Rock redshirt senior wide receiver Milly Raye may have been held without a touchdown for the first time all year this past week against Indiana University (Pa), but that didn’t stop him from scoring the honor of homecoming king at halftime alongside his queen, senior Cadi McCoy.
Raye, a senior safety management mayor, has played football for The Rock since the 2014 season and is on pace to shatter his season career highs in both receiving yards (770) and touchdowns (8), both set back in 2015. With all the positive attention Raye has brought upon Slippery Rock and himself through his play on the field, some people in his situation may give into the pressure and attention, but not Raye.
“I don’t get caught up in it because at the end of the day what got me here is my hard work,” Raye said. “All the hype and stuff is just around. When I get between the lines, its just whatever I got to do to get into that end zone and help the team win.”
Each week thus far into the 2017 season, Raye or Slippery Rock football has been featured on SportsCenter, due to Raye making SC Top 10 plays the first three weeks of the season. Now with the addition of homecoming king being his most recent claim to fame, Raye still doesn’t show signs of slowing down anytime soon.
“Just keep pushing, to see how far I can go,” Raye said. “Never get complacent, not content, and not satisfied with what I have right now; I want more.”
Off the field, Raye is already working in the safety management field as an occupational safety and health coordinator, where he puts out new information in the safety world such as regulation changes, although his first goal after The Rock is of course football. When it comes to his homecoming queen, the redshirt senior also had many nice thing to say about McCoy.
“She was beautiful out there when she received her crown,” Raye said. “She put in all the work to win homecoming queen and I respect that. I think hard work pays off and I feel like that’s why she truly got her crown.”
Homecoming queen McCoy, a senior public health pre-physician assistant major with a minor in adapted physical activity, plans to attend grad school following the spring semester. McCoy also gave Raye great praise as both a running mate and as a friend as well.
“Milly, honestly he was a really good running mate,” McCoy said. “He was really positive and he was very helpful to me because he was always making me laugh; even when I’m like shut up Milly, this is not the time.”
The queen is involved in many curricular activities here at SRU such as the secretary for Black Action Society, who nominated her for homecoming, while also being a mentor in the Jump Start program, and the vice president for the club volleyball team. McCoy mentioned that winning homecoming queen to her means a lot because she represents something more.
“I feel like I’m representing not only myself, but a large minority here on campus because I am African-American,” McCoy said. “So it means a lot more to me than it might to maybe other people because I’m not only representing myself, I’m representing those that nominated me and those that voted for me.”
McCoy mentioned how she fell in love with Slippery Rock right away because of the atmosphere she felt when she came here.
“I just like the vibe,” McCoy said. “I came here my freshman year and instantly found friends, everybody on campus was super nice, and I like that people are very open here.”
