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McCray Making An Early Impact For Noles

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By STEVE ELLIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 13, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - About five miles down the road while in his room at St. Joseph's Hospital, Ralph McCray talked his wife, Vanessa, through her labor with their fifth child at Tampa General.

After the birth of their son, mother and child visited the proud father, whose kidneys had begun to fail him.

"We took him to St. Joseph's so he could meet his daddy," she said. "His daddy took him and held him and prophesied he will do something great.

"We named him Moses Isaiah."

Within three months of Moses' birth, 47-year-old Ralph McCray died as a result of renal failure, according to his wife. The realtor and former football player at Allen University would not get the chance to see his son grab his Florida State cap - it was the football program the older McCray followed - on National Signing Day and announce he had signed with the Seminoles.

Nor would Ralph McCray be able to cheer on his son as he joined College Football Hall of Famer Ron Simmons as one of the rare freshman defensive linemen to start his first game at FSU. Vanessa McCray, who believes her son will accomplish great things in all aspects of his life, including football, was there.

Moses McCray, forced into a starting role because of suspensions that thinned the defensive front, has come a long way from being a chubby boy in grade school. The former Hillsborough High star said that as a child he was known as the "fast fat boy."

He can put that one on his mother, who said her son weighed about 200 pounds in fifth grade.

"I used to call him little fat boy, but that was before I knew better, and I wouldn't say he was fat," Vanessa McCray said of her son, who weighed a modest 6 pounds, 7 ounces at birth. "He was chunky.

"He was much bigger than the other kids his age and could not play in little-league football. He didn't like that they would just snatch the flag out of their backs anyway. He wanted to hit. He didn't get to play tackle football until the ninth grade.

"It was game on."

The 6-foot-1 McCray will start his second college game weighing 292 pounds. He said his latest measurement for body fat showed him at 12 percent, outstanding for someone his size.

McCray still has plenty to learn as a defensive tackle. Despite suffering a hip flexor injury in camp, he wasted little time showing the qualities that FSU assistant coach Lawrence Dawsey spotted in him while recruiting the Tampa area. He was already being compared to another former Seminole from Tampa, Brodrick Bunkley.

McCray's appeal, according to Dawsey, began with his family and how his mother raised him.

"I raised him the way I was raised - what I call old-school," said Vanessa McCray, who works in the accounting department with Volunteers of America. "I was taught to respect my elders - yes sir, no sir. That's how I taught my kids."

On the field, McCray attracted recruiters by making 15 sacks his junior season. Dawsey still raves about what he saw in McCray.

"His motor," Dawsey said. "His attitude about football. A guy who wanted to be the best he could possibly be at his position.

"He's going to be a beast before it's all said and done. I just hope we can keep him the whole four years here. As long as he keeps learning what's going on out there, he's only going to get better."

McCray knows the story of what his father said when he was born. He recalls those words that his mother still shares with him during the challenging times.

"Sometimes when I'm feeling down about something, every now and then she'll remind me of that," McCray said. "Your dad prophesied that you are going to do great things. So don't let that get you down. That will be motivation to keep going."

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