Cowboys’ Randy Gregory proud of his successful return

FORT WORTH, Texas —Victories and major accomplishments have been few and far between for the Dallas Cowboys in 2020.

They are last place in the NFC East with a 4-9 record with three games to go in a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations.

But as far as defensive end Randy Gregory is concerned, the little things are worth appreciating, savoring and celebrating.

A year ago, Gregory was in the midst of an open-ended suspension that the NFL had levied against him for repeated violations of the substance abuse policy, and he didn't know when, or possibly if, he would be allowed to play in the league again.

He spent the spring and summer working a 9-to-5 job, taking inventory and loading delivery trucks at an Amazon warehouse in Lewisville.

His breakthrough came right before the season when he was conditionally reinstated by the NFL.

It would be six weeks before he would to be able to play in his first game.

Now, with seven games down and three games to go in a season that may be disappointing for the Cowboys, Gregory can't help but count his return to the game he loves as joy and be proud of what he has accomplished in a personal journey that is far from over.

“I would say just the fact that I never gave up,” Gregory said Wednesday. “I've had times where I've doubted myself. I've had times where I wondered what life would be like without football. But the biggest thing for me, the biggest thing I'm most proud of is that I never gave up.

“Football is the most natural thing for me, so I'm going to keep trying to be here. I'm going to keep coming back. I'm going to keep going out there and playing as hard as I can until I'm not wanted in this league any more or they push me out of this league. Just the fact that I continue to fight, continue to want to come back and play is really important to me.”

It was Gregory's first media press conference since 2018, when he was suspended for a fourth time since joining the Cowboys as a second-round

“To not get that undefeated season and a national championship was a big letdown. It hurts.”

The bigger part of Alabama’s dominance came on the other side of the ball. Its offensive line won the trenches in a big way, pounding Strong’s defense for 490 yards, more than double its average pergame yield.

Mike Johnson, a senior guard and co-captain, described his team’s dominance this way: “Everything they did, it seemed like we had an answer for.”

Ingram had 189 combined rushing and receiving yards, a highlight reel that allowed him to edge out Stanford running back Toby Gerhart in the closest Heisman Trophy vote in history, 1,304 points to 1,276.

But the most memorable play from that game allowed Peek to gain a piece of immortality. Midway through the third quarter, on first-and-10 from the UF 17, Mcelroy rolled out to his right, then his eyes turned left as he spotted Peek streaking down the left hash mark. He lofted a pass just over his tight end’s right shoulder.

Peek, two steps ahead of Gator linebacker Ryan Stamper, cradled the pass for a touchdown and a 26-13 ‘Bama lead. Two days later, Peek’s reception made the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Peek, 34, is now living the single life in New York City. He’s an entrepreneur and advisor to Fortune 500 companies, as well as recently starting his own company, Syllable, which operates consumer product brands with name celebrities like actor Kate Hudson and supermodel Emily Ratajkowski.

Though Peek’s football career ended in 2010 as an undrafted rookie when he was released by the Atlanta Falcons, the memory of that SEC championship game moment lives on forever.

“Greg [Mcelroy] just put a perfect ball over my shoulder,” said Peek. “It was a phenomenal moment, a phenomenal time to be a part of it. I’m just super thankful I could be a member of that team.”

Mcelroy, considered the ultimate gamemanaging ‘Bama quarterback, made only one NFL start for the New York Jets late in the 2012 season as a replacement for Mark Sanchez. Ironically, Tebow was the other backup he beat out for that start, but their brief NFL competition paled in comparison to beating Tebow in an epic SEC showdown.

As for the Gators, they have yet to become the national force they were during the Meyer years. It surprises Hammond that it’s taken his alma mater this long to get back on track.

“The expectations for Florida were still the same with me for a new coach because the expectations for the school don’t change,” Hammond said. “Was I expecting a dropoff [after Meyer left]? No.”

Three weeks after that 2009 game, Florida announced Meyer intended to resign. The next day, Meyer said he was taking a leave of absence and ended up returning for one more season, where the Gators finished 8-5 and unranked.

UF hasn’t been the same since then. It was dominated by ‘Bama in SEC title games under Jim Mcelwain in 2015 and ’16. Now it’s up to Mullen, who went 0-9 against ‘Bama in his time at Mississippi State, to see if he can turn the tide back in the Gators’ favor.

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One of the big reasons Peek chose Alabama over Florida as his transfer destination is he thought Saban’s program would have more staying power. He had researched the college portion of his career, specifically winning a national title in his fourth season (2003) at LSU, and felt Saban merging with a football blueblood like ‘Bama would be a perfect fit.

“I knew I’d get him in his third season and I told him when he recruited me, ‘I’m coming here because I’m expecting you to win one [national title] within three years,’ “Peek said. “He sort of laughed and gave me that Saban smile.

“But to this day, when I’m with other players, we always talk about how we were the first domino, and it takes one domino to hit for the rest of them to come out.”

After that only Saban perfect season in 2009, two more national championships followed in the next three years. Then after a pair of two-losses seasons in 2013 and ‘14, his teams went on a fouryear stretch where they finished ranked 1, 2, 1, and 2, losing two out of three times to Clemson in the national championship game and beating Georgia in another.

It remains an unparalleled dynasty. Saban’s record of 148-15 over the last 12 years for a winning percentage of .908 is slightly above the other seven dynasties in college football’s AP poll era. His .894 win percentage in SEC games (93-11) during that span trails only Bryant, whose best 12-year stretch from 1971-82 produced a .911 SEC win percentage (72-7).

Many legendary coaches like Oklahoma’s Bud Wilkinson (114-11-2, three national titles from 194859), Florida State’s Bobby Bowden (130-16-1, two national titles from 198899) and Notre Dame’s Frank Leahy (87-11-9, four national titles from 1941-53) had decade-plus runs of winning at an 8588% clip. From 1983-94, Miami went 126-19 (.869) and captured four championships during its best 12-year stretch.

But none of these dynasties, including ones under Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer and Nebraska’s Tom Osborne in the old Big 8, were quite as authoritative as what Saban is presiding over. And none had to do it in a conference as consistently deep as the SEC, which has won 11 of the last 17 national titles.

“Saban is the John Wooden of college football,” Peek said. “There’s no other way to look at it but that. What he’s been able to continue to do is a testament to his vision of what he was trying to do anyway. I think anyone who stepped in that office door realized that it was championship or nothing. That was how he rode. If you don’t win a championship, then it was a failure of a season.

“With anything in life, you have to manifest your reality and that’s what Alabama does. We manifest championships because we expect them.”

Now Saban’s 10-0 team, averaging 49.5 points per game with a balanced offense led by quarterback Mac Jones, running back Najee Harris and receiver Devonta Smith, is on the brink of a seventh SEC title under Saban and will be favored to hoist another crystal ball.

Jones, only 11-years-old when this ‘Bama dynasty started, hasn’t forgotten how that game played out, including the sight of Tebow crying on the bench in the closing minutes — much to the delight of ‘Bama fans when it was shown on the Georgia Dome video board.

“I do remember watching that [2009 SEC title game],” Jones said. “I don’t think I was a huge Alabama fan, and not a huge Florida fan either. I just liked Tim Tebow. To see him lose like that, I was like, ‘Wow!’

“First of all, I felt bad for Tim. But at the same time, Alabama goes on a run pretty much from that day until I’ve been here, goes on a run of being a great program. That one game kind of started it all.”

After the Tide beat Texas for his first ‘Bama national championship, Saban issued a telling message to the crowd during a victory celebration at Bryant-denny Stadium, saying: “I want everybody to know, this is not the end. This is the beginning.”

Nearly 11 years later, the dynasty shows no sign of reaching the finish line.