That kind of worked for me my whole life.”

By junior year, with NIL payments picking up and Buchanan finishing the year as a Big Sky All-Conference second-team defensive player, Buchanan’s friends started to anticipate a transfer, a sentiment shared by the coaching staff.

“Towards the end of his junior year for us, we knew we had done all we could do,” Jackson said.

Not going far

When Cal came out to see Buchanan as a high schooler but did not extend the offer, Smith promised them: “We’ll be back.”

Sure enough, when Buchanan entered the transfer portal, Cal was among his many suitors. All those who had ignored the two-star recruit now wanted the top linebacker in the portal.

Cal had been Buchanan’s dream. It was also close to home. And, just as importantly, it was driving distance from Davis.

Buchanan selected Cal ahead of the spring 2024 semester, but he hadn’t finished his graphic design degree at UC Davis yet. And he had promised his parents he’d graduate with his bachelor’s from UC Davis. But he also wanted to get up to speed with Cal’s systems.

So began Buchanan’s early morning treks.

Three days a week, Buchanan’s alarm would go off at 5 a.m. He’d make the two-hour drive to Cal (“I gained a lot of respect for commuters”), watch their practice or sit in their meeting, then drive back and complete another workout at UC Davis alongside his now-former teammates. All while finishing up his degree.

“That was one of the hardest things I’ve done,” Buchanan said.

“Just a lot of moments by myself that no one necessarily saw, but that kind of gave me confidence going into that season that I had done a lot of work that other people probably didn’t.”

Sirmon saw him at every practice and meeting — “He didn’t miss one” — but when Buchanan arrived in the fall, he still put Buchanan in with the second team. He figured even rookies in the NFL get more time on the field with their new program than Buchanan did, so he’d start him off slow.

By the end of the first day, Buchanan had already moved up with the ones. In addition to being talented and athletic enough, Buchanan already knew the system well enough to run it despite only having observed and not practiced.

When the season rolled around, the UC Davis crew got a first-hand look at how much Buchanan had grown: they were the first opponent on the schedule.

They didn’t recognize him at first. His already imposing figure was even bigger.

“He also dyed his hair blonde — which is interesting,” Sarac said.

“That was a shock for sure,” Horne added.

Although the team went on and on about how badly they wanted to beat Buchanan, they were honestly just happy to get the chance to see him play at his new school in person.

“I’m glad we won because I couldn’t imagine facing my friends after that,” Buchanan said.

After they said their goodbyes following Week 1, Buchanan’s friends continued to follow along closely. If they didn’t have a game, his old teammates would make their way down to sit in Cal’s stands, Smith recalled. And they were constantly checking the highlights.

As the season went on, they realized that Buchanan was even better than they realized. He and fellow linebacker Cade Uluave were on pace to be the leading linebacker pair in the nation. When they went up against SEC opponent Auburn, Buchanan’s performance won ACC player of the week.

Biased as they are, Buchanan’s teammates were convinced he could have made the NFL if he had stayed at UC Davis, maybe as an undrafted free agent or late-round pick. But after he finished the year with 114 tackles, the question was no longer if he’d make the NFL but how high he’d be drafted. For Buchanan, the “far reach” started to feel a bit closer.

“The more games I played, the more I started hearing things from whoever saying I would get a shot, and scouts talking to me a little bit here and there at practice and just starting to realize that this is becoming closer to reality,” Buchanan said. “But I wouldn’t have imagined I would have been a fourth-round pick.”

Getting the call

When Buchanan arrived in Baltimore, he couldn’t believe how green it was.

He’d pictured a city, but the Ravens practice in Owings Mills; Buchanan sends friends pictures of trees, the creek and even deer.

He has also complained bitterly about the heat to his father, who is from Virginia and had warned him: “‘Dad,’ he says, ‘It’s so damn hot.’ He’s like, ‘The humidity!’ He said, ‘You were right.’”

It’s the first time Buchanan has lived so far from home — and it was a very unexpected move.

Buchanan’s Senior Bowl and NFL Combine performances gained him attention from teams. But the Ravens didn’t seem to be one of them.

The family heard from the San Francisco 49ers, the Minnesota Vikings and the LA Chargers. On the day of the draft, the Raiders told him they were picking him. So when the phone buzzed and Baltimore was on the line, everyone thought they must have misheard “Ravens” for “Raiders.”

Unfortunately for former Chargers fan Masui, “the wrong Harbaugh called.”

The confusion was quickly erased with excitement. When football fans think of Baltimore, they think of defense, linebackers and special teams — a good fit for Buchanan.

Suddenly, they were all Ravens fans — and convinced Baltimore had gotten a steal.

Buchanan quickly moved across the country to begin proving himself to his new team.

Kim, Smith and Buchanan’s friends got underwhelming reports from Buchanan about his own performance. No one else was remotely concerned.

“He’s needed a couple of pep talks,” Kim said. “He tends to be a perfectionist. So I’m like, ‘Listen, you’re a rookie. They’re developing you. It’s OK.’”

Sure enough, by training camp, Buchanan was taking reps next to Roquan Smith, a player he had previously highlighted in presentations for Jackson’s positional meetings. When Roquan Smith wasn’t on the field, Buchanan wore the green dot (meaning he shared play calls with the rest of the defense.)

“He’s done a heck of a job,” said Zach Orr, a former Ravens linebacker who now serves as defensive coordinator. “He’s been physical when the pads came on.”

Orr praised Buchanan’s ability to adapt to different positions and looks, too. Still, Smith said, Buchanan remained unimpressed with himself.

“I watched [the stadium practice] on YouTube, and I was like, ‘Man, you had a great practice,’” Smith said. “He was like, ‘Dad, that was horrible.’

“But then the next day he called me … and was like ‘Dad, I did well.’”

Roquan Smith said it’s evident that Buchanan’s a bit of a perfectionist — mistakes clearly “irk” him.

Buchanan said he’s still figuring out what it means to be a pro and settling into his routine.

That’s a common refrain from rookies, who often need to learn the work it takes off the field to keep up with the NFL schedule. However, for Buchanan, the opposite might be true.

“I think there are some things he can still [learn] — like taking a day off,” Roquan Smith said. “Where you don’t want to beat up your body too much because obviously playing the game of football is going to beat up your body.”

So far, that holistic approach has carried him from his days as a two-star recruit all the way to the NFL, where he has impressed the player he once studied.

“I think he’s prepared the right way, asks the right questions, and sees the game not like a first-year player,” Roquan Smith said. “So I would definitely say, even compared to my first year, I think mentally, he’s ahead of where I was.”