By DAVID MOORE
Tribune News Service
The agonizing wait until he hears his name, the way he handles the public flogging brought about by his actions, tells a lot about Randy Gregory.
Randy and his parents return to their Chicago hotel after the first night of the NFL draft. Kenneth and Mary ache for their son. They think back to the moment nearly 16 years earlier when both caught a glimpse of Randy’s love for the sport. The idea of one team after another passing on their son the next night as the cameras capture his reaction to each painful slight is almost too much to take.
“Randy, do you want to go back out there?” his father asks. “I don’t know if I want to go back out there.”
The Nebraska star is arguably the best pass rusher in this draft, but he let his affinity for marijuana overshadow years of hard work and preparation. He accepts responsibility for his slide and refuses to be bitter.
“We have to go back out there,” Randy responds. “I earned this. You earned this. We have a right to be here.”
The next evening, long after every other prospect and family are gone from the green room, the Cowboys use the 60th pick of the draft on a player who ranks fourth on their board. Randy kisses his mother. His eyes lock with his father’s, and they embrace.
No words are spoken.
“That was a life-altering moment for all of us,” Kenneth Gregory recalls. “It was powerful.
“There is a greater story to be told than Randy failed a drug test.”
Randy Gregory controls his story. His behavior and performance going forward will show whether he fell victim to youthful indiscretion, prove his mistakes were blown out of proportion by fearful general managers and scouts, or confirm they are part of a bigger problem he can’t shake.
Those close to Randy describe him as intelligent and thoughtful. He recoils at being known as another dumb jock who squanders a golden opportunity by testing positive for marijuana at the scouting combine. This is why he looks Jerry Jones in the eye during a predraft visit and tells the Cowboys owner he wants and needs help because he knows he’s lost control of his narrative.
Image is important to the rookie.
“It starts with me,” Randy said. “I made a couple of bad decisions and at that point, everyone took it and spun it however which way they wanted.
“Right now, I’m just trying to rebuild my image, trying to focus on being the best professional I can, make as many plays on the field as I can, keep the coaches happy, keep Mr. Jones happy.
“The past is the past. I’m trying to look forward to the future.”
———
It’s a summer evening in Millbrook, Ala., when young Randy and his family pile into their Nissan Maxima after dinner. A bank of lights in the park on the drive home prompts them to take a brief detour.
About 40 kids are playing peewee football on this humid July night. Randy begs his parents to let him play. The Gregorys discover the age limit is 7, an age Randy won’t hit for another four months.
He cries all the way home. He cries every time he passes the field until it’s time to try out the next summer.
Kenneth played defensive line and linebacker for Northwestern in the 1980s before spending the next seven years flying submarine hunters for the Navy. Mary was a track athlete growing up. Neither is sure about their son playing football.
“Don’t worry about it,” Kenneth tells his wife. “It’s going to be 90 degrees when Randle is out there. At the end of the day, he will beg us not to come back.”
He doesn’t. Randy loves football. His first game with the Millbrook Mustangs is at defensive end, and he spends the game in the opponent’s backfield.
A career in retail operations keeps Kenneth and his family on the go during Randy’s formative years. They move eight times before settling down in Fishers, Ind., an Indianapolis suburb.
Randy doesn’t care for the weight room. But he’s a lanky, 6-foot-4 athlete who dominates at defensive end and plays some running back and tight end for Hamilton Southeastern High School. Coach Scott May lets him dabble at wide receiver, and he catches a 50-yard Hail Mary at the end of the half for a touchdown in an upset of crosstown rival Fishers during his junior year.
“His football IQ is pretty good,” May says now. “He gets the game. It was always natural for him. He cares.
“He was not perfect all the time for me, but at the end of the day, I always trusted him to do the right thing. He practiced hard. He cared about his teammates. He was not loud, but he played with emotion.”
Randy decides to go to Purdue. His SAT qualifies, but his grades plummet with a bad case of senioritis and he’s ruled academically ineligible.
Tom Minnick is the head coach at Arizona Western College. He travels from Yuma to visit one of Indiana’s top-15 talents, only to discover Randy skips school that day. He winds up talking to the teenager and his family by phone and persuades Randy to play for the Matadors.
Randy breaks his wrist playing basketball before his freshman season, yet still dominates. In practice one day, Minnick realizes he has a special talent when Randy throws down the offensive tackle and chases down running back Damien Williams, who now plays for the Miami Dolphins.
Arizona Western advances to the National Junior College Athletic Association title game in Randy’s freshman year before losing to East Mississippi. Minnick changes to a 3-4 defense to highlight Randy’s skills as a sophomore, only to watch him break his fibula in the second week of the season. That doesn’t keep Nebraska and a dozen other schools from pursuing him.
His 17 sacks in two seasons with the Cornhuskers vault him to the top of most NFL draft boards.
———
Randy doesn’t like for his father to open his mail. But he’s out of town training, and an envelope from the NFL arrives at the family’s home in Michigan. He assumes it’s an invitation to attend the draft.
Kenneth unfolds the letter and begins to read it aloud over the phone. It states that his son tested positive for marijuana at the combine and will begin his NFL career in the first stage of the league’s substance abuse program.
Father and son discuss their disappointment.
“Everybody makes mistakes,” Kenneth tells him. “The only thing I ask is that you don’t make a mistake you can never recover from.
“Don’t blame anyone else. Learn from it and become a better person.”
This isn’t Randy’s first stumble. He tested positive for marijuana twice at Nebraska, in January and April of 2014, and was told he would be kicked off the team if he failed a third time.
NFL teams ask plenty of questions. He tells them he began to smoke after he left high school, before he left for college, as a way to cope.
May, Minnick and Bo Pelini, the Nebraska head coach who now calls Youngstown State home, also begin to field calls from around the NFL. May and Minnick each estimate they spoke to eight clubs.
The Cowboys aren’t among them.
“When NFL guys called me, I told them he never did anything to get in trouble,” Minnick said. “I’m not naive enough to say he never smoked when he was here. I can’t say that he did or didn’t. But I can say it was never brought to my attention.
“We never had a problem with Randy when he was here.”
Teams discover Randy is very intelligent. They learn he called the defensive fronts at Nebraska. He scores high on his Wonderlic intelligence test.
His issue is focus.
“My mind races a lot,” Randy concedes. “I’m a bit of a procrastinator. But I’m a little better at that now.”
There are positives in addition to his performance. But Randy continues to slide over fears regarding drug use. Questions arise about his mental health. Sources say Randy is bipolar.
“When a story gets reported, true or not, it takes on a life of its own,” Kenneth said.
“I’ve known my son for 22 years. Some of the issues he allegedly has are things we’re not even familiar with. It’s disturbing that people can say whatever they want and that becomes the truth.
“Randy is a good kid. He’s never been in any sort of legal trouble. He’s never beat up a girlfriend, he’s never been arrested, and yet his character is being attacked.
“He smoked marijuana and got caught. He made a huge mistake and paid for it. But he’s not a bad kid, and this is not a character issue.
“I’m actually glad he’s had as much media coverage as he’s had. I believe people can see how articulate and bright he is. Over time, they will see this is a good kid with a kind heart.”
Jerry Jones is struck by the openness Randy displays in acknowledging his struggles during their conversations.
“I’m not going to go too far into what he thinks,” Jones said. “But there is no question in my mind he is very aware and wants to do better and wants help.”
Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin is here to help. So is defensive end Charles Haley, who shares the No. 94 jersey the rookie now wears for the Cowboys. Haley had a few problems to overcome during his Hall of Fame career.
Haley pulls Gregory away from reporters during rookie minicamp to talk to him for more than 20 minutes.
“When I watch this kid play, he’s not afraid to stick his nose in there,” Haley said. “He’s not afraid to be great. The guy has got a motor. He’s got technique.
“The Cowboys got a steal.”
Randy Gregory likes to recite quotes. One is that people scream your failures and whisper your accomplishments.
Too much screaming has taken place in recent months. He knows there’s nothing more he can say.
His actions are what speak going forward.
“This is just the beginning of his story,” Kenneth Gregory said of his son.
“It shouldn’t be the conclusion.”
