Notre Dame football assistant Max Bullough on linebacker Jaylen Sneed
Notre Dame football assistant coach Max Bullough raves about the physical transformation of fourth-year linebacker Jaylen Sneed this offseason.
SOUTH BEND —Nearly 11 full weeks after the national championship loss to Ohio State, Christian Gray found himself Friday morning finally discussing the most painful third-and-11 conversion of his Notre Dame football career.
“Sometimes it happens, you know?” the junior cornerback said. “You win or lose, you know what I mean?”
On the evening of Jan. 20 in Atlanta, freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith won his 1-on-1 battle with Gray. The play went for 56 yards as quarterback Will Howard, standing tall against an all-out blitz, sent a perfect parabola down the right sideline into Smith’s waiting hands.
Ohio State held on to win, 34-23.
Comeback thwarted, Notre Dame saw its national championship drought reach 36 seasons and counting.
“Unfortunately, he got — they got — the best of me,” Gray said of Smith and the Buckeyes. “I ain’t going to lie to you. It was a good play. It was a good play by them in every way. But we’re going to be back there this year.”
As tears flowed freely in the losing locker room that night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Gray’s teammates eventually shielded him from reporters who approached his locker. Head bowed and covered by a towel, Gray could hear some of the raw anger that was reported in the wake of a single media question.
“A reporter guy asked me a question, just an ignorant question, and then my teammates came up to me and protected me,” Gray said. “They’re my brothers. They all came up to me and protected me and said, ‘Get out.’ (They) told the reporter to get out. That’s not a respectable question to ask.”
What was the offending question from the credentialed reporter?
“He just asked, ‘How was guarding Jeremiah Smith?’ “ Gray said.
Putting ‘Third-and-11’ in context
Until the conversion, Smith was held to four catches for 32 yards, a pedestrian night by his lofty standards. One of those was an 8-yard touchdown catch that wiped out Notre Dame’s early 7-0 lead and kickstarted a string of 31 unanswered points for Ohio State.
Even with the deep ball, Smith’s only catch of the second half, his 88 total receiving yards ranked eighth out of the 16 games it took him to amass 1,315 air yards and 15 scores.
Smith, by all accounts, is a future NFL star. There is no shame in losing contact with him that far down the field.
Seventy-four days after The Conversion, Gray lifted his eyes after a Friday morning practice and shared precisely how long it took him to recover from that mental gash.
“Next day,” he said. “I told myself that day there was going to be hate. It’s going to be everybody else trying to tell me something, trying to tell me everything else. But all I can do is go on to the next day and try to get myself better just to go prepare for the future.”
Gray, who won’t turn 20 until May, put his phone down and let his family handle his social media posts.
“I just didn’t pay attention to media or anything,” he said. “I turned off everything. My whole family took care of it. I just didn’t worry about it. After that, I just wanted to go to the field and got better.”
Having already been through the personal rollercoaster that was the regular-season finale at USC, Gray experienced an 11-day swing of emotions after his final-minute interception set up the winning kick against Penn State in the Orange Bowl semifinal.
“As a DB in this world, you go through the ups and downs, of course,” Gray said. “People will hate you; people will love you. It’s OK with me. I’m just going to still do what God gave me the ability to do: Play the game I love.”
He received heartfelt encouragement from so many in his life, but two that stood out were Shonda Gray and Mike Mickens.
His mother and his position coach.
Mickens’ reminder: “It happens. It’s just life.”
From a former NFL cornerback to an aspiring future pro, the message came through loud and clear.
One play. One life.
Turn the page.
“He’s in the details of the thing now,” Mickens said Friday. “How his footwork is, what’s his recognition, how can he play faster each play by recognizing splits or formations? Just technique and how to finish on the ball. That’s where he’s at in his game.”
Shonda Gray’s message to her son was more visceral.
“My mom was like, ‘Are you going to let another man take your swagger as a DB? Or are you going to keep your swagger and keep going on and get better?’ “ Gray said.
He smiled at the memory. The question was clearly rhetorical.
Christian Gray on the ‘motivating factor’ of Ohio State
Notre Dame’s annual spring game is set for April 12.
After that, Gray will finish up his academic work for the semester, keep rehabbing a balky foot, spend some time back home in St. Louis and then return to prepare himself for fall camp and what he hopes will be another 16-game march back to the College Football Playoff title stage.
He knows that no matter what happens this fall, the specter of “Third-and-11” will loom.
Smith’s highlight catch will no doubt play on an endless loop in the minds of Buckeye fans around the world, but that doesn’t mean it has to define Gray’s career.
“Yeah, I use it as a motivating factor for sure,” he said. “I mostly pray to God about it and try to use my swagger with it too. It works out on the field, and I’m getting better every day.”
Aside from Alabama graduate transfer Devonta Smith, Gray is the most experienced cornerback in Notre Dame’s position room. Gray knows the younger corners, including freshman All-America Leonard Moore, are watching to see how he carries himself.
“I’m still 19!” Gray said. “I’m still the youngest but like the oldest at the same time who knows the most. It’s kind of cool, kind of awkward at the same time.”
He paused and smiled again.
“Everybody calls me the ‘old head,’ he said, “but then I’m not the ‘old head.’ “
Fifteen starts into his college career, Gray has acquired wisdom beyond his years.
Old or not, he plans to hold his head high.
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
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