Rochester (MI) Adams CB Vincent Gray
2018
Vincent Gray – CB – Rochester (MI) Adams: Gray is a 6’2″, 180 lb. prospect with offers from Michigan, Missouri, and Western Michigan, among others. He’s a 3-star, the #60 cornerback, and #681 overall. Gray was committed to Missouri for several months before the offer from Michigan came in December, and he decommitted from Mizzou earlier this month. His Crystal Ball is now 93% in favor of Michigan, with only 7% picking West Virginia.
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I don’t want to sound like a downer over here, but I’m not seeing much here.
He has ok athleticism, not fantastic. Only high school track time I can find is from his freshman year running an 11.9 100m, which isn’t great for a freshman.
A lot of his highlights are on offense, where he shows above average athleticism again.
His defensive highlights he often plays off. When he is pressing, his hips don’t look fluid enough to be a corner. It’s often he’s out of his backpedal after 2 or 3 steps.
At 5:24 he opens his hips the wrong way. If he’s a corner on our defense, that’ll be a big play gifted to the opposing team.
I’ll try to look at the positives. He’s 6’2″, 180 lbs, and that could be an exaggeration. Kid looks light. Once he’s in a college strength system for 2 years, I think he could be a strong safety.
TTB ranking if he commits I’m guessing is somewhere between 58-65 unless you see something I’m missing.
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My 2nd favorite part of UM football is recruiting (1st being winning!). I try to put my 2 cents in on every commit or projected commit for the last few years on this website. For the first time EVER I have a bit of inside info on a player and I’m going to share.
First, I don’t know if he’s going to commit to UM. I don’t know him personally. Everything I’ve read about him lately has him choosing UM and I hear he’s a nice kid. But, I have a VERY close family member that coached him. He tells me that he is a decent athlete but not Big 10 qualified. In fact, he wonders if he can even be relevant at MAC schools. He’s seen much better speed, athleticism and physicality in other players that have played at Adams and have gone onto obscurity at other FBS schools. He said he’s not 6’2″, as listed. Possibly 6′ 1″ but closer to 6′. He was feverishly recruited by Purdue last month. So much that they tried to pressure him into committing during the school day on their 1st visit with him. So, I guess there’s that.
I don’t see much either honestly. I live in the area and he’s been relatively unknown for years. Other players have gotten more hype until now. He doesn’t hit and he’s not a physical freak. These are throw-away type scholarships. I’m really disappointed every time I see the Crystal Ball go to him. I’ll chalk this one up as a “Tony Posada”.
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I appreciate the insight.
I’m with you in that I don’t see a lot of upside, but I’ll say this: Michigan really hasn’t had a cornerback bust since Jim Harbaugh was hired. Lewis and Clark got drafted. Stribling got high grades by PFF even though he hasn’t done anything in the NFL. Keith Washington looked like the best CB on the roster in the spring, and then he was beaten out by a couple guys who were two of the best cover guys in the conference, if not the country. Ambry Thomas looks like he’s going to be a good one, and Brandon Watson did just fine when called upon.
Michigan likes long corners and knows how to coach them. I don’t really see any evidence that Don Brown, Mike Zordich, and the rest of the staff won’t develop every single guy who plays the position. I know that’s not realistic in the long run, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. If his floor is Keith Washington or Brandon Watson, then I’m okay with that.
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I’m not a huge fan either, but Gray measured in at 6’2″ at one of the Nike camps. And watching his hudl, it’s clear that he’s pretty lanky. Just saying.
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