It was the fall of 2014 when Starkville (Miss.) High School took on Southaven in a playoff game. Southaven tried a trick play – a backward pass to a wide receiver who then let a deep pass fly to a receiver running down the field.
Like a bolt of lightning, a Starkville defender flew over to the ball and intercepted the pass. To the surprise of some, that player was not a safety or a cornerback, but a linebacker. And he was not a junior or a senior; he was a sophomore.
By that point in the year, many knew who Willie Gay was, but that was one of the plays that cemented the now-senior as a special talent.