SONIC
05-27-2009, 04:34 PM
NCAA statistics show that nine out of 10,000 high school seniors who play football will one day be drafted by a National Football League team. Raiders DE Derrick Gray wasn’t one of those nine players and he’s taken the hard road to make it in the NFL. That's just fine with him.
Growing up in Silver Spring, Md., the spotlight was elusive for Gray. Most of the attention was grabbed by a talented wide receiver from nearby McDonogh High School named Darrius Heyward-Bey. “I didn’t know him before I got here but I used to follow him a lot,” said Gray. “He was a big name back home.”
Heyward-Bey went on to excel at the University of Maryland, and joined his fellow Silver Spring-native in Oakland after the Raiders selected him in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. Gray took a different route to Oakland, enrolling first at Texas Southern University – a Historically Black College roughly 1,500 miles from his hometown.
It wasn’t until his senior year when Gray began to catch the eyes of NFL scouts. He finished that season as a one of the leaders of the Tigers' Maroon “Mean Streak” Defense and became one of the most disruptive pass rushers in college football. Gray finished the year tied for the league lead with an average of 2.2 tackles for a loss per game and he also contributed nine sacks, good enough to tie him for 10th best in the Football Championship Series (FCS) division.
Despite all he accomplished that year, Gray flew under the radar as the Tigers ended the season without a victory and he went undrafted. However, shortly after the draft, the Raiders provided him with an opportunity to continue his career as a rookie free agent.
The chance to play in the NFL was a dream come true for Gray, but it presented some real challenges for someone coming from a small football program like TSU. “The transition was huge,” said Gray. “The quality of players you’re going against is better. Seeing the new facilities and all the things they have to help you get better as a player was amazing. I wasn’t used to seeing all those types of things that help you prepare as a football player.”
After training camp, Gray was placed on the Raiders' practice squad where he spent the entire 2008 season, but he’s determined to earn a spot on the active roster this season. With the help of Head Coach Tom Cable and new defensive coaches John Marshall and Dwaine Board, Gray is optimistic about his chances.
Gray says that Coach Cable is doing things differently this offseason than they were done last summer. “He’s forcing all the players to work harder and by doing that, he’s making us cling tighter to each other because we have to pull and motivate one another,” said Gray. “We have to keep pushing and pushing. It’s not easy to just get through the day. You have to really come in here locked in ready to work.”
The change is good for Gray, who hopes to make the 2009 team and help the Raiders return to their winning ways. “(It’s going to take) consistent hard work,” said Gray. “That’s all I’m going to do, just continue to work hard and be focused.”
If his hard work pays off, Gray will earn his spot and Raider fans can expect to see No. 92 in the middle of the action on game day.
http://www.raiders.com/Common/Article.aspx?id=63988
Growing up in Silver Spring, Md., the spotlight was elusive for Gray. Most of the attention was grabbed by a talented wide receiver from nearby McDonogh High School named Darrius Heyward-Bey. “I didn’t know him before I got here but I used to follow him a lot,” said Gray. “He was a big name back home.”
Heyward-Bey went on to excel at the University of Maryland, and joined his fellow Silver Spring-native in Oakland after the Raiders selected him in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. Gray took a different route to Oakland, enrolling first at Texas Southern University – a Historically Black College roughly 1,500 miles from his hometown.
It wasn’t until his senior year when Gray began to catch the eyes of NFL scouts. He finished that season as a one of the leaders of the Tigers' Maroon “Mean Streak” Defense and became one of the most disruptive pass rushers in college football. Gray finished the year tied for the league lead with an average of 2.2 tackles for a loss per game and he also contributed nine sacks, good enough to tie him for 10th best in the Football Championship Series (FCS) division.
Despite all he accomplished that year, Gray flew under the radar as the Tigers ended the season without a victory and he went undrafted. However, shortly after the draft, the Raiders provided him with an opportunity to continue his career as a rookie free agent.
The chance to play in the NFL was a dream come true for Gray, but it presented some real challenges for someone coming from a small football program like TSU. “The transition was huge,” said Gray. “The quality of players you’re going against is better. Seeing the new facilities and all the things they have to help you get better as a player was amazing. I wasn’t used to seeing all those types of things that help you prepare as a football player.”
After training camp, Gray was placed on the Raiders' practice squad where he spent the entire 2008 season, but he’s determined to earn a spot on the active roster this season. With the help of Head Coach Tom Cable and new defensive coaches John Marshall and Dwaine Board, Gray is optimistic about his chances.
Gray says that Coach Cable is doing things differently this offseason than they were done last summer. “He’s forcing all the players to work harder and by doing that, he’s making us cling tighter to each other because we have to pull and motivate one another,” said Gray. “We have to keep pushing and pushing. It’s not easy to just get through the day. You have to really come in here locked in ready to work.”
The change is good for Gray, who hopes to make the 2009 team and help the Raiders return to their winning ways. “(It’s going to take) consistent hard work,” said Gray. “That’s all I’m going to do, just continue to work hard and be focused.”
If his hard work pays off, Gray will earn his spot and Raider fans can expect to see No. 92 in the middle of the action on game day.
http://www.raiders.com/Common/Article.aspx?id=63988