HOUSTON – The life lessons that Jay Finley learned from his grandmother while growing up in Corsicana continue to shape the Baylor senior running back.
Willie Mae Curry gave Finley and his four siblings all the love and devotion she could manage in a cramped house. Still, Finley quickly grasped the reality of the situation.
“You have to be patient,” Finley said. “When you want something, you have to work for it because you’re not given anything. Growing up in a household like I did, it doesn’t come easy.”
Not much has for Finley. What he learned from his grandmother has helped push him through a major ankle injury to the verge of a season school rushing record.
He needs just 33 yards on Wednesday against Illinois in the Texas Bowl to break Walter Abercrombie’s 30-year-old mark of 1,187 yards.
“If you’re a running back, you want to be the best,” Finley said. “I’m ready to do it.”
Abercrombie, who works for the “B” Association at Baylor, has no problem should his mark fall.
“Simply, the record has been there way too long,” Abercrombie said. “I think it’s great. I can’t think of a better person to possibly break it. Jay has worked hard, followed the rules and did everything the coaches asked.
“I’ve seen him mature and grow as a runner.”
On closer inspection, Finley’s pending achievement becomes even more noteworthy. After nursing an ankle injury that limited him to 370 yards rushing in 2009, he underwent off-season surgery and missed spring drills. For three weeks after the surgery, he couldn’t walk.
Finley needed even more time to develop confidence that his ankle would respond like he wanted, the way it had before the injury.
“It was awhile,” Finley said. “It was sometime in the season before I could really feel comfortable cutting on it.”
His first 100-yard game didn’t come until halfway into the season. Once he got going, he never stopped. In Big 12 games, only Oklahoma State All-American Kendall Hunter was more productive rushing – and that was by a single yard.
Finley set a school record with 250 yards rushing against Kansas State, in a victory that made Baylor bowl eligible and eventually ended a 16-year postseason drought.
Quarterback Robert Griffin was rehabbing a knee injury when Finley was recovering from ankle surgery.
“When he went out at the beginning of the season when he wasn’t 100 percent and played his heart out, that meant a lot to this team,” Griffin said.
Once Finley took off, defenses no longer could just key on Griffin.
“It’s extremely critical to have someone else on the offense to produce like that,” Griffin said. “It’s not all on my shoulders. Jay can tote the rock 30 times a game and we’ll be fine.”
Finley’s running style jumped off the game film for Illinois defenders.
Defensive tackle Corey Liuget noted Finley’s ability to go from Point A to Point B wherever there’s an opening.
“He can find a hole from here to Asia,” Liguet said. “He’s definitely going to hit it. The kid is one of the best I’ve seen so far at finding a hole and getting up the field.”
Which brings us back to patience and Willie Mae Curry.
Finley was attending Bryan Adams in Dallas as a sophomore when his father decided to move to Louisiana. His mother had drifted away from the family, so the five children moved to Corsicana with their grandmother.
Defensive tackle Courtney Green, another Corsicana product, remembers how much Finley cared for his grandmother.
Now, Finley realizes that what seemed like an upheaval in his life turned into something else.
“It was a blessing,” he said.