EAST LANSING — On the Friday of Labor Day weekend 2011, Arthur Ray Jr. stood on the Spartan Stadium grass, tearing up during the national anthem before getting the only start of his college football career.
On the Friday of Labor Day weekend 2012, Ray stood in MSU warm-ups with a look of determination on his face before the Spartans played Boise State.
“I’m always going to be a Spartan at heart,” he said. “But football is in Arthur Ray’s future.”
The cancer survivor and former offensive lineman is on scholarship this fall and is scheduled to receive his bachelor’s degree in communication in December. Then he plans to finish his career at a different Football Bowl Subdivision school.
When camp opened, coach Mark Dantonio said the fifth-year senior would not be on the 105-man roster and called it “a conversation that’s relatively private between he and I.”
Dantonio previously had said he didn’t want Ray to continue playing unless he was able to make it into the two-deep on the depth chart. Still, Ray seemed to think he was going to be a part of the team in 2012.
“It was surprising, opportunities didn’t present themselves the way I thought they would,” Ray said. “But I understand, and I’ll always appreciate what Coach D has done for me.”
That includes honoring his scholarship after Ray discovered he had leg cancer in the spring of 2007, just after the Chicago Mt. Carmel product signed with Dantonio’s first recruiting class.
“We were a little surprised by it,” Adrian Ray, Arthur’s mother, said of Dantonio’s recent decision. “But we accept it. They thought it was best for the program and best for him, so we’re moving on.”
Because he’ll receive his degree, Ray can transfer to an FBS school and play without sitting a year. He has one season of eligibility left and could apply for another after that.
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