'08 MI RB Jonas Gray (Signed LOI to ND)

[NDPhilly]

Confirmed he has been invited to NFL combine per BGINews on Twitter. Very happy for this young man. Hope he lights it up.

Torn ACLs take like 8 months or something like that to recover from.

 

[clashmore_mike]

4-6 months. what is the date of the combine?

 

[Te'o4Heisman]

end of february. cant imagine why he was invited or how there is any chance he will participate. I for some reason thought the combine was beginning of April, and there was an outside chance he could do something there since the draft is the end of April.

 

[clashmore_mike]

more than just running takes place though. Possibly the most important part are the interviews/meetings with teams. He can still do that part.

I also thought I saw something where he was on schedule to start jogging in January and be able to run the 40 by the time ND's pro day rolled around.

 

[koonja]

Confirmed he has been invited to NFL combine per BGINews on Twitter. Very happy for this young man. Hope he lights it up.

Great for him and he deserves it, but IMO he'd be doing himself a favor by not even participating. You can't do **** with that surgery until at least 8 months, much less impress the NFL teams. Take a year off, enjoy the ND family and the access to the facility and walk on somewhere. But I'm just a guy in a place, what do I know.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

Great for him and he deserves it, but IMO he'd be doing himself a favor by not even participating. You can't do **** with that surgery until at least 8 months, much less impress the NFL teams. Take a year off, enjoy the ND family and the access to the facility and walk on somewhere. But I'm just a guy in a place, what do I know.

And you're drunk!

 

[Sherm Sticky]

more than just running takes place though. Possibly the most important part are the interviews/meetings with teams. He can still do that part.

I also thought I saw something where he was on schedule to start jogging in January and be able to run the 40 by the time ND's pro day rolled around.

Clashmore nailed it. The will take his height and weight which is huge and again the most important part is the team meetings & interviews. He will also be able to take the wonderlick test.

 

[bigedefense]

No way it takes 8 months now days. If we were talking 10 plus years ago, when the surgery was more invasive, then yes, it would be 8 months to a year. There are variables as to how long it would take. Such as if the Dr. uses his hamstrings tendon as the new lig, or his pateller tendon, most all patients will be 90% at 6 months. I know this because I see this injury a lot as a football coach, but I went online to Campbell's Clinic website to see what they said. This clinic is in Memphis, TN and is regarded as one of the best in the southern part of the United States. They say on the website that patients can regain the ability to do normal activities in as little as 6 months. Also, if the Dr. used an allograph (which is a cadiver lig), the recovery time will be reduced significantly. The reason being, much less invasive. We have a kid that is a senior, that tore his ACL at the end of our season and he had his surgery two weeks later. (I just found out all of this this week because I had an accident myself and have been out of pocket). That would put him having surgery the week before Thanksgiving. This kid is going to be ready for baseball season. He is running now. He had the donor lig and he is doing really well. I saw him yesterday afternoon at rehab and he looked really good running. He had no limp and was not favoring that leg at all. So, the point I am trying to make is, if when Jonas had his surgery, the Dr. used a donor ligament, he could participate in all of the events at the combine.

 

[magogian]

He will also be able to take the wonderlick test.

He can show teams that, unlike many NFL RBs, he also has something between the ears.

 

[clashmore_mike]

No way it takes 8 months now days. If we were talking 10 plus years ago, when the surgery was more invasive, then yes, it would be 8 months to a year. There are variables as to how long it would take. Such as if the Dr. uses his hamstrings tendon as the new lig, or his pateller tendon, most all patients will be 90% at 6 months. I know this because I see this injury a lot as a football coach, but I went online to Campbell's Clinic website to see what they said. This clinic is in Memphis, TN and is regarded as one of the best in the southern part of the United States. They say on the website that patients can regain the ability to do normal activities in as little as 6 months. Also, if the Dr. used an allograph (which is a cadiver lig), the recovery time will be reduced significantly. The reason being, much less invasive. We have a kid that is a senior, that tore his ACL at the end of our season and he had his surgery two weeks later. (I just found out all of this this week because I had an accident myself and have been out of pocket). That would put him having surgery the week before Thanksgiving. This kid is going to be ready for baseball season. He is running now. He had the donor lig and he is doing really well. I saw him yesterday afternoon at rehab and he looked really good running. He had no limp and was not favoring that leg at all. So, the point I am trying to make is, if when Jonas had his surgery, the Dr. used a donor ligament, he could participate in all of the events at the combine.

I agree with most of what you are saying except for the part about participating in all of the events. Anything that would involve cutting I think would be out of the question there. Jonas may be working on those things in rehab, but I don't think he'd be to the point where he'd want to put those results on tape. He can wait for a month til ND's pro day or hold his own pro day for scouts even after that to give himself more time.

 

[Pachuco]

Gray played incredible this season, but how much credit does Coach Hinton deserve for his development and stellar play throughout the season? Did anyone notice any technical changes to his game that can be credited to coaching? If Hinton is worthy of such praise, should we be concerned about the future development of our current RBs?

 

[tadman95]

Don't know about the coaching, I think Gray turned the corner because he matured into a man.

 

[Kak7304]

Also, Alford is still on the staff and is an excellent RB coach and some have speculated that he could move back into that position.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Gray played incredible this season, but how much credit does Coach Hinton deserve for his development and stellar play throughout the season? Did anyone notice any technical changes to his game that can be credited to coaching? If Hinton is worthy of such praise, should we be concerned about the future development of our current RBs?

Gray has always been an athletic freak. He just fumbled a lot as a freshman, so Weis buried him on the depth chart. He didn't get another shot until his senior year, and the rest is history.

If Hinton had turned a couple 2 nobodies into 1,000+ yard rushers, I'd be weeping at his departure. But Cierre and Jonas were NFL-bound RBs long before Hinton stepped on campus, so I'm not inclined to give him a lot of credit.

Warriner, on the other hand, definitely left his mark on the OL. Kelly really needs to make sure he hires a good coach to replace him.

 

[Pachuco]

No doubt. Maturation was definitely a key element. He took his leadership on the team much more seriously than in the past. Not to mention, he really went at defenses as opposed to ducking and dodging on the field, playing committed football on every down. I just wonder if anyone with more technical knowledge of the position noticed physical changes in his approach. I'm willing to give some credit to Coach Hinton, but more to Gray, and would like to see Mahone develop similarly and hopefully at a quicker rate than Gray.

 

[Pachuco]

Gray has always been an athletic freak. He just fumbled a lot as a freshman, so Weis buried him on the depth chart. He didn't get another shot until his senior year, and the rest is history.

If Hinton had turned a couple 2 nobody's into 1,000+ yard rushers, I'd be weeping at his departure. But Cierre and Jonas were NFL-bound RBs long before Hinton stepped on campus, so I'm not inclined to give him a lot of credit.

Warriner, on the other hand, definitely left his mark on the OL. Kelly really needs to make sure he hires a good coach to replace him.

Yeah, thanks for this assessment. I agree with this. His fumbling problem was corrected by a combination of confidence from the coaching staff, him growing up and finally getting it right because he believed he could do it. You're spot on though. The kid was always a beast in waiting. Hopefully he still gets his shot at the NFL.

How do you think Mahone compares to his skill set?

 

[Whiskeyjack]

How do you think Mahone compares to his skill set?

Jonas runs a legit 4.45. William runs something like a 4.65. That's the most obvious difference.

Other than that, Jonas has never been much of a power back; aside from his early fumblitis, he also had a tendency to dance too much in the backfield. Mahone seems to have better patience and vision, and once he hits the hole, he's more likely to run the first guy over than to try a spin move or something.

So there are significant differences, but the optimism about Mahone is justified. He's got a good chance to be a productive power back for us sooner than later.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Jonas runs a legit 4.45. William runs something like a 4.65. That's the most obvious difference.

Other than that, Jonas has never been much of a power back; aside from his early fumblitis, he also had a tendency to dance too much in the backfield. Mahone seems to have better patience and vision, and once he hits the hole, he's more likely to run the first guy over than to try a spin move or something.

So there are significant differences, but the optimism about Mahone is justified. He's got a good chance to be a productive power back for us sooner than later.

I was referring to to the way Mahone seemingly bounces off of tackles and ran through arm tackles, much like Jonas put on display this season.

Did Mahone really run a 4.65? Damn..

 

[NDPhilly]

I was referring to to the way Mahone seemingly bounces off of tackles and ran through arm tackles, much like Jonas put on display this season.

Did Mahone really run a 4.65? Damn..

I doubt it's a 4.65 and I doubt Gray runs a 4.45 I see Gray at like 4.52 or something like that. Mahone is more powerful but most likely a little slower.

 

[Chamellion]

NDPhilly, after speaking to people on the team, I can say that Jonas was the fastest player we had on the team this year. Yes, faster than Theo.

He definitely ran a 4.4

 

[returnofthemack]

One of my friends was a walk-on and told me during our junior year (2009 season) that Jonas was the best RB he's ever seen (he played high-level California ball in high school). He said Jonas was very fast and also powerful. I wrote him off because of his fumbles, but it was obvious that he was right.

 

[bigedefense]

I agree with most of what you are saying except for the part about participating in all of the events. Anything that would involve cutting I think would be out of the question there. Jonas may be working on those things in rehab, but I don't think he'd be to the point where he'd want to put those results on tape. He can wait for a month til ND's pro day or hold his own pro day for scouts even after that to give himself more time.

That makes sense. Reps to you sir

 

[clashmore_mike]

Just tweeted:

The look on people's faces when you tell them you went to the greatest university on the planet, Notre Dame.

 

[Riddickulous]

JONAS. ****ING. GRAY.

 

[ND_HAS_RISEN]

This guy is far away the best comeback story of my ND fandom. What he did this year after the most horrific start was damn near magical.

Jonas,

You will be sorely missed. Best of luck wherever life leads you!!!

 

[BeauBenken]

JONAS. ****ING. GRAY.

Amen.

 

[Chris P. Bacon]

You will be missed!

 

[buddyirish]

atkinson would smoke jonas if they raced

 

[Buster Bluth]

atkinson would smoke jonas if they raced

Smoke? I doubt it.

 

[Old Man Mike]

God Bless you, Jonas. I at least will talk about your great contribution to Notre Dame for a long time.