McCray’s inspiration follows him wherever he goes

Every time Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive back L.J. McCray takes the field, he has an angel by his side.

His sister, Shawndrieka, died when he was just 10 years old.

“She was born with a hole in her heart and she wasn’t expected to live past a couple months, (but) she ended up making it to 17 years old,” McCray, 28, said in advance of Saturday’s CFL game at Mosaic Stadium against the Ottawa Redblacks.

“She was everything. While my parents were working, she was the one taking care of me, teaching me how to read and teaching me how to write. Losing her was a big turning point in my life.”

McCray said that moment forced him to look at life in a different way at a young age.

“I became the oldest (child) in the household so I had to set the example now,” he said. “That was probably the biggest turning point and most memorable thing from my younger years that really changed my life.”

McCray’s family has always played a major role in his life.

They moved from Georgetown, S.C., to Charlotte, N.C., when he was five years old so his parents could have more opportunities in the job market.

His dad has worked for more than 22 years for the U.S. Food Service while his mom has worked for more than 20 years helping children and adults with disabilities.

“They both are just really hard-working people and that’s what they’ve instilled in me, to never stop working and never think the job is done,” McCray said.

Even after moving away to play football with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, he always remained close with his family.

When an opportunity came to try out for his hometown Carolina Panthers, he couldn’t pass up a chance to move home and under his mom’s roof.

“Being home just kind of enticed me a little bit too much and I chose to go home,” McCray said. “If I’m going to be in Charlotte, I’m going to be at my mother’s house waiting on her cooking.”

McCray has even turned his body into a work of art, with numerous tattoos to represent everything he has faced in his life.

One of L.J. McCray’s tattoos pays tribute to his late sister, Shawndrieka. (Photo courtesy of the Saskatchewan Roughriders)

“All my tattoos pretty much have meaning. I’m a family guy so I don’t have any dumb tattoos,” McCray said. “Everything on me represents something either I’ve been through or I’m going through or some piece of my family.”

He said he actually has lost count of how many tattoos he has got over the years. McCray said outside of his family, the two people who’ve inspired him the most were Tonya Carroll, his track and field coach, and the late Sean Taylor, who was a safety for the Washington Redskins from 2004 until his tragic death in 2007.

Taylor was one of McCray’s idols in football, a sport he started playing when he was seven years old.

“I was a knucklehead. I was so bad and rough and tough running around that my mother couldn’t find a sport that fit me until I got in football and started knocking some heads and getting knocked around,” McCray recalled.

“She was like, ‘Yeah, that’s perfect for you,’ so that’s just kind of how it happened.”

McCray proved to be talented enough to get interest from colleges, but he admitted he didn’t care about grades until his senior year in high school. That hindered his options.

“A lot of the guys that I grew up with started getting into trouble with stuff around my senior year and I didn’t want to follow that path,” McCray said. “Catawba (College) was the only school that stayed with me and kept the scholarship on the table and I took it.

“It worked out and it ended up being a great situation and great place for me.”

McCray’s career with the Catawba Indians was a successful one. He was named a first-team All-South Atlantic Conference all-star as a returner and safety in 2014. He also left the program as the school’s all-time return yardage leader with 2,212.

McCray wasn’t selected in the 2014 NFL draft but eventually earned a contract with the 49ers.

“I was coming into a locker room that was pretty stacked. All the odds were against me being a small-school guy,” McCray said. “The roster was coming out every week and they were like, ‘This is a preview of the roster,’ and my name was not on it any time.

“It was a mind-raking process but it was humbling and it taught me to not worry about what’s being said and what’s going on around me. Just work in the moment. That’s what I did and I ended up working with the team.”

He played 22 games with the 49ers over two seasons, playing a special-teams role for most of his time there.

Injuries started to pile up, though, with his right knee being operated on three times. Those injuries caused him to fail a physical after he was traded to the Seattle Seahawks and ultimately led to him accepting an injury settlement with the Panthers in 2017.

He spent time with the Buffalo Bills until he was released in 2018.

“Those injuries hurt me but they didn’t dampen my pride or how I feel about the game,” McCray said. “I still love the game so much that I’m willing to work twice as hard to come back.”

And much like his parents moved for their own opportunities when he was young, McCray chose to stop waiting for an NFL team and decided to come to Canada to play with the Roughriders.

“The CFL is wanting me and they’re giving me an opportunity to play with a great group of guys who’ve been through different circumstances in their life and we have that common ground, that chip on our shoulder,” McCray said.

“I look at every opportunity as the same. Nothing’s bigger than the other. If you don’t take advantage of one opportunity, it’s going to hurt you regardless.”

McCray has recorded four tackles in the three games he has played with the Green and White. While he doesn’t have an interception, he has come close a couple of times. He had one called back due to a penalty in a 17-10 win over the Montreal Alouettes on Aug 9.

He will get another opportunity Saturday against Ottawa. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.

The Green Zone pre-game show gets underway at 3 p.m.