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Baseball gods send ECU a wide receiver
Malik Gray's journey
from diamond to gridiron now heads to Greenville
By
Sammy Batten
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Malik Gray never entertained the idea
of playing football before he reached the junior high level. Gray was a
baseball player, a lightning quick shortstop-third baseman who did a
little pitching on the side.
It was the arm Gray developed playing
baseball that eventually led him to the football field where his talents
became good enough to earn a scholarship offer from East Carolina
earlier this month. He decided to accept and became the 21st member of
the Pirates' recruiting Class of 2014 on January 25.
Gray spent most of his senior season
at Chapman High School in Inman, SC., playing quarterback, although he's
been recruited as a wide receiver by ECU. The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder
completed 108 passes for 1,876 yards and 18 touchdowns, while also
rushing 158 times for 667 more yards and four scores for a 10-4 Chapman
squad.
"We were really blessed to have
him,'' said Chapman's Mark Hodge, who coached Gray the last two seasons.
Hodge can thank the baseball gods for
their generosity.
"I'd always played baseball when I
was younger, so I had a strong arm,'' Gray said. "I was able to throw
the ball and I've always been fast.
"But in junior high we started going
outside at lunch, and we'd always be throwing the football. I started
throwing and running around with the football, and started to like it.
It all just came together like that. I joined the junior high team that
season and started out at quarterback. I moved to receiver later in the
season. I really didn't know what I was doing, but I was good at it.''
Gray would go on to spend a season on
the junior varsity squad at Chapman before earning a starting spot on
the varsity as a wide receiver during his sophomore year. He was set to
continue his career as a wide out before Hodge arrived in February 2012
from Carolina High School in Greenville, SC.
Because of Gray's arm strength, Hodge
had him compete during the preseason at quarterback with Ben Ziegler.
Ziegler, who now plays at Limestone College, eventually won the starting
job while Gray returned to receiver where he teamed as a junior and
senior with South Carolina commitment Deebo Samuel.
"We knew when we got here he had a
chance to be a special player,'' Hodge said. "He was very athletic and
rangy. He was the first kid we noticed from an athletic standpoint.
"He can flat out throw the football.
There aren't many throws on the field he can't make. He can throw it 65
or 70 yards. But the other kid (Ziegler) ended up being our quarterback
that first year and Malik played receiver. Then, our plans for him this
season was to play him at both quarterback and receiver. But he actually
ended up playing more quarterback than wide receiver.''
Hodge noted that a play made by Gray
in late October led to Chapman winning five of its last six games. The
play proved pivotal in a 16-15 victory against Union and beyond.
"It was getting later in the season
and we had a bad stretch of injuries,'' Hodge said. "We had to win our
last two (regular-season) games to make the playoff. We were playing
Union, and had not performed well on offense in the first half.
"Well, in the second half Malik takes
off on a quarterback trap, runs through their defense 60 yards for a
touchdown. That pretty much set the tone for the second half and
catapulted us over the top right there for the next six games.''
Those kind of performances are what
motivated the interest of ECU recruiting coordinator and outside
receivers coach Donnie Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick is a regular figure on
the recruiting trail in South Carolina and had established a previous
relationship with Hodge at Carolina High.
Kirkpatrick had been aware of Gray's
talents, but wanted to see how he developed over the course of his
senior season.
"I think they wanted to see how Malik
evolved,'' Hodge said. "We felt going into the season he had the
opportunity to emerge as a Division I player, but they wanted to see it
on a consistent basis. Through the season he did well, and he did well
on his test scores and in his classes.''
Gray quickly began to educate himself
about the Pirates when he learned of Kirkpatrick's interest.
"I didn't know that much about them
in the beginning,'' he said. "But Coach (Kirkpatrick) kept calling and
staying in contact with me. I started to realize 'these guys want me to
take them seriously.'
"They invited me up for a visit and
they offered.''
Gray took an official visit to ECU on
January 17 and received a scholarship offer while on campus. He returned
home to talk over the situation with Hodge and his family before
deciding to play for the Pirates. Gray also had offers from Old Dominion
and South Carolina State.
East Carolina has recruited Gray to
play outside receiver, and Hodge believes he'll fit in quickly.
"He still got a lot of work in at
receiver last season, so he's pretty versed at that position,'' Hodge
said. "He's got big hands and long arms, and he's still growing. He
really knows how to handle his body as far as positioning to contact.
Combine that with the fact he's got pretty good top-end speed, and he
can create some matchup nightmares for a defense.''
Gray is the third player committed to
the ECU class who played quarterback in high school.
Quay Johnson
from Knightdale, NC, and
Dre Massey
from Mauldin, SC, are the other prep quarterbacks who'll make the
transition to receiver with the Pirates.
But if ECU ever gets in a bind at
quarterback, Hodge said it shouldn't hesitate to throw Gray behind
center.
"He's one of those rare kids that's
going in as a receiver, but if they needed an emergency quarterback he
could do that too,'' Hodge said. "If we had gotten here four or five
years ago and he'd actually gone through our program as a quarterback,
he would have probably gotten some offers at that position, too. He
basically learned our system with six months of preparation and that's
pretty phenomenal.''
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02/06/2014 07:17 AM |
