On our weekly USFL Podcast show, Driving To the Top Productions, on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, my fellow co-anchors: Evan Brogdon, Adam McNally, and I had a chance to interview Derwin (Dee) Gray of the Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League (USFL).
He started his college career at Maryland from 2014-2018 and went on to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers (2019-2020), Jacksonville Jaguars (2020), and Tennessee Titans (2021-2022).
Gray, who plays Offensive Tackle for the team now, is 6’5″, 320 lbs. and shared with us that this is his first year playing for the Stallions. The 27-year-old couldn’t be any friendlier or more open with us and here is what he revealed to us during our hour-long show.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers OT Dee Gray (77) – Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
Gray has played in both the USFL and the NFL and noted mostly similarities, but when asked to state the differences between them, this is what he shared with us:
“The difference is so probably less talent, but the speed of the game is a little slower for me,” he said. “It’s still good players in the league and a lot of great talent; a lot of guys come from the NFL, so there’s not a lot of differences in the USFL vs. the NFL, probably just the speed of it.”
Gray did change his attitude when we asked his opinion about the possibility of the speed catching up to the NFL. Here’s what he said:
“I think it will,” he stated. “I think the league will continue to grow from year one to year two cause I keep hearing about so many changes and upgrades it has done from last year to this year, so I mean, I think this league will definitely be around for a while. I heard this league was around back in the 80s, so I think this league has already been known, so it means it’s about getting more notoriety and getting more coverage around the league and things like that. So I mean, it’s not a bad league; I had bad thoughts about it before I came, and then me coming here and actually seeing the talent here is like, wow, a lot of these guys I played against week one against the Generals; DJ Daniel, we played together at Jacksonville. So it’s talent all around the board. You got Bo Scarbrough, my running back; I mean, who doesn’t know Bo Scarbrough, so it’s like crazy, Bro. So it’s like a good time.”
Birmingham Stallions RB Bo Scarbrough (25) – Austin Mcafee/Getty Images
In the USFL, there can be teams where there are cliques of guys who are always hanging out together. But for Gray, he likes to hang out with everybody, especially his o-line to have weekly dinners to connect with each other.
He also likes to spend time with his star running back, Bo Scarbrough. Gray is a person of high character and is personable to hang with.
“I mean, it’s ball, man; everybody hangs around each other. I mean, you have guys who hang out with others more than others,” he said. “But me and Bo were around each other a lot; I mean o-line we tight, so o-line we do dinners every Thursday, so that’s kind of a thing that I kind of brought to the room as we do this every Thursday. We try to get together, and what ever it could be, man, we always get a bite to eat every Thursday to continue to build that bond so its just the way it is for us upfront.”
I’d like to thank Evan, Adam, and Dee for joining the show this week and contributing to my story. I’d also like to extent an open invitation to Dee to come on our show anytime he is available to talk shop.
The Birmingham Stallions are now (2-0) on the year and will be hosting the (2-0) New Orleans Breakers this Saturday at 12:30pm on USA. You can also stream the game on Peacock.
To receive the rest of the 2023 Birmingham Stallions’ regular season schedule, see below:
