There is a version of Traylon Ray’s story where he is not in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday night. He had been in the transfer portal before. He spent last season playing a position he did not want to play. He had been hurt. By August he was, as one reporter put it to him directly, a forgotten man.
He finished the win over LSU with seven catches for 115 yards and a 21-yard touchdown.
“It’s good. All glory to God,” Ray said. “I stayed down. Not everything comes when you want it to come, but I stayed down and I trusted in God’s plan. And look what he did for me today.”
He told his head coach he was a receiver
Pete Golding told the version of the story that explains the last twelve months, and he told it almost the same way Ray did.
“He was a receiver last year. We struggled at corner, had some injuries. I made him a corner last year, tried to work with him,” Golding said. “And going into the offseason, he’s like, Coach, look, man, I would love to come back. I love this place. But I hate corner. I want to play receiver. I’m a receiver. Y’all signed me from West Virginia to play receiver.”
Golding said Ray had a strong spring, a good summer, and an inconsistent camp with some drops — but that the work never wavered.
“He’s a dude that keeps his head down, works extremely hard. Good dude, knows the offense. So I was happy for him to get in and take advantage of his opportunities. Made some big plays tonight and got hit to do it.”
Why he didn’t leave
In an era where the portal is the reflex, Ray was asked what made him stay after a season that did not go his way.
“I thought about it just because of things that went on last year, obviously. But I had trust in Coach PG — a great guy, on the field and off the field. So that was the biggest part of my decision. I wanted to be under a coach who believed in me. And Coach PG believed in me. So he gave me the opportunity to come back and compete for a spot and showcase my talent when I’m not injured.”
The touchdown in front of the student section
Asked what went through his head when he scored in front of the students and watched the drinks go up, Ray gave the answer the whole night had been building toward.
“Really, I’m back, honestly. It’s been two years. You feel me? It’s been two years. Been through injury. Not going to fake it — been through a hard time, obviously. But God took me through that time, and he just kept telling me to wait, wait, wait. And I finally waited, and it happened for me.”
On John David Baker’s offense, and on trust
Ray was asked what about the offensive system has let him produce, and his answer was about temperature more than scheme.
“Similar systems, but for the most part, JDB — if you’re hot, he’s going to let you be hot. In the game, if you’re eating, he’s going to let you continue to eat. Which kind of showed tonight, even showed with Deuce last time when we were in Louisville. So I feel like it’s just the trust that he has in the guys. He knows what he’s seen us do in practice, competing and things like that. So he just has a whole lot of trust in us.”
Deuce Alexander had seven catches of his own for 60 yards and a 20-yard score. Between them, Ray and Alexander accounted for fourteen of Trinidad Chambliss’s thirty-three completions.
On Trinidad Chambliss
“Trinidad is magic. Everybody sees how he plays. When six is back there, I got all the trust in the world. Me and six, we’ve been really close friends since he got here.”
And specifically on Chambliss holding the offense together after Kewan Lacy went out: “That shows his character and his grit. He’s a gamer at the end of the day. Kewan, which is a big part of our offense, goes down. Trinidad doesn’t budge. He sees that, he understands we had a loss go down, but at the end of the day he has to finish the game, and our offense runs through him. And he knows that. I don’t think Trinidad ever second-guesses himself. He just goes. And that’s what I love about him.”
Chambliss returned the compliment in his own session, and included a confession: “There was this one throw where I threw it into cover three and the safety went over. That was a bad throw by me. Kind of got him lit up, but he popped right back up. He’s a great guy, great player, eager to learn. I’m excited to see what T-Ray can do.”
He had nothing to say about Lane Kiffin
Asked what it was like to celebrate while his former head coach walked out the other tunnel, Ray declined the premise entirely.
“I don’t really got too much to say about Kiffin walking out. I’m not really focused on him at all. I’m focused on our team getting the job done. And we did what we had to do. We practiced how we had to practice. We’re not making the game bigger than what it is. First SEC play, 1-0. Now we got to come back tomorrow, watch film, get ready for next week.”
And on the ending
On the fourth-down interception: “Finally get to take a breath, honestly. They were moving up the field a little bit, but we all got trust in our defense, and they came up big for us. When they got that pick, it was just finally — all right, we can breathe. Game’s over. We walked out of here with a win.”
On what carries into the rest of SEC play: “We win our matchups, honestly. We were winning our matchups throughout the game, and that’s going to be a big part of our team throughout the year — winning our one-on-one matchups.”
On how long the celebration lasts: “Twenty-four-hour rule. We’re going to celebrate. I’m about to leave here, go celebrate with my team. But tomorrow morning I wake up, I’m back in here getting treatment, ready for Florida.”
Ole Miss is 3-0, 1-0 in the SEC. Next up: at Florida, Saturday, September 26. Hotty Toddy 🦈