Prospect Spotlight: Mike Gray (2020)

Last season, James Monroe in Fredericksburg went through somewhat of an upheaval, as former interim coach Carlos Evans became the full time head coach, and he had a whole new roster to work with. One of the new faces who was coming in with Evans was a 6’1” freshman guard named Mike Gray, and despite being just a freshman it wasn’t hard to see that he’d be a go-to guy early. Gray went on to lead JM in scoring at just under 15 points per game, and now that he’s a sophomore he’s starting to turn heads not just in Fredericksburg but across the state of VA. Gray has helped the Yellow Jackets get out to a 10-3 start this year, averaging 20.3 points per game and leading a young, but talented group to a great start. However, Gray is quick to mention the team effort and what they need to improve on as a whole if they want to continue the success. “We’ve been playing defense really well,” Gray didn’t hesitate to say. “I think we have to continue to work on our help defense and sharing the ball if we want to continue to improve. We need to just stay focused and stay in the games moving forward.” While he’s a natural scoring guard, there’s a lot more to his game than just that. Gray has a tight handle that can break down defenders in isolation situations, good vision in transition and believes he’s a much better defender than most credit him for. He’s an unselfish guy that wants to do much more than just score the basketball. “I’m a pass first guard that can score it easily, but I’m going to look for my teammates and play defense as well,” he said. “Those are all things I’ve worked on and improved from last season.” While he’s been filling it up so far this season, Gray is very under the radar much like his James Monroe team is. He hasn’t heard from many college coaches yet, but once they see tape of his natural ability to score and run a team that will likely change moving forward. As for what he’s trying to show this year, it’s whatever he needs to do to help his team win. “I want to be a leader and bring hustle to the team. I just want to win regionals and hopefully help take my team to the state tournament.” It’s going to be interesting to see how Gray develops as a true point guard, but it’s easy to see that he has the natural ability to play both guard positions at a high level. Be sure to keep an eye out for both him and James Monroe moving forward, and as coaches start to get in the gym for him remember where you heard it first.