Christian Gray Talks Marcus Freeman, Mike Mickens, Weight Gain And More

Christian Gray has been on campus at Notre Dame for about a month and Notre Dame seems to have already made an impact on him. The cornerback from St. Louis is one of the Notre Dame football team’s 12 early enrollees for the spring semester.

Notre Dame’s defensive newcomers spoke with the media for the first time recently and Gray was part of that group. He discussed several topics during his first college session with the media.

On how things are going at Notre Dame ...

"It's been really great, actually. Really humbling, actually amazing. This has been really, really different from where I live. So, I'm just getting used to it now. Everywhere I walk around, you see greatness. Everybody's building up, everybody's around you. It's a phenomenal atmosphere that (I) like to be around.”

On if the Notre Dame he was expecting has met his expectations so far ...

"What was different actually is the classes. The classes are really, really different. I just got to get used to it. The schedule, I got to get used to that. That's what's different from recruiting, but everything else from recruiting, what they told me, how they said it was would, they were right about it. It's going to be hard. I chose hard.”

On if Marcus Freeman and Mike Mickens are different as coaches now versus as recruiters before ...

"They never changed. Like for the recruiting process, they were always real with me. That's what I always told them, be real with me coach, tell me real things. How you are in personality, how you are in practices, be real with me. That's what I always wanted. Coach Freeman and Coach Mickens were always real with me. That never changed. I count them as family.”

On how he could tell Freeman and Mickens were “real” when Gray was being recruited ...

"They told me always first was education first. I didn't even have to tell them that. Like in my family, education is big. We always want to put education first. It would go God, education, football. So, when he told me that, I was surprised by that. Because he was the first coach to ever talk to me, for real, first about education. So, me and my mom looked at each other. He was like, wow mom, he's talking real stuff to me actually, the football program, life in general, how he went through life and his choices. He just kept being real to me, just showing me real love. I call that real.”

On why he made so many visits to Notre Dame during his recruitment ...

"I kept coming back because really ... sometimes I didn't even know why. My mom said you should go every time. We're like five hours away. It's just a slight drive (rolls eyes). We visited like 11 times, mom. There (were) some reasons behind that. Because I actually wanted to see for myself if this place was really a great fit for me. Right now, for this month that I'm in right now, it's been great.”

On if Notre Dame has a different reputation around St. Louis after Kyren Williams’ recent success ...

"It's fascinating actually. A lot of kids actually did come here from St. Louis. I was surprised by that. I really did not know Notre Dame when I was in St. Louis. But now, through me, Jeremiyah Love, Kyren, Gabe (Rubio), it's started to grow more. So, everybody is St. Louis is like, 'Oh, did you hear about Notre Dame get this cornerback? Did you hear about this running back, D-line?' It started to grow in St. Louis. I was like, wow. I was surprised by that. But it was great to hear that.”

On his major ...

"I'm studying FTT. So film, television and theater. I'm glad I picked that course actually, because I really like to do active stuff. I want to be something bigger than football one day, after it. I'm glad I picked that course.”

On his dream outside of football ...

"I would want to be an analyst, like a sports analyst. Say what Shaquille O'Neal is doing. Every name on a building or a product. It means something because of that. I want to make my name like that, too. I want to build up to that after football.”

On the difference in personality playing football and away from football ...

"I'm that type of person. I have this switch. So outside of football and inside of football, it's just like a switch. So outside of football, I'm just this goofy, hype person, just laugh, trying to make everybody laugh. If you're having a down day, I can lift your spirits up man. I'm right there for you, my boy. But like at football, I'm just locked in like. I don't respond to nobody. I just stay locked in.”

On what he misses most about home ...

"Movie nights with my mom. I hang out with my mom almost every day. We're like best friends. It's fun to hang out with her every day. She counts me as a momma's boy. Well, I am a momma's boy. I love my mom with all my heart, but we have movie nights. We pick any type of movie. We'll go out to the theaters, or we'll just stay in. We'll make popcorn and then we just sit there.”

On adding quick pounds since arriving on campus in January ...

"When I got here, I was 172. Now I'm 183. I gained 11 pounds already, it was crazy. My weight was supposed to be for like the end of spring was 180. But every time I work out it doesn't go down. It just like stays there and like I'm way over 180 now.

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