Usage / Role
22%
Rotational defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2017-2019Mississippi State
Willie Gay Jr.
LB • 6'2" • 240 lbs • Starkville, MS, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Willie Gay Jr. shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 31.4 disruption score.
Impact Production
89
Top-tier box-score impact for a linebacker
lowelite
Reliability
86
Regular contributor with several takeover games
lowhigh
Star Power
87
Elite ceiling indicators
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2018 Postseason · Mississippi State
1717181819
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 3
- Program Path
- Mississippi State
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Alabama
Player Story
Willie Gay Jr. built his college career from 2017 through 2019 as a linebacker from Starkville, MS wearing No. 6, spending time with Mississippi State. The clearest part of Willie Gay Jr.'s career was his defensive...
Read the story4★
- Committed To
- Mississippi State
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2017
NFL Draft
- Draft Year
- 2020
- Selection
- Round 2 · Pick 31
- Overall
- No. 63
- NFL Team
- Kansas City Chiefs
Willie Gay Jr., LB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2018 Postseason · Mississippi State. Willie Gay Jr. shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 31.4 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 84
- TFL
- 9.5
- Sacks
- 5.5
- QB hurries
- 6
- Passes defended
- 4
- Touchdowns
- 2
Featured Highlight
Watch Willie Gay Jr. on film
Willie Gay Jr. Mississippi State Highlights
2019 · Mississippi State · Player Highlight
Willie Gay Jr. college highlights at Mississippi State.
- Season
- 2019
- Type
- Player highlight
Quick Answers
Willie Gay Jr. quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Mississippi State · LB
- Career Tackles
- 84
- Tracked sample
- 3 unique seasons · 5 entries · 27 games
- Best season
- 2018 Postseason · Mississippi State
- Top game
- Alabama
- Recruit profile
- 4-star · Starkville · Mississippi State
- High school pipeline
- Grant Union · 28 FBS recruits · 2 drafted players
- NFL Draft
- 2020 · Round 2 · Pick 31 · Kansas City Chiefs
- Latest roster
- No. 6 · Junior
- 2019 Tackles rank
- 17 tackles · LB 627th (top 50%) · SEC 245th (top 38%) · National 2,149th (top 36%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 Postseason | Mississippi State | 11 | 4 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 22.2 |
| 2017 Regular Season | Mississippi State | 11 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 22.2 |
| 2018 Postseason | Mississippi State | 12 | 0 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 58.3 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Mississippi State | 12 | 44 | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 58.3 |
| 2019 Regular Season | Mississippi State | 4 | 17 | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 54.6 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Willie Gay Jr.
Willie Gay Jr. played LB for Mississippi State. Across 3 tracked seasons, Willie Gay Jr. recorded 84 tackles and 2 touchdowns. His top tracked season came in 2018 with Mississippi State.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2018 Postseason
Mississippi State paired 16.5 primary output with 29.9 efficiency.
Supporting note
2019 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 31.4 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value stayed steady
2019 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Arkansas
Win with 1.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet. It landed in the 50th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2019 Regular Season · Mississippi State
Games
4
Havoc Plays / G
1.4
Efficiency
31.4
Usage
9.8
Consistency
71.8
Best Game by takeover score
Arkansas
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
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Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. Kentucky: 2. Tennessee: 0. Arkansas: 1.5. Ole Miss: 2
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
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High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Kentucky: 2 by 28.3. Tennessee: 5 by 20.8. Arkansas: 5 by 35.8. Ole Miss: 5 by 40.8
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins1.8 · Games = 3 · +1.8 vs Losses
Losses0 · Games = 1 · -1.8 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
4 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Arkansas
Best efficiency game
40.8 vs Ole Miss
Player Story
Willie Gay Jr. story
Willie Gay Jr. built his college career from 2017 through 2019 as a linebacker from Starkville, MS wearing No. 6, spending time with Mississippi State. The clearest part of Willie Gay Jr.'s career was his defensive production: 84 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, and 3 interceptions across 27 career games in the available record. That gives Willie Gay Jr.'s career enough real context without stretching the story beyond the available production.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Mississippi State
2017-2019
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
20172017201820182019
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 Postseason | Mississippi State | 6 | 14.2 | 3.1 | — |
| 2017 Regular Season | Mississippi State | 6 | 14.2 | 3.1 | 0 |
| 2018 Postseason | Mississippi State | 16.5 | 29.9 | 8.2 | 10.5 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Mississippi State | 16.5 | 29.9 | 8.2 | 0 |
| 2019 Regular Season | Mississippi State | 5.5 | 31.4 | 9.8 | -11 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
@ Alabama
Week 11 · L 0-24 · Conference game
Loss with backfield disruption leading the way.
5
Havoc Plays
95.8 takeover
5 disruption/tackle impact with 95.8 takeover score.
#2
vs Arkansas
Week 12 · W 52-6 · Conference game
4
Havoc Plays
83.1 takeover
Win with 4 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
4 disruption/tackle impact with 83.1 takeover score.
#3
@ Arkansas
Week 10 · W 54-24 · Conference game
1.5
Havoc Plays
70.3 takeover
Win with 1.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1.5 disruption/tackle impact with 70.3 takeover score.
#4
vs Kentucky
Week 4 · W 28-13 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
68.9 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 68.9 takeover score.
#5
vs Louisiana
Week 3 · W 56-10
3
Havoc Plays
67.5 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 67.5 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2018 Postseason · Mississippi State
16.5 primary output · 29.9 efficiency · 8.2 usage
58.3
#2
2018 Regular Season · Mississippi State
58.3
16.5 primary · 29.9 efficiency · 8.2 usage
#3
2019 Regular Season · Mississippi State
54.6
5.5 primary · 31.4 efficiency · 9.8 usage
Milestones
8
Impact games
7
Splash games
0
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
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