Rob Gray prepares for 1st season as head coach at Faulkner

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Come this fall, there will be a new name in charge of the Faulkner football program, but he’s not an unfamiliar face on the sidelines.

Coach Rob Gray was hired as the Eagles’ seventh head coach in May, after spending time as the defensive backs coach and the pass game coordinator in 2019. He was also an associate coach this spring, but now he shifts his mentality to leading the program in 2021.

”Definitely excited. It’s something you kinda wish for when you get in this business,” said Gray. “The nervousness I think as far as you know the wins and losses go to me now, but I don’t think initially there’s not much nervousness.”

Being head coach comes with a new set of responsibilities, and while it is an change, Gray is quickly making himself at home in his new role.

”Challenges are just adjusting to a lot of the things I was uncertain about that head coaches have to do like budgeting and all those things, so that’s been an adjustment for me,” he said.

Unlike most of the coaches before him, Gray is pretty defensive-minded. He played four years as a linebacker and safety at Jacksonville State, and hopes to make defense the focus of his new team.

”I’m defensive-oriented so I think being gap-sound, coverage-wise everything intact, and to have fun on defense,” Gray said about his style of play. “We’ve got a good quarterback coming back. There’s not much as far as tweaking here and there [on offense] that they really need to change, but my stamp I think we’re gonna be aggressive.”

With football season right around the corner, Gray is counting down the days until first kick against Southeastern.

”What I’m most looking forward to is August 1 when all of them come back,” said Gray. “We haven’t seen them since they got out of school, so none of them have really seen me in person to know I’m the head coach. It’s been text messages here and there, but I’m just excited to see all of them, get them all back here and get rolling for the season.”

Faulkner will open the season at home on September 4.

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