STARKVILLE — Willie Gay Jr. was moved to tears when he saw the crowd gathered for him at the YMCA Plaza on Mississippi State’s campus Thursday morning.
Before making a name for himself as a two-time Super Bowl champion as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, Gay made a name for himself in Starkville — as both a Yellow Jacket and a Bulldog. When his mother told him there would be a celebration to honor Gay in his hometown, he was not expecting an audience like the one assembled Thursday, two weeks after Gay signed a one-year contract with the New Orleans Saints.
“I didn’t believe it was going to be as big as this,” Gay said. “I’m overwhelmed with joy and thankful. It’s a big deal.”
Gay has dealt with plenty of adversity, some of it self-inflicted, during his college and professional career. He missed eight games during his junior season with the Bulldogs in 2019 due to a violation of team rules, and in 2022 he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of criminal property damage, which landed him a four-game suspension.
Still, Gay remains beloved in Starkville and was a key piece of MSU’s outstanding defense in 2018, which allowed the fewest points per game (12) and third-fewest yards per game (268.4) in all of college football. A two-way star at Starkville High, where he played running back in addition to linebacker, Gay drew interest from such programs as LSU, Michigan and Ole Miss but always knew deep down he wanted to stay home.
“I won’t be perfect, but I promise to continue to represent Starkville, Mississippi, in a good way,” Gay said in his public remarks. “Whether it’s in the NFL, in life, in the way I treat people, the way I act on the field. I might act a little crazy, but up here you can see I’m a whole different person. I’m a little shy up here, but on that field, I promise to put on, baby.”
Greg Knox was the Bulldogs’ running backs coach when Gay was being recruited, and he could tell Gay was special from the first time he watched him practice — to the point where he joked about Gay playing running back at MSU even though he knew the future star would be a much better fit on defense.
Knox remained on the coaching staff through Gay’s freshman year, then followed head coach Dan Mullen to Florida before returning to Starkville in 2023, serving as interim head coach for the Bulldogs’ last two games. He is now the Bulldogs’ director of career and professional development under new head coach Jeff Lebby.
“(Gay) was easy to pick out because he was blessed with such a gift,” Knox said. “He was that special, he was that gifted, he was that talented, he was that blessed. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here today and to see him, to see how he’s grown and developed into the player we all thought he would be.”
In Kansas City, Gay played alongside another former Bulldog in Chris Jones, who had a huge game in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers last month and recently signed a new five-year contract that made him the highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history. The Saints have two other MSU alumni in safeties Johnathan Abram, a college teammate of Gay’s for two years, and J.T. Gray, who was a senior in Gay’s freshman year.
To conclude Thursday’s Willie Gay Jr. Day ceremony, athletic director Zac Selmon presented Gay with a shiny new cowbell courtesy of MSU president Mark Keenum and a cream-colored MSU baseball jersey with his name on the back.
“I’m always smiling when I’m out there (on the field),” Gay said. “I always knew I wanted to come to Mississippi State, but I had to keep them guessing. I would tell them I’m going to LSU, Michigan, Ole Miss, all those schools, but I always wanted to be home for days like this. I knew this would come about some day.”
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