Non-snarky question: does anyone buy this ($$)?
Four-star cornerback Henry Gray feels as if he’s next on the Cook plan. Maybe he’ll get a house like the one on his coach’s wall one day, too. But as he walked outside of Smith’s office and turned the corner for an interview this week, he gave an odd guarantee you wouldn’t otherwise hear from a four-star cornerback who is one of the top five players at his position and a national top-60 prospect overall.
“I’m going to college for all four years, no matter what happens,” Gray told The Athletic.
Is that a guarantee?
“That’s a guarantee,” he said.
What if you’re a first-round pick?
“No matter what,” he said. “Even if I’m a first-rounder, I am staying all four years.”
Why?
“My mom. She is really big on school and she is really emphasizing to me that anything can happen in football, so she really ingrained in me that I need to get my education,” he said. “But I am staying all four years.”
Skip the obvious “he’s a seventeen-year old kid” take here — anything can indeed happen, so if you’re a first-rounder after your junior year, why would you risk losing a big pay day by getting injured in your last season in college? You can always come back later to get that degree.
The author presents this as making Gray more valuable to the colleges recruiting him. I can’t imagine many coaches factoring that into the equation, but maybe that’s just me.