Deandrae "Drae" McCray was one of the top young receivers in the FCS during his freshman and sophomore seasons at Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tennessee.
When McCray got the itch to see how he measures up in the FBS, he had no shortage of programs willing to give him that chance. With his name in the NCAA transfer portal this past off-season, he heard from North Carolina, Oregon, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Mississippi State and Indiana, among others.
The 5-foot-9, 185-pound wide receiver took recruiting visits to West Virginia and Cincinnati, but wound up casting his lot with Texas Tech, where former Austin Peay assistants Kirk Bryant and Josh Cochran are on staff.
What made him select Tech?
"The combination of the culture, the quarterback situation and the relationships I already had," McCray said. "I had people that I can trust. They were telling me the truth.
"The quarterback situation, you can't go wrong with either guy, Tyler (Shough) or Behren (Morton) — even (first-semester freshman) Jake (Strong); he's coming along nicely.
"And then the culture here ... Coach (Joey) McGuire has done a great job since he's been here, building the culture, being all about the brand, which is something that stuck out to me. That's something that I wanted to be a part of, and I'm really enjoying it so far."
McCray caught 53 passes for 867 yards and eight touchdowns in 2021, his true freshman year. He caught 76 passes for 1,021 yards and nine TDs last season, leading the Atlantic Sun Conference in catches and receiving yards and ranking second in receiving touchdowns.
According to Pro Football Focus, McCray caused 25 missed tackles last season, most among FCS receivers.
During Texas Tech's 8-5 season last year, size characterized the Red Raiders' group of outside receivers. Jerand Bradley, Loic Fouonji, J.J. Sparkman and Trey Cleveland, all listed at 6-4 or 6-5, were regulars in the two-deep. They're all back except Cleveland, who transferred to North Texas.
Coaches are looking for McCray to inject some speed into the group. He flashed it last week in a session of spring football practice. Though a play was signaled dead for a touch sack, the quarterback went ahead and launched a deep throw for McCray running a post pattern.
"Probably 60 to 70 yards downfield," offensive coordinator Zach Kittley said, "and he tracked it down. We just haven't seen anything like that around here, just true speed like that, probably since a Jakeem Grant-type guy. He can really, really take the top off."
Devin Lauderdale might be another comparison for McCray. During the 2014 season, with Davis Webb and Patrick Mahomes doing the delivery, Lauderdale caught deep-ball touchdown throws of 34, 76, 56, 47, 82 and 48 yards.
Regardless what recent Tech receiver McCray brings to mind, his big-play potential is the attraction. Kittley said the Red Raiders could use McCray as an outside receiver, as a slot receiver or even in the backfield.
"Man, he's got a different gear that we haven't seen around here in a long time," Kittley said, "and that's been awesome to have around."
"It's a gift that I've had since I was young, something that I work on," McCray said. "It's just something that you always can improve."
During his senior year at Tallahassee (Fla.) North Florida Christian, McCray ran a 100 meters in 10.33 seconds, though the tailwind of 3.6 meters per second was well outside the legal wind range of 2.0. He also was clocked that year at 10.53 with 2.1 meters per second assistance and 10.67 with a wind of 2.2 mps. He ran a 10.83 into negative wind of 0.8 mps.
McCray didn't begin competing in track and field until his sophomore year of high school. He ran hurdles that year, "and I'll be honest, I wasn't very good at hurdles," he said.
He moved to sprints during his junior year, but the Covid outbreak in March 2020 shut down the season after McCray had competed in three meets.
"So my first full track season running sprints was my senior year," he said. "So that's pretty cool: I didn't run track until I was basically 18 years old."
McCray's offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach and sprints coach at North Florida Christian was Kez McCorvey, the leading receiver on Florida State's 1993 national championship team and later an NFL player. They reconnect whenever McCray goes back home, most recently over Tech's spring break.
"Coach Kez has been a really great part in my journey," McCray said. "I've probably trained with him since I was a sophomore in high school, so he's taught me different little nuances and things like that. Even now to this day, when I go back, that's who I work out with, even track practice. Me and coach Kez have a really good relationship."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Dreaming on Drae: Red Raiders imagining ways to use new speed receiver
