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| Gray had a big night for NE Sunday night.Photo Credit: J. Russo/ USA Today Sports |
Jonas
Gray. A name many American Football fans will be mentioning throughout
the world this week, but who exactly is this mysterious Mr. Gray?
By: Sean Sloane
Just
to clear things up, he isn’t the BDSM-practicing, male protagonist of
any EL James novel. No, this is the 24-year-old, five foot nine,
upcoming superstar for the New England Patriots we are talking about
here.
Coming
from the humble town of Pontiac, Michigan, Jonas Gray attended Detriot
Country Day high school, a private, secular school located in four
campuses in Oakland County. Gray had an incredibly successful high
school career, helping lead the school to an 11-3 record and even
helping them on their way to the state championship final after rushing
for 305 yards on 29 carries in the state semi-final, leading the yellow
jackets to a 37-30 victory.
Jonas gained an impressive 2,614 yards on
341 rushes (7.7 average) and scored 32 touchdowns during his final
season, rushing for over 200 yards in all five games, resulting in him
being rated as the fourth best running back prospect of his class.
After
finishing high school, Gray went on to the University of Notre Dame,
where he stayed from 2008-2011. He spent a majority of his college
career backing up the likes of Armando Allen, Robert Hughes and Cierre
Wood, struggling to really break into the Notre Dame starting line up.
Nevertheless, as a senior, Gray rushed for 791 yards on 114 carries,
averaging 6.9 yards per carry, whilst scoring a grand total of 12
touchdowns.
Like
his college career, Gray’s professional career struggled to find its
feet. After failing to be drafted in the 2011 draft, Jonas was picked up
by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent. He was placed on the
PUP list whilst he rehabbed his knee injury, before being amongst the
final cuts on August 31 2013.
On
September 2, 2013, three days after being dropped by the Dolphins, Gray
signed for the Baltimore Ravens. At this point, Gray’s inability to
stand out at his clubs is starting to become a recurring theme.
However,
after a low-key couple of months in Baltimore, Gray signed onto the New
England Patriots on a future/ reserve contract on 10th January 2014. He did not survive the final cuts, but was signed to the active roster just before their Thursday Night Football Game vs the New York Jets.
And then, on the night of November 16th2014, was pulled aside by Patriots owner, Robert Kraft, and told that he ‘going
to have a big game this week.’ and boy was that true. Gray went on to
rush for 199 yards, scoring a franchise-record four touchdowns in his
fourth NFL game, leading the Patriots to a 42-20 victory over the
Indianapolis Colts.
Gray
also became the first NFL running back since 1921 to score 4 rushing
touchdowns in a game after entering the game having zero career
touchdowns.
Follow me on Twitter: @seansloane_
