Growing into role as a star receiver
Mckay has spent much of his life around MUS football
Gavin Mckay has been watching MUS football practically his entire life. He used to dream of playing for the Owls back when he was the team’s waterboy. His dad, Orlando Mckay, has been coaching at the school for 25 years.
“Back in the day, when MUS won back-to-back state titles, I would be traveling as the little waterboy running around,” Gavin Mckay said. “I would get autographs from the players, and I was just the little coach’s son. Everybody loved me, you know? I loved the bond from the team and that’s something that’s stuck with me until now. It makes me appreciate it a lot more.”
Since then, Mckay has grown into a 6-foot-4, 215-pound senior and is one of the Owls’ team captains. He plays wide receiver for MUS but plans to play tight end in college.
His dad won a national championship while playing at Washington in 1991 and was drafted by the Green Bay Packers. He came to Memphis in 1995 to play for the CFL’S Memphis Mad Dogs. Now he’s Gavin’s position coach at MUS.
“It’s tough, I’ll be honest. People say don’t take football home with you, but it’s just such a part of him and such a part of me,” Orlando Mckay said. “I’m probably a little harder on him than I am on the other guys. He doesn’t seem to mind it. We always talk about it and I’m like, ‘Do you want me to ease up?’ And he said, ‘Nah, push me as hard as you can.”’
Gavin Mckay said he enjoys bonding with his dad over football and tries to soak up as much knowledge
from him as he can. He said that they stayed busy during the past couple of months getting ready for the season.
“It was a shock going from normal life to isolation,” he said.
“I’m just thankful my dad has a gym set up at home and is my position coach so I always had work to do. It was a good time to get my head right and focus on what I needed to focus on and put in some work.”
The senior is the No. 27 prospect in Tennessee, according to the 247Sports Composite, and has been committed to Missouri since January. He said he picked the Tigers because they’ve been consistently recruiting him and making him feel like a priority.
“I go about a year back with the old staff and Barry Odom,” Mckay said.
“I went to their Night at the Zou and got the offer. From that moment they were showing me so much love and that following season when they got fired and came in with Casey Woods, who was the tight ends coach at UAB, which was the first school to offer me, we already had a bond. And with (head coach Elijah) Drinkwitz coming in, I knew we could have something special.”
He also said he was grateful that he got to see the school three times before COVID-19 shut down college campuses.
“It was really good to go before this whole pandemic thing hit and see all the schools I could attend,” Mckay said. “I’m really glad I got to commit before the pandemic because there’s a lot of uncertainty in the recruiting world.”
MUS was 10-2 last season and both losses were to Montgomery Bell Academy, which knocked the Owls out in the DII-AAA semifinals. Mckay caught 35 passes and for 508 yards and three touchdowns in 2019.
“He has great ball skills as a receiver,” coach Bobby Alston said. “He’s grown a whole lot over the past two years heightwise, he went from probably 5-11 or 6foot to 6-foot-4 and probably got 20-25 pounds heavier. He had a great year for us last year, really came on strong and got a lot of attention.”