Christian Gray wasn’t able to finish his first spring football at Notre Dame healthy.
The early enrolled freshman cornerback required surgery on the meniscus in his right knee. The arthroscopic procedure didn’t keep Gray sidelined long. His quick recovery allowed him to get back on track this summer and fight for playing time in preseason camp.
Heading into Notre Dame’s first game week with a trip to Dublin, Ireland to play against Navy on Saturday, Gray appears to have secured the fourth cornerback position on the Irish depth chart.
“He goes out to compete every day,” said cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens. “He understands the standard of what we want. He works on his craft. He’s around those older guys, understands what the expectations are and what they’re thinking. He’s just a sponge. He goes out there and he shows it and competes at a high level.”
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Gray used his spring injury to his advantage at the urging of Mickens. While Gray was working his way back to the field, Mickens wanted Gray to study the playbook, technique and tendencies.
“So I kept training my body and my mind, every day, every day, running the plays, learning the plays, getting quicker asking questions,” Gray said. “Being confident in my questions and my answers. So, that just gave me more confidence in myself over the plays, too.”
Gray came to Notre Dame as one of the top-ranked members of the Irish recruiting class. Rivals ranked him as the No. 12 cornerback and No. 93 overall. He became the first Rivals100 cornerback to sign with Notre Dame since Shaun Crawford in 2015.
Even after a standout career at St. Louis De Smet, Gray needed some reassurance from Mickens and his teammates that he could compete from the jump at Notre Dame.
“They all told me,” Gray said, “‘You belong here. That's why you should have confidence. We recruited you. We wanted you here. You committed here because you belong here.’ So once that got into my system, I’ve felt like I’ve had more confidence on the field every day.”
That’s been on display with Gray providing tight coverage against Notre Dame’s top outside receivers Jayden Thomas and Tobias Merriweather when given opportunities this preseason. The 6-foot, 189-pound Gray can play to the field or to the boundary, but Mickens likes him best near the boundary against bigger wide receivers.
“He’s just long, fast,” Mickens said. “His length is really good. He’s really good at press.”
Sophomore cornerback Jaden Mickey even compared Gray’s readiness to himself and Benjamin Morrison as freshmen last season.
“Wanting to learn, hungry on and off the field,” Mickey said of Gray. “It’s been fun watching him.”
Morrison, who was named a Freshman All-American, had more success than Mickey last season, but Mickey played in 11 games in addition to Morrison’s 13. The coaching staff paired Gray up with Morrison during preseason camp to help him along.
“Every day we talked about the plays, we read over plays, and then at the end of the day, we’ll just read our Bibles and everything,” Gray said of his time with Morrison. “We’ll tell each other stories about it.
“So basically, he's been a big brother to me. Really like a lot of times and having my back. Ben Morrison is really that guy.”
Mickens, who Gray described as a like a father to him, has established a track record of preparing freshmen to play at college level spanning back to his days as a cornerbacks coach at Cincinnati and Bowling Green. Gray was in attendance for the Clemson game last season when Morrison recorded his first two career interceptions.
That success for Morrison, which included six interceptions by season’s end even though he didn’t start in the first two games, can feel attainable for Gray. Even if the depth chart has talent ahead of him with Morrison, graduate senior captain Cam Hart and Mickey.
“This game is not hard once you put your all into it,” Gray said. “Your focus, your mindset, your body, your everything into it — you’ll have that great success.”
Gray, who has also been working with the kickoff coverage and punt return units, will likely make his career debut in the season opener. He didn’t get to participate in the test run of the Blue-Gold Game in April, but Gray insists he doesn’t get nervous before games.
He left those feelings in high school. This moment will be something new.
“I'm going to feel excited, feel the blessing and everything,” Gray said. “I’m going to mostly feel God over me, because my soul just left. Like I'm in Ireland playing football and that's amazing. And so once I realize that, once I step on that field, it's going to be a different mindset."
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