Report: Maleik Gray transfers to JUCO

The bad news keeps rolling in for the Volunteers this weekend. A new report says that current wide receiver and former top-100 recruit Maleik Gray has transferred to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. At the time of this writing, Gray had changed his Twitter bio.

Gray’s career at Tennessee was anything but smooth. Gray arrived in Knoxville in the 2017 recruiting class as one of the top signees, boasting a No. 80 overall ranking and top-10 safety grade. He was an in-state recruit from LaVergne that possessed all the athleticism necessary for any spot in the secondary.

But Gray struggled to see the field in his first two years on campus. After not doing anything in 2017, Gray was switched to wide receiver in 2018—a weird move so soon for a player that spent a single year on campus. He was unable to make an impact on offense either, but entered the 2019 offseason still on that side of the ball.

We noted back in May that Gray was approaching bust territory if he did not make more of an impact soon. Tennessee’s wide receiver corps lacks depth as it stands. If Gray couldn’t crack the rotation this year, then it hard to see him being a contributor at any point in the future.

Now we won’t need to wait for that answer. Gray leaves Tennessee having appeared in just three games over two seasons. Like many players who joined near the end of the Butch Jones era, there will always be questions surrounding their potential if they had joined a more competent coaching staff.