re: I talked with Ray Drew

Exactly. Obviously it is a nice story and a good sign, but to refer to him as a lock is way premature.

We can say that we are in the mix.

Situational back at best. Incapable of going up the gut for 5 yards 15-20 times a game. Plus, Blue and Ware are just better backs

C'mon guys...seriously? We backed off Lache his entire senior year? No, I don't remember that at all. The kool-aid is flowing strong in here. We were after Lache hard the whole time until toward the end when it became clear he was looking elsewhere (right after he was standing and leading the student section in cheers, BTW)

We wanted Ware over Storm, not Lache. Ware was the big back we wanted. We also wanted our smaller scatback type...that was Lache. Always was Lache. When it became clear he was looking elsewhere, that is when we went after and got Gore and Blue. They were late additions to the class. Blue was sitting on his Ole Miss offer and waiting for LSU. Its not like Lache wanted in and we gave him the cold shoulder and told him we couldn't fit him in.

Ware needed to be red-shirted this year and we have absolutely wasted this year on him, along with Boone

It was my hat Ray drew was wearing lol...he came and hung out with us, the painted posse and the students bc he wanted to record us doing the come to school here chant. He stayed for the entire 4th quarter. He was a pretty awesome guy and we chatted back and forth. We, the painted posse are a group of believers who love to show our support for our team so that mess auburn was spouting off is ridikulous. Anyway, he was going hang out with drake Nevis after the game that night. Drakes a solid guy and a Christian who almost didn't come here for the same reasons. We would be fortunate to get such a stand up guy and obviously great prospect.

Freak would be another good choice

I know Freak and Jernigan are great friends

This is a nice interview featuring Ray Drew. It gives a great look at the type of character this young man possesses.

I wouldnt overlook Tennessee. Chuck Smith is his recruiter and put him in touch with Michael Strahan. Drew now considers Strahan to be his mentor.



By all accounts, Ray Drew is an incredible talent on the football field. Drew is the 16th overall player in the SECRage Top 200 and the #3 DE prospect in the nation. At 6-5/230, he’s made a name for himself on the field by constantly causing trouble for opposing offenses.

But he shines even brighter when he takes the pads off. Every year, there are football prospects that are dominate on the field – and Drew does dominate. But what makes him special are the things he’s accomplished off the field. Not only is Ray Drew a top football talent, but he’s a great person and a minister off the field. We had a chance to visit with Drew and talk about mainly about what he does when he’s not on the field.

Obviously, as a high caliber athlete, there are plenty of things Drew could be doing with his time. And while most other high school seniors are going about their days doing whatever they want to do, Drew is different. “Growing up I was in a Christian based home. No one pressured me into becoming a minister. If I had been up to me, I probably wouldn’t be in this profession. It was a calling of the Lord. I had to obey it.”

Drew’s path to the man he’s become today started early. “When I was younger, I didn’t think much of it. But when I’d go to sleep, you know how parents read their kids Goldilocks or the Three Little Bears; I never wanted to hear it. I always wanted to hear a story out of the Bible. My mom would sit down and she’d read us a story out of the Bible. Just little stuff like that influenced me.”

With school, football, recruiting, family, his ministry, and everything else he’s involved in, how does Drew fit it all in? “Friday is game day. Mostly focusing on the opponent. Saturday is recuperating time. You’re going to be a little sore after the game if you go out and play like you’re supposed to. You’re going to get banged up a little bit. So you take some time to recuperate. Then if I have a speaking engagement that Sunday… I never sit down and prepare a sermon. I’ve actually gone up in the pulpit without even knowing what I was going to speak on at all. I let the Lord lead me in the way He wants and I roll with it. If I start to prepare something, if I write down notes, then it’s what I want them to hear – not what the Lord wants them to hear. I do it solely for Him.”

With all his talent and ability, Drew is obviously a name constantly on the minds of the top college football coaches in the country. They all want him. But does that cause problems for Drew as his top priority is putting God first in life? How does he deal with the struggles associated with being a star on the field while being a light to the world off the field? “Just keep a level head. If I would ever become boastful in it at all, that would be very bad in the public eye. Not being boastful about everything is the biggest thing. And then also trying to keep academically in order is tough. You don’t want to get all this publicity, being a 5 star athlete and then end up going to a junior college or something like that. So the pressure is on you that way as well.”

Drew is the type of person who has made plenty of people proud – his family, his coaches, his football team. And when he commits to a school, there’s no doubt that some fans will be proud. But what is Drew most proud of in his life? “When I was younger, I went to a camp in Eerie, Pennsylvania. I was one of the youngest guys there, but I was ministering to people. Everyone else was 15 or 16 years old and I was around 12 or 13. We would all come together in a room and have a Bible study, and there would be preaching. When I got back home my mom got a phone call from somebody saying “I thank God for your son. My son was in Pennsylvania with your son and he came home and turned his life over to the Lord.” To this day, I don’t know who that person was, but I’m just glad that what I said had an impact on someone.”

When talking to Drew, it doesn’t take long to figure out that he’s going to be something really special. A well spoken and well mannered kid, he will most likely make an impact on the field at the next level for three or four years. But even greater than that, Ray has the potential and the desire to impact lives outside of football.

SECRage Staff Writer, Chad Ezelle