Minnesota’s Marqueis Gray Finally Starting to Get “It”

August 30, 2012; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers quarterback MarQueis Gray (5) rolls out to pass against the UNLV Rebels during the second half at Sam Boyd Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

I’m just scouring through the early slate of games for Saturday college football, and one game that I came across was Minnesota vs. Western Michigan, a game that features one of the more intriguing prospects in the country. Minnesota quarterback MarQueis Gray leads the team in passing and rushing, but up until this year, he’s never been really an efficient dual-threat quarterback.

Gray is having a very solid couple of games passing the ball for the Gophers, completing over 60 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and only one interception. He is also leading the team in rushing with 177 yards and two touchdowns. The Gophers aren’t an elite team by any means, but Gray could be a diamond in the rough type of prospect.

At 6’4″ 250 pounds, It will be intriguing to see where Gray fits in at the NFL level. He obviously has playmaking skills, and probably isn’t too dissimilar from current Minnesota Vikings quarterback Joe Webb. He may not be quite that fast, but Gray should be able to run really well at the combine and intrigue some team enough to draft him as a potential wide receiver or maybe even a developmental quarterback. In fact, Webb started out his Vikings career as a wide receiver after playing college quarterback, and he wound up impressing the coaches so much in training camp throwing the ball that he earned a spot on the roster as a quarterback.

Webb isn’t a valuable weapon for the Vikings when he’s hardly ever on the field, but I think there could be a definite role in the NFL for MarQueis Gray. He has great size and athletic ability, and I really like that he is able to make things happen with his feet. When Adam Weber was with Minnesota, obviously Gray wasn’t going to be the team’s primary quarterback but the Gophers had to find a way to get the ball in his hands. He played receiver as a sophomore and was very solid in that role, but the Gophers made him the quarterback as a junior simply so he could have the ball on every play.

He might finally be emerging this season as a legitimate NFL prospect who could be had in the mid-later rounds because of his lack of position identity.