Lincoln University star and NFL hopeful Kai Gray is trying to move past his own Google history

Does Lincoln University defensive back Kai Gray obsess over making it to the NFL?

“I’ve got it tattooed on my body,” Gray said.

Every tattoo does not have to illustrate an obsession, but Gray says that the one on his right shoulder does. There’s the NFL logo, with the words, “Chase your dreams.”

“I got that my freshman year in college,” Gray said recently, sitting in the Lincoln athletic department.

That was back at Rutgers, where Gray began his college career. Lincoln U, his current stop, now qualifies as Last Chance U, simply because after this season, Gray is out of eligibility, and maybe opportunities. Is it possible to outrun your own Google history? Outperform past deeds? Get NFL scouts excited about who you are, not what you did? Convince them that the past formed you but does not define you?

» READ MORE: Penn State smashes Minnesota. Next up: No. 2 Ohio State.

Gray’s head coach at Lincoln, Josh Dean, said he’s only coached a couple of players at various stops who made him say to himself, “That’s an NFL player.” Gray is one of those, said Dean, who made it as far as an NFL practice squad himself, and is the son of Vernon Dean, a defensive back who played in and won two Super Bowls.

Googling the coach isn’t the issue. Google Kai Gray and Rutgers and you don’t even have to scroll to get to “More legal trouble for former Rutgers safety K.J. Gray” and then “8 Rutgers players tied to credit card fraud scheme.”

From NJ.com: “The players were accused of stealing credit card numbers and transferring funds from various Rutgers University Express Accounts for their own personal use.”

More on how Gray was charged in the second degree “because the investigation indicated that he was the one who actually orchestrated the entire plot.’’

All the Rutgers players paid the university back the $11,250 allegedly taken in 2018 and were placed in a pretrial intervention program, meaning the charges would be expunged, their criminal record wiped clean, if they avoided any new offenses for 18 months. That’s what happened for Gray. A New Jersey criminal search for Gray shows no record, including for the Rutgers episode.

While such charges can be expunged, Gray talks about how they don’t go away on Google. His Lincoln coaches say one goal for them is trying to put up some new positive facts of their own when you Google Gray’s name.

After Rutgers, Gray moved on to FCS power Sam Houston State, played a season … (Nothing much to Google there) … then a short non-playing stop last year in Kansas at NAIA Tabor College. (NFL teams might have a quick question from Googling that, even though Gray never actually played at Tabor.)

His Lincoln coaches say the player who showed up this year at the Chester County school is both hungry and helpful, in addition to being a rare talent for the Division II level.

“It’s been good to have him around because he’s made some mistakes. … He’s not scared to talk about it and share his experiences with the young guys,” said Lincoln defensive coordinator Frank Turner.

Turner added, “Google is a powerful thing. Everybody knows.”

Sometimes these tales are presented as moral dramas. Is it necessary to root for or against Gray? Isn’t it enough to realize he’s trying to use his gifts as he believes they should be used? If he’s good enough, the NFL will brush off all sorts of past transgressions. Maybe in the bottom-line world of professional sports, that’s the real question: Is Gray good enough that his past misdeeds are viewed as irrelevant?

Lincoln coaches had no qualms about bringing Gray in, understanding that he is a rare talent for their level. Turner said he tried to get Gray to come to Lincoln straight from Rutgers but there were all sorts of higher-level programs trying to get him then.

“Everybody was trying to get him,” Turner said. “Especially D2.”

From his perspective, Turner said, “you’re always dealing with guys who maybe need a second chance. That’s the only way for a Lincoln University to get a Kai Gray. If not, Kai Gray is in the NFL already.”

Turner calls up some game videos and you see why he thinks Gray, who turned 25 in August, is draft material. He points to how Gray had 17 tackles and two forced fumbles this season against Virginia Union.

“He always finds his way around the ball,” Turner said. “You can’t coach that.”

Here’s Gray on film:

“He’s starting darn near the line of scrimmage,” Turner said as he cues up a play earlier this season. “He’s showing [blitz.] Now watch. He doesn’t make the play, but watch where he gets back to the roof. Look at the ground he covers.”

In the clip, Gray ran from the 27-yard line to about the opposite 40 but the pass fell incomplete. If it had been caught, Turner said, “He’s going to make the tackle.”

Another play, Gray at safety, with the responsibility to rotate to the center of the field. He does that.

“He sees that nothing’s there,” Turner said. “He’s a football player now. He sees No. 3 leaking across the field.”

Gray was 13 yards away but got there to make a tackle.

Turner isn’t denying the Google material will be picked over by NFL teams.

“You’re judged by the world now,” Turner said. “Everybody has an opinion.”

Does Gray Google himself?

“Now I don’t do it as much,” Gray said. “But around the time I left Rutgers, I did tend to look at and Google myself a lot and see what people say. I would read the articles, screenshot comments … use it as motivation.”

He’s not asking for sympathy. He doesn’t deny his mistakes.

» READ MORE: ‘We just worry about ourselves’: Villanova picked third in preseason Big East men’s basketball poll

“At the time, you just kind of felt invincible,” Gray said of what transpired at Rutgers, where he had gotten on the field as a freshman. “Being attracted to silly things, thinking you’re going to get away with it.”

This part might surprise you: “When I look back at it, I’m glad it happened. It taught me a lot. Taught me that the things I do doesn’t just affect me. It affects my family, my friends.”

He’s not claiming he just shrugged it all off.

“Throughout the process, I got negative at times,” Gray said. “I was depressed.”

Driving home to Newark from Rutgers for the last time, “That was probably like the only time I really cried.” A big moment, he said, was when his father stood up at a family reunion, “Just announced to the whole reunion that everything was going to be all right, he had my back. That told me, I’m going to bounce back.”

» READ MORE: Penn students storm Franklin Field at halftime, protesting for climate and community justice

Gray didn’t just work with a personal trainer. He became a certified personal trainer himself. The driving force of his life now, Gray said, is his daughter who was born last December.

“Somebody is depending on you now,” Gray said.

He’s confident in his ability. He speaks of enjoying this season “before I can make that step into the league.”

Why didn’t Gray simply try to get a free-agent NFL tryout and go from there?

“A lot of us [on the Lincoln staff], we have connections in the NFL, we know scouts,” Turner said, explaining the feedback was, Gray had a year of eligibility left, he should use it.

“He’s been out two years,” Turner said. “He’s had some interest. People know who he is. But he’s been out. He’s kind of right at that borderline age, it’s now or never. He’s in shape. It wasn’t a typical thing, being out two years. He didn’t miss a beat. I’m thinking, the guy’s been out, it’s going to take him two or three games to knock the rust off. No.”

Gray said he “tried to focus on NFL-style workouts.” He believes he’s a better football player than he’s ever been. After watching college film, Gray will switch to YouTube to study NFL safeties such as the Los Angeles Chargers’ Derwin James.

“I study him damn near every day,” Gray said. “I visualize everything and then everything comes into play at game time. I know we have the same size and frame. The way they’re using me here at Lincoln is similar.”

Gray’s also trying to kind of reverse-engineer his own image. He worked at youth camps, “giving out information, free trips on how to be a better player.” Without any irony, he said he’s trying to set a good example for the younger players at Lincoln.

He said he knows NFL scouts still will question him over everything, and research everything. On its own, a headline from last year in the Hillsboro (Kansas) Star-Journal wouldn’t cause a stir. “Three Tabor athletes arrested for marijuana.” Gray was one of them, when a 2011 Dodge registered to Gray was pulled over at 3:34 a.m. “for illegal fog lights.” The report said that after noticing an odor of burned marijuana, a police officer searched the car and found 0.2 grams of cannabis. The three players in the car were arrested.

“It just was an unfortunate incident,” Gray said. “I just believe wrong time, wrong place.”

“You have a certain car, you fit that certain stigma,” Turner said. “You’re in a small town. You’re going to get pulled over. I know.”

Turner said it’s not just NFL scouts who Google potential players. That’s the routine at every level.

“It’s the smartest thing to do,” Turner said.

“But people are still going to judge you. You’re judged by the world now. Everybody has an opinion,” Lincoln’s defensive coordinator said.

If an NFL team interviews him, what does he want them to know?

“I just love the game,” Gray said. “Anything you’re going to require me to do in this sport, I’m willing to do it. Whatever happened in the past, it’s in the past. The person I am now — totally different.”

Some conversations Turner has had with Gray, the coach said, are about tackling his past head-on: “Because this is your opportunity, this is your season that is going to give you the platform to say, ‘I’m not what you’re going to Google.’”

Ryan Briggs contributed to this article.