Entering his first season in New Orleans in 2008, cornerback Randall Gay was expected by many to be the Saints "nickel back" last year. But injuries in the defensive backfield and good play by the former New England Patriot led to Gay making 13 starts for the "Black and Gold" in 08.
Heading into his sophomore season in the crescent city, Gay is in no mindset to give up his starting position.
"I'm going into it to compete to play as much as I can. You know, every game I played I started last year. Nobody really wants to go from starter to more of a situational role. But if that's the role that I earned, that's the role that I get," Gay said. "So, it's all about earning roles, competing, trying to do your best to get on the field as much as possible, but we have a great bunch of cornerbacks here. That's gonna push each other to play, cause everybody wants to play so much. It's gonna be a lot of competition in training camp to get on that field, which is gonna make our team better."
Listen to Gay:
Added to the responsibilities of playing well this season, Gay says he also welcomes the opportunity to share his knowledge with the Saints #1 draft pick, Ohio State cornerback Malcolm Jenkins.
"That's what we have to do – a young corner with talent like that who hasn't played at this level, all they need is some of us older guys who have played to talk to him about little mistakes that he's making that can really go from him being a good player to a great player cause he has all the talent. He just needs the small things that a person like me, Jabari, Jason who's played in this league for , this our sixth year, to go out there and help him out."
Heading into his 6th NFL season, Gay gives much of the credit for his football career to a man well known in Louisiana, former LSU football coach Nick Saban.
"He was a head coach, but he was a defensive back coach. So, you know like I said, that was one of the best, probably the best coach I ever been around. It was hard to be in meetings with him but as a coach I learned basically everything about football from him so, you know, I tip my hat to Coach Saban."
As a collegiate player Randall Gay won a national championship at LSU. Gay also won a Super Bowl in his Patriot days. New Orleans fans hope more championship jewelry is in his future as he patrols the defensive backfield for the Saints.
For the latest on the New Orleans Saints check out Bobby Hebert and Deke Bellavia on SportsTalk weekdays from 4pm – 8pm on WWL-AM-FM-and-dot.com.
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