Old friends: Grambling's Donovan McCray charged with stopping high school teammate Lenard Tillery in Bayou Classic

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana -- Donovan McCray spent his high school career creating holes for Lenard Tillery to run through as teammates at McKinley High in Baton Rouge, McCray as an offensive lineman at the time and Tillery as a running back.

His college years were spent trying to bring him down as a defensive tackle at Grambling and Tillery as a star rusher at Southern.

On Saturday, the final chapter of McCray and Tillery’s football relationship will be written in what’s geared to be one of the biggest Bayou Classics in history — a fitting end for a pair of old friends turned rivals one Saturday each year.

McCray is one of the leading experts on Tillery’s running style by this point and the same can be said about Tillery of McCray’s defensive prowess.

For one last time, when Tillery takes the handoff, he’ll see a familiar face bearing down on him. There’s no hiding from the inevitable, and neither player would want it any other way.

“It’s real crazy,” McCray said. “You never think you’d have to tackle your high school teammate you used to actually block for.



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