A weekly look at young Texas Tech players who are expected to redshirt this season.

Gray

JOEL GRAY
Position: Offensive tackle
Height/weight: 6-6, 306
In high school: Gray finished his career at Lewisville Hebron making Class 5A second-team all-state on last year’s Texas Sports Writers Association team. He had to overcome a major knee injury he suffered during his sophomore year that caused him to miss the first few games of his junior season. Still, he attracted nearly 30 scholarship offers.
At the moment: Gray has been training at left tackle since he arrived on campus. Line coach Matt Moore said he’s not sure that left tackle is where Gray will be for the long term, but if he needs to move an offensive lineman the transition is easier going outside to inside than vice versa.

“Joel is just one of those guys that very consistently wins,’’ Moore said. “It’s not always pretty, but he seems to get the job done. That’s the same thing he did in high school. He always found a way to win, and he’s real competitive. He’s athletic, has really good feet. That helps him out a lot.’’

It appears Tech’s faith in Gray after he suffered his knee injury in high school will be rewarded.

“We had already offered him (a scholarship),’’ Moore said. “A lot of people backed off after he got hurt. We went in there strong. He’s rehabbed and hasn’t had any problem at all. There’s no side effects that I’ve seen.’’

Going to Tech classes the first two days with a crazy haircut might have been more traumatic recently. As an initiation, the team’s older linemen make the freshmen linemen get haircuts at the beginning of school. Gray had to walk around for a couple of days with a band of hair around his head, but none on top.

“It’s all in fun,’’ Moore said. “They do it as a rite of passage.’’

Compiled by Don Williams