DE commit Gray enjoys day in Fort Worth catching ISU victory
The NCAA’s dead period, extended now through the end of the calendar year, has eliminated game day visits for recruits this fall. But one Iowa State commit in the 2021 class took matters into his own hands and secured a ticket for his future squad’s 37-34 victory at TCU on Saturday.
Haslet (Texas) Eaton defensive end Jayden Gray made the 30-minute drive from his home to Amon G. Carter Stadium to get his first glimpse of the program he committed to in mid-July.
“A friend of mine is a freshman tackle at TCU and he gave me tickets to go to the game,” said Gray. “It was a great time. I was sending a lot of videos to the other commits, so they could see some of the players warming up and stuff and some things I got to see in-game.
“I’ve seen some people trying to get the dead period lifted and stuff. I’m just really waiting. I’m just blessed to get a ticket and be able to see Iowa State in person and watch all the coaches that have recruited me.”
For a 6-foot-3, 235-pound defensive end being billed by the coaching staff as a future replacement to Iowa State’s all-time career sack leader, Saturday was huge in selling him on his future role in Ames.
“When I was getting recruited, got my offer and was watching film, Coach (Eli) Rasheed always wanted me to watch JaQuan Bailey and Zach Petersen,” Gray said. “When I committed, he said JaQuan would be leaving and he wants me to come in and take the place of JaQuan. Those are some huge shoes to fill.
“Just watching that game and seeing how well the defensive line performed, they got a lot of sacks. JaQuan got the sack record of all time. I loved seeing the pass rush moves he uses. It was awesome getting to see him in action.”
Gray watched Bailey play well in the season opener against Louisiana and said he was able to visualize himself out there in a Cyclone uniform after Saturday.
“After watching the Ragin’ Cajuns game, I was wondering what I would do if I were in there and what techniques I would be using,” he said. “Being able to see in person and the defensive performance they had in person…I could picture myself in those shoes, being there and using this move or that technique at that time to get sacks. I also know my parents would have been able to get to that game.”
The future Cyclone also enjoyed seeing Matt Campbell’s staff work for the first time, since he’s been unable to travel to Ames for any type of visit since they started recruiting him.
“I loved seeing the type of coaching they do and it got me fired up to see the passion those guys have,” Gray said. “The same type of passion they have on the phone is what they carry over to the field on game days. There’s that family feel and brotherhood they bring, how much they care about the players. There’s only so much that YouTube video can give you, or them telling you what they do on game day.”
Gray’s Haslet Eaton team just opened the season last week and he posted two sacks and four tackles-for-loss in a 48-3 victory over Fort Worth Boswell.
