Nay’Quan Wright making the most of his opportunity

Nay’Quan Wright crossed the goal line at Kyle Field for his first collegiate touchdown, quickly dropped to a knee, made the sign of the cross and said a quiet prayer.

It’s an act often seen after players achieve personal accomplishments but for the redshirt freshman Wright, it’s just a blessing he’s here for this moment.

Wright was 11 years old and on a field at Bunche Park in Miami Gardens. It was like any other November day — Wright, a talented youngster, was going through practice with his team, the Miami Gardens Cowboys, when a car drove by and opened fire. A bullet ricocheted off of some concrete, striking 11-year old Wright in the chest. Wright and three others were quickly rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Erroneously, Wright’s family received the phone call no parent ever wants to hear. The words every family dreads.

“The doctor said I wouldn’t — my family got a call that I had passed away,” Wright said on a Zoom call with reporters Monday night.

The shooting left him with nerve damage in his left hand. A determined twelve-year-old, Wright played the entirety of the next season with little to no feeling his left hand.

“He led his team to a Super Bowl that season,” Eltoro “Ro” Wallace, who was the coach of that Cowboys team and coached Wright from the time he was an eight-year-old until he signed with Florida, told Gator Country. “I think that incident really put things into perspective for him. That forced him to grow up a lot faster than most kids his age. That’s why, the maturity level you see he has now, that’s where a lot of it comes from.”

Prior to the shooting, Wright had a relationship with God — he says his grandmother, who is now 95-years-young, would take him and his brother, in addition to their nephews, to church and Bible study every week. Wallace remembers Wright missing Tuesday practices; when asked why Wallace said Wright would tell him he’d miss football practice before missing Bible study.

“It just made my connection with God pretty strong. As a person, he changed me,
made me always move on, and don’t take life for granted,” Wright said. “I’m not going to say I was taking life for granted, it just made me take more — don’t take life for granted, just let me know that my life is not my own.”

When Wright went on to Carol City High School, Wallace got a job coaching there, and the two continued their bond into high school. It didn’t take long for Wright to make an impact at the next level.

“I was able to see him transition through the whole phase of being a phenomenal youth league kid to the high school level,” Wallace told Gator Country. “It took about two, three games with the speed of the game, once he got caught up with it you just see right then, that from there that he was gonna be a great one.”

Wright would turn himself into one of the best running backs Carol City has ever seen. He exploded on the scene his first two seasons, rushing for 1,793 yards and 19 rushing touchdowns in addition to hauling in 13 passes for 141 yards and a receiving touchdown. And Wright would help lead Carol City to the 2016 FHSAA 6A State Championship by rushing for 109 yards and two scores in that game as the Chiefs brought home a state title for the first time in 13 years.
By then, Wright was on track to being a five-star, blue-chip, all-state — you name it.

Everyone wanted him: Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Florida, you name it. Then, in his junior year, he broke his ankle — that’s when Wright learned just how cruel collegiate sports can be, how fickle the relationship between high school prospect and head coach can be before it culminates in enrollment. His phone wasn’t lighting up like it used to. Schools stopped calling, casting Wright’s recruitment aside while he was in a cast on the sideline.

“A lot of schools, they backed off me. That’s just natural,” Wright said. “That’s just natural. It’s a business, so if you can’t produce, no one is going to communicate with you.”

Florida and Georgia stuck with him throughout his junior season, and it’s a good thing they did because Wright reminded all of those coaches that stopped calling him why they were calling in the first place.

As a senior at Carol City, Wright rushed for 163 yards and a touchdown in a victory against American Heritage, subsequently breaking Heritage’s 28-game winning streak. He was back, and when schools tried to restart the conversation, Wright remembered who hadn’t lost faith in him. Wright chose Florida over Georgia on November 24, 2018 — just seven years to the month he caught a stray bullet in the chest. At the time, Wright said Florida stuck with him through the ups and downs, and this was his way of thanking them.

“I got a chance to really know him well during the recruiting process down there in Miami. And his story is just so unbelievable. The adversity that he has faced in his life,” Florida offensive coordinator Brian Johnson said on a Zoom call. “I can’t say enough good things about the kid. You know, he and Randy Russell went to the same high school. And just talk about two unbelievable dudes that do everything right, that have unbelievable passion, demeanor, and maturity about themselves that will set them up for a lifetime of success.”

Success is earned, not given. When Wright enrolled at Florida, he did what all incoming freshmen do: he walked into a room of veterans. Florida had a senior in La’Mical Perine, a redshirt sophomore in Malik Davis, and a true sophomore in Dameon Pierce. Haven’t grown up in a small house in Miami Gardens with his brothers and nephews, he was used to competition and he was unafraid of it. The youngest in the bunch, he quickly learned how to be competitive and that you need to earn what you want — it won’t be handed to you.

“A lot of kids get discouraged that you have to come in, wait a year, wait your turn. He’s been playing with good players his whole life so it wasn’t a big transition for him at all,” Wallace told Gator Country. “It was a learning experience. I told him you gotta take mental reps. There’s things in those guys’ games that you can put in yours to help you.”

Wright brought his lunch pail to practice every day despite not being heavily involved in the game-plan. He played in three games, recorded 24 yards on 12 carries, and had one catch but he was named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll. Those who know him best say that’s just the kind of person Wright is, that’s who he was raised to be.

“He’s just a very humble kid. He’s just a workhorse,” Florida quarterback Kyle Trask said. “He doesn’t complain about anything. He just shows up to work every single day.”

It’s starting to show on the field now. Wright only had four carries in the Gators’ first two games, but he was a featured back against Texas A&M; he led Florida in rushing yards, had the lone touchdown on the ground against the Aggies, and rattled off a 26-yard catch-and-run on his lone target of the afternoon.

So, every time you see Wright get into the end zone and see him take a knee, bow his head and pray, know it’s not for show — that’s who Wright is. He’s deeply spiritual and truly believes that he wasn’t taken off this Earth nine years ago on that day in November because he has a purpose to serve and a reason to still be alive.

“I mean, if it was my time here, He’d call me home. So I feel like He’s not done with me yet. A lot of guys get shot and die instantly. I feel like my job is not done, but He’s not done with me on this Earth,” Wright said. “So when it’s my time He’s gonna call me at a decent time. It’s just not right now.”

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC