Ray reflects on Mizzou career - STLtoday.com
Mizzou’s seniors performed the ritual Tuesday at West Orange High School as junior defensive end Shane Ray watched a tradition he might never perform. Ray plans to decide after Thursday’s Citrus Bowl against Minnesota if he’ll enter the 2015 draft and pass on his senior season at Mizzou. The SEC defensive player of the year spoke Tuesday like a player who’s already looking back on his college career. On the way to a news conference, Ray shared a story with teammate Maty Mauk and Mizzou’s two coordinators that he later told to reporters, albeit a cleaner edition. The next day, defensive coordinator Dave Steckel called Ray into his office for a meeting with defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski. “Coach Steck looked me in my eyes,” Ray said, “and — I’ll just make it the PG version — but basically he told me that if I didn’t buy into the program, he said, ‘I don’t care how good you are, you won’t play here. Ray has since developed into Mizzou’s team MVP, a consensus All-American and a player coach Gary Pinkel calls one of the five best competitors he’s ever coached. Steckel, who after Thursday’s game takes over full-time as Missouri State’s head coach, didn’t recall the meeting with Ray but said the junior began to mature once he trusted Mizzou’s coaches. Source: www.stltoday.com
