Torrian Gray’s plan for Gamecocks: Keep building ‘The New DBU’
Earlier this month, before Torrian Gray was officially added to South Carolina’s coaching staff, he came across a post on Twitter that caught his attention.
The post referenced South Carolina’s tradition of putting defensive backs in the NFL, a tradition Gray plans to build on now that he’s been hired as USC’s defensive backs coach. Shortly after joining Shane Beamer’s staff, he added “The New #DBU!” to his Twitter bio.
“We have a great tradition here with defensive backs. And there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be proud of that. So that’s why I put ‘The New DBU,’” Gray explained. “The guys have gotta believe, the guys we’re recruiting, the guys that are already here, we’ve gotta believe that, ‘Hey, we’re of that ilk and we can be those guys.’ So that’s kind of the mindset that we’re going to approach.”
From 2006 to 2019, defensive backs from South Carolina played the fourth-most snaps in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus. USC trailed only LSU, Ohio State and Texas on PFF’s list.
Former Gamecocks like NFL Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore, two-time All-Pro Johnathan Joseph, Super Bowl champion Darian Stewart and others played in the secondary at South Carolina before thriving in the league. Gray’s goal is to continue to add to that list.
“The guys that we’ve got is all you can work with. And with the guys that we’ve got, we’re going to build confidence in those guys,” Gray said. “You’ve gotta come in and give who we’ve got and what we’re working with a certain mindset that we’re going to be as good as anybody in the country.”
Gray has arguably as tough a task as anyone on the Gamecocks’ new-look staff under Beamer as he takes over a position group that is in rebuild mode.
The Gamecocks ranked 97th in pass defense in 2020, allowing 256 yards per game. To make matters worse, South Carolina lost most of its top playmakers from its secondary.
Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu are off to the NFL, while Jammie Robinson, Shilo Sanders and John Dixon all transferred.
Despite being dealt a tough hand, Gray is ready to get to work to turn South Carolina’s secondary around. He has already started watching film of returning players to see what he has to work with and is hard at work on the recruiting trail to bring in more talent.
For Gray, everything starts with his players having the right mindset and playing with the right attitude.
“We’ve just gotta prepare and start with what we’ve got,” he said. “We’ve gotta work our tails off in the weight room. Once we start meeting we’ve gotta meet with a purpose. And everything we do has gotta be with a purpose.”
Gray’s resume certainly shows that he should be able to help South Carolina.
He worked at Virginia Tech under Frank Beamer from 2006-15 as the Hokies DBs coach, and during his decade at Virginia Tech, opposing quarterbacks completed just 50.4% of their passes, the lowest percentage of any defense in the nation.
Gray also spent time at Florida and with the Washington Redskins, before landing in Columbia with Shane Beamer. Gray and Shane coached together for five seasons in Blacksburg from 2011-15. They were also teammates at VT in the 1990s.
“As good a defensive backs coach as there is anywhere in the country,” Beamer said Tuesday. “Is second to none when you look at the guys that he’s coached in the NFL, when you look at the guys that he coached and recruited to Virginia Tech and Florida when he was there on two different occasions.”
Gray has helped a number of college players develop into NFL defensive backs, including former All-Pro safety Kam Chancellor and first-round pick and All-Pro performer Kyle Fuller. Other NFL players Gray coached in college include Brandon Flowers, Kendall Fuller, Teez Tabor, Marcus Maye, Quincy Wilson, Duke Dawson and C.J. Henderson.
“To me, if you’re a college football player, to be coached by a guy that has played and coached at the highest level of football, the NFL, the second highest being the Southeastern Conference, that’s pretty impressive and a great recruiting tool for us,” Beamer said.
Gray has his work cut out for him in Columbia, for sure. But he believes he’s up to the task and can continue to grow “The New DBU.”
“Have tunnel vision on what we’ve gotta do and the work we’ve got ahead of us, because we’re kind of coming from the bottom of the hole with the departures and those things like that and the lack of experience,” Gray said. “But I think that’s going to be an exciting challenge for us.”
