Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Jonas Gray Eyes 2013 For NFL Debut IRISH IN THE PROS BY WES MORGAN three touchdowns through the first nine games of the season. Or at least he pretended to have that kind of pro- duction when asked to imitate Tennessee Titans running back Chris John- son on Miami's scout team leading up to a Nov. 11 game. Pretending to be an- J onas Gray had 736 rushing yards and other NFL tailback was good enough for Gray, who knew that meant he was one step closer to making a name for him- self. He was finally on the field. The undrafted rookie free agent spent most of the season on the physi- cally unable to perform list before the Dolphins gave him a three-week period to test out his surgically repaired knee. Gray missed the final two games of his Notre Dame career last fall with a torn ACL. Miami signed the 5-9, 225-pounder to what his agent called Gray performed well during a three-week stretch in which he was allowed to practice and test out his surgically repaired knee, but Miami ultimately placed him on injured reserve so that he'd have a full year of recovery heading into next season. an unprecedented deal. With the first year guar- anteed even if Gray did not progress enough to make the active roster or practice squad, there was no pressure from the organization to rush PHOTO COURTESY MIAMI DOLPHINS the process. Gray began practicing with the team Oct. 22. "In the first week, we took it day by day," he said. "I saw the doctor a bunch to see how my knee reacted to prac-