Shane Ray is one of the most talked about names in the NFL. He’s a rookie outside line backer from Missouri and now for the Denver Broncos. I was able to have a on phone interview with him and it was phenomenal. He’s intelligent and very humble.

Ray attended Bishop Miege High School in Roland Park, Kansas. He played football and also ran track. He was a three star recruit coming out of high school. Ray had college offers from Notre Dame, Kansas, and Wisconsin.

At Missouri Ray he broke the sack record of 11.5 and SEC player of the year, and the transition to the NFL has been smooth.

” It’s a learning experience ” Ray said. “When you first get to the league it’s a lot that you got to figure out come upon being in college, basically having to be a grown man. It was a process it’s a process it’s a process for everybody.”

And the process is all about enjoying the ride.

“Playing football for your profession is always fun because you love what you do. You know it has its up and downs, you might get hurt or you might experience some different things but at the end of the day I get to do what I love.”

Ray says the transition from Denver isn’t much different than Missouri.

“I think Denver is kind of like Missouri, as far as the weather and the city life but, it wasn’t too big of a change for me, I was able to adjust a little quick.”

Q&A WITH SHANE RAY

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Kiahn Martinez: How do you feel being a former student at Missouri and all the recent controversy with the racial issues on campus?

Shane Ray: ” I think that whole situation has obviously been a problem for a long time and even while I was there, there were some times were I felt like I experienced some things that involve discrimination, not just race sometimes but discrimination of being a athlete. Most people expect cause your a athlete you get all kind of respect and special treatment and that’s not all the cases sometime. Sometimes people are more so unhappy with the fact that you are a athlete and you get a full ride scholarship. So they treat you different and look at you different and you kind of figure that into your own class and that not even talking about race. Seeing what my teammates did this past year standing up for what they believe in no that says a lot, and I’m just proud to say that I know those guys that were able to do that.”

Kiahn Martinez: Do you think that was a big statement for the football team to boycott?

Shane Ray: ” Definitely, anytime an entire football team says their not going to play, which if anybody really knows how college football works, football brings in the majority of the revenue of all schools. So when you have a football team that decides not to play, that game that they were going to miss was going to cost the school about 2 million dollars that they were going to have to pay because the team didn’t participate. So they really were educated on how they decidedq to attack the situation and make sure that their message was just not simply past by. So they gave themselves a bigger platform and what people thought they could generate and you know that’s a huge deal and it definitely helped the case.”

Kiahn Martinez: What advice can you give to young students athletes such as myself that attend private high school?

Shane Ray: ” I went to a private high school myself so, I understand how it is at times when you feel like your kind of by yourself and in my situation it wasn’t a lot of African American kids at my school so, everybody kind of stuck together. I mean honestly though you just have to keep a open mind and understand that not everything is gonna be how you expect, but just keep your focus on what your doing and use what you have to better yourself.

Shane Ray is a phenomenal person and a football player. It was a honor to get this interview with him and get a close understanding on what is going on in the NFL and college. We hope he has a great NFL career and can eventually be one of the best in the NFL.