AG-1.5K: An ECU Workhorse in 2026???
20 years later, ECU's Ashton Gray looks to be the second coming of a former ECU legend...
There is something quite lethal about a painting.
- Dorian Gray, Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
In the 2009 NFL season, a second year player and former ECU Pirate torched the league to the tune of 2006 rushing yards in 16 games. That player’s name was Chris Johnson, who has henceforth been referred to as “CJ2K”.
A few seasons earlier, CJ2K led the Pirates in rushing with 1423 yards, and 1951 total scrimmage yards including his receiving work. Not quite 2000 total yards in college, but in his defence, he did this in only 13 games.
Admittedly, I wasn’t sure what to expect this offseason when the 2026 version of ECU brought in several transfers at the RB position. One of those players followed the new OC, Jordan Davis (not to be confused with the DT from UGA), from North Texas: Ashton Gray.
Gray is coming off a career game in UNT’s bowl matchup vs. SDSU where he ran 16 times for 152 yards and two scores (~29 CFF points). Pretty gangster if you ask me.
Obviously, he was behind CFF darling Caleb Hawkins last season, so his overall season stats are not impressive. The second year player finished 2025 with 58 rush attempts, 377 yards and five scores total.
Speaking of Jordan Davis—again, not to be confused with my dawg, JD, who plays for the Eagles—he is in his first season OCing the Pirates after three seasons spent in Denton, TX, with the Mean Green.
His three seasons under Eric Morris at North Texas comprise his sole play calling experience thus far in his career. Prior to UNT, he was an analyst or WRs coach at Washington State, Incarnate Word (FCS), and Texas Tech. So, clearly he has an Air-Raid background, but what is his history at RB?
The short answer is it isn’t very impressive. Last year notwithstanding, the North Texas RB1 under Davis and Morris was not a CFF asset during the other two seasons:
But 2025 did happen, and I think it at least shows that Davis will consolidate touches through one player at RB if he has one that’s head and shoulders above the rest.
Is Gray one such player? He has apparently been an impressive newcomer in spring, and the RBs coach, Julian Griffin, seems to like him:
“He’s extremely smart. He understands the system. He knows how to hold real conversations and give you real information... if there’s a mistake on the field, he’s the guy I can go to and actually talk to about it, and his response is understandable, and I can coach off of that.”
The primary competition if I had to guess would be Marshall transfer Michael Allen, and TJ Engleman (injured). Allen was good in spurts last year for the Thundering Herd, and Engleman had similar numbers to Gray in 2025 with ECU.
Each of the three played some during ECU’s spring showcase, with one beat writer mentioning this:
“Didn't see a ton of the top running backs on Saturday, but Gray looks like a dude. Runs with speed and power. TJ Engleman and Michael Allen were solid in limited reps.”
There was also this note from the same 247 sports writer regarding Gray’s performance over the course of spring:
“Gray did not get a ton of reps this spring due to a minor injury, especially in the early stages of practice, but towards the end, he was trending upwards in a very strong way. The 6-foot, 208-pounder has all the skills for a true No. 1 running back: Size, speed, shiftiness, footwork, and mentality. His vision as a back has also been lauded by his coaches, too. He can even catch the ball well and his pass pro game has improved a lot the last few years. It also helps he knows this offense in and out after following Davis over from North Texas.
As just a redshirt sophomore, Gray still has a lot to prove. He’s had some big games, but he’s never handled a full-time workload over the course of a legitimate college football season. But ECU has very high hopes for Gray this fall. The room as a whole is very solid, but Gray is just a little bit different than the rest when he’s got the ball in his hands.
Gray is probably the best all-around back and he knows the offense, but Michael Allen brings some real physicality, and TJ Engleman has really improved each phase of his career to this point. The two best backs at making people miss with the ball in their hands are Gray and Engleman.”
That’s a lot of positive buzz for our man Mr. Gray. And in case you’re still wondering about the strange title, I’ve gone ahead and taken the liberty of bestowing the nickname “AG-1.5K” onto Ashton Gray. I’ll level with you, even if everything goes according to plan here, it’s still unlikely he’ll reach 2K total yards. But 1.5K feels a bit more reasonable, hence, “AG-1.5K”.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
The head coach of ECU is a defensive specialist and presumably will not be very influential in shaping the offence. I could be wrong about that but I don’t think I am.
ECU also brought in three key transfers at OL this offseason so they will be retooling in that group too. We also don’t even know who the starter will be at QB. If it turns out to be Emory Jones, the QB could be stealing a few (or many) redzone scores from the RBs. Not ideal, but not a dealbreaker either.
Michael Turner is another name that lurks within the room. He briefly became a hot name on waiver wires last year during his dalliance as RB1 at Marshall. He’s someone who gives me some pause regarding Gray, but the quotes above seem pretty emphatic that AG looks different.
I’m not a huge fan of the staff/system but again, we know some players can transcend the system (literally Caleb Hawkins last year under this OC), so it’s good to keep an open mind at all times.
I already know that some of you assholes are going to start drafting Gray way too high this offseason and that’ll kill the value here. Let’s try to keep him as a mid-to-late round workhorse if possible. Though I fear that in the end, this player is going to have a similar trajectory to former JSU runner Cam Cook last offseason, where he gradually increases in ADP and settles comfortably within the top 10. And look, if he has a similar season to Cook then it’ll work out for you.
But surely someone responsible should inform the reader that we’re talking about a player who has largely done nothing in his career thus far and who his playing under an OC who has deployed a committee in two out of three of his play calling seasons. Spring camp quotes are encouraging but these are not gospel. We’ve been here before with many other players. ◾
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