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Gray wants to instill 'New DBU' mindset at South Carolina

Coaching DJ Swearinger in the NFL, Torrian Gray had a sense of the defensive back history at South Carolina but didn’t know the extent of it until he was eyeing the Gamecock job.

It’s when he was scrolling through social media and saw a graphic of all the defensive backs the Gamecocks have put into professional football.

Courtesy South Carolina athletics
Courtesy South Carolina athletics
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“I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool.’ We have a great tradition here with defensive backs. There’s no reason why we should be proud of that. That’s why put the New DBU,” Gray said. “The guys we have here and the guys we’re recruiting have to believe we’re of that ilk and can be those guys. That’s the mindset we’re going to approach it with.”

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That prompted Gray to put “TheNewDBU” in his Twitter bio, and the plan is to take up that mantra and instill that to his group he’s now coaching at South Carolina.

The Gamecocks have a long line of defensive backs who have made an impact at the professional level: Jonathan Joseph has been in the league 15 years, Stephon Gilmore is a Super Bowl champion and the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year, Rashad Fenton won a Super Bowl last year with the Chiefs and Jaycee Horn is expected to be a first-round pick in April.

Gray is leaning into the tradition and history at South Carolina, and he’s trying to create the same mindset into the Gamecocks’ defensive back room and in recruiting.

“The guys we have, we’re going to build confidence. That’s why I put in my Twitter bio the New DBU,” Gray said. “You have to come in and give who we got and who we’re working with a certain mindset that we’re going to be as good as anyone in the country.”

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The Gamecock defensive back room is relatively thin right now, especially from an experience perspective, with Horn and Israel Mukuamu going pro and three other key contributors—Jammie Robinson, Shilo Sanders and John Dixon—transferring.

There is only one player on the roster with more than five starts in his career at South Carolina—RJ Roderick, 22—with only two other players on the roster who have started games before: Cam Smith (three starts), Jaylan Foster (5).

The Gamecocks have tried to address that in recruiting, bringing in junior college players Marcellas Dial and Isaiah Norris and a transfer defensive back David Spaulding.

“We have to prepare and start with what we got, work our tails off in the weight room. Once we start meeting we have to meet a purpose,” Gray said. “Everything we do has to be with a purpose and have tunnel vision on what we need to do and the work we have ahead of us. We’re coming from the bottom of the hole with the departures and lack of experience. I think that’s an exciting challenge for us.”

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