Prior to last year's game against Concord, West Virginia State's then-offensive coordinator John Pennington came to wide receiver Quinton Gray with an idea.
He told Gray about possibly running a trick play where Gray would throw a pass downfield in the game. The receiver thought it was a great idea, and practiced it obsessively over the next few days.
When the game came around, he threw a perfect strike -- connecting with running back Dionta Brown for a 33-yard touchdown pass. To some, it was a surprise that the play worked out as perfectly as it did. To Pennington, that play is the perfect example of the type of player Gray has become throughout his career as a Yellow Jacket.
"That's who he is. The guy prepares so well that when game day comes around, he doesn't have to think about it and can just compete," Pennington said. "It sends a great message to the rest of our team that if you want to have the type of success he's had, you have to put in that kind of work."
As he heads into his final season at West Virginia State, Gray has the chance rewrite the record books as one of the top receivers to ever play at WVSU. He currently sits 52 catches and 544 yards away from Jermain King's career records, and he has his sights set on having the type of season that would easily put him up in that type of company.
But he knows that even though he's on pace to accomplish those kind of things, he still can't be willing to settle for staying complacent and doing what he's always done.
"I take a lot of pride in what I've done so far, but I continuously am trying to better myself still," Gray said. "My goal is to do my job and take care of the things that the team needs to be take care of. If I'm not doing that and I'm taking days off and not staying ahead of what I need to do, then the team will suffer because of it and I can't accept that happening."
One of the assets that has helped Gray turn into one of the best receivers in the Mountain East Conference over the last few seasons is his consistency. Of the 10 games he played in 2016, there were just two games where he caught fewer than six passes and he eclipsed the 100-yard mark four times.
In that time he has grown into a steady pass catcher who doesn't let the opportunities he gets to make a play go to waste. It's part of what has made him such a dangerous weapon and a big reason he has become quarterback Matt Kinnick's go-to target over the course of their time working together the last few seasons.
"If you want to talk about consistency, he's the guy you automatically think of," Kinnick said. "He's maybe the hardest worker I've ever seen. He puts in so much extra work to get better. It's at the point now where we've played together for so long that I just know what he's going to do out there in certain situations. He's a true playmaker and he makes my life a lot easier out there."
The thing Gray credits to his success more than anything, however, has been the amount of weapons the Yellow Jackets have been able to surround him with at the skill positions. Having receivers like A.J. Barrette and Tyrell Henderson as well as running backs like Dionta Brown and Juawan Etheredge in the mix on offense help to keep the defenses honest. They know that if they put too much focus on Gray, it will leave them open to getting hurt by one of the other dangerous playmakers.
"That's the best part of our offense. We can fire on all cylinders and everyone has to respect that," Gray said. "Teams can try to focus on me if they want, but that just means Tyrell and A.J. can hurt them as our deep threats and then our running backs can kill you. We can keep defenses honest because we have talent and we're a well-rounded offense."
Gray has big goals he wants to accomplish as he heads into his final season of college football. He spent time this offseason polishing his route running and getting his mindset where it needs to be in order to approach the game in a more professional manner and perfect his craft.
He believes he has what it takes to be added to the list of players who have gone from Division II football to getting the chance to make an NFL roster, and he has faith that his game will be able to prove that point when he steps out on the field this season.
"Ever since I came here as a freshman, I came here and wanted to be different -- I wanted to make people remember my name," Gray said. "I've started to make a statement the last couple of years about what I'm able to do and now I can see the end of the road here coming up and it puts an even bigger drive in me to want to show people that I'm capable of playing at the next level even though I'm a small kid from a small D-II school.
"I'm working toward things and I like to speak things into existence. I think about things like my future family a lot and I know that if I don't go hard, then my future family will struggle. My family has worked too hard for me to struggle and I want to do the same thing. I really have that motivation to give it my all."