Gary Gray Focused On Pro Day

Looking forward to hearing how our guys do. Thanks, Wes.

I wish him the best. I would be surprised if he gets drafted but you never know.

I don't see Gray being drafted, but he'll get a look from some team as a free agent. It's unfortunate that he's had to deal with a groin injury at a time when he needs to make a really good impression.

Playing a receiver's eyes and hands instead of looking at the ball can at times be the right play. It did burn Gray a few times last season, but the problem started before that moment. Alabama's Nick Saban gave a really great breakdown of how he coaches his defensive backs to decide between finding the ball or the man on his radio show last fall. It's a little long, but I found the detail pretty fascinating...

“Let me explain it to you this way: There’s two positions you can be in when you’re defending a receiver. You’re either ‘in-phase’ with him or you’re ‘out-of-phase’ with him. Now, . . . ‘in-phase’ means that you’re pretty much even with the guy [as he runs straight downfield], but if you can see the guy’s number nearest [to] you, you’re in-phase when you’re covering him down the field. So when he gets through the move area — the move area defined being 14 to 18 yards down the field where the guy’s going to break a route in or out — we play a lot of closed coverage, [i.e.] we’re in bump-and-run a lot; we’re in that position with the guy when he gets in the move area. Now, if you’re in-phase with him when he gets into the move area, you should become the receiver and look for the ball. That’s what you should do, and then the ball has to go through you.

“If you’re in the out-of phase position, which means you can’t see his near number, you can’t be even with him, then you have to play the guy’s eyes and hands for the ball because you’re not in position and if the quarterback throws it correctly [on a fade type pass] you’re not going to be able to get to the ball — you’re behind him too far."

The link to where I came across the explanation is posted below. If you're into the nitty, gritty details of coaching it's a fun site to check out from time to time.