2026 Notre Dame CB Commit Khary Adams Trained By Former Mickens Pupil

In recruiting, like in life, sometimes things do seem to come full circle.   

Mike Mickens is one of the biggest reasons Montre Gregory is able to do what he’s currently doing - helping young defensive backs reach their dreams.

And now, one of Gregory’s pupils at MG Performance will be chasing those dreams under Mickens.

Gregory learned a lot about defensive back and life when he was recruited by and played for Mickens at Bowling Green in 2016 and 2017. 

“Mickens is a real good dude,” Gregory says. “He's Intense and a challenger. He's going to challenge you to be the best version of yourself and he's really detail-oriented.

“He's helped me develop into the man that I am today when it comes to coaching these kids and also to just making sure I take every day at practice and every day like it was a game day,” Gregory says. “That's one of the things that Coach Mickens instilled in me, just making sure that we practice how we play, the same details that we practiced with were the same details that we played with. The same details that we had from the film were the same details that we had when we played as well.”

Gregory isn’t surprised by Mickens’ ascent to one of the sport’s top defensive backs coaches after leaving Bowling Green for Cincinnati in 2018 and ultimately to Notre Dame in 2020.

“I got a chance to get Mickens while he was going towards his climb,” Gregory says. “We've seen everything. Once he left and went over to Cincinnati, we saw what he did with Sauce (Gardner), we saw what he did with Coby Bryant and then that's when we saw what he did at Notre Dame. Not surprised at all. 

“Coach Mickens is probably the best defensive back coach in the country when it comes to developing young talent. It was like a no-brainer when it came to who Mickens was as a developer and also who Mickens was as a coach and a person. I still can call Coach Mickens, I still can talk to Coach Mickens. Any opportunity he's got to help me out, he's going to help me out. I can't really say that too much. I know how some people probably write to coaches and be like, 'Man, that coach don't care about me.' I definitely understood, even in college, that he cared about me.”

To this day, Gregory considers it a “blessing” that his path crossed Mickens’.

“Anything I ask for, he's willing to help me out with,” he says. “That's huge. When it comes to learning the game a little bit more and continuing to grow myself as the defensive back coach and defensive back trainer.”

So, it was no surprise that when Gregory came across a young cornerback with immense potential a couple years ago, he let his former coach know about his new pupil, Maryland cornerback Khary Adams‍.

“I told Coach Mickens he was going to be a phenomenal football player,” says Gregory, who brought Adams to South Bend as part of his annual camp tour.

“He showed up to the football camp and did really, really well and got a scholarship from them. Mickens has been in contact with him throughout the whole recruiting process.”

Eventually, Adams would make the same choice his trainer made, picking Mickens as the coach to learn under by committing to Notre Dame.

“Khary felt like it was a home base,” says Gregory. “I was able to share some of my experiences with Coach Mickens with him, which made him feel good and comfortable as well.”

Gregory has helped Adams with the foundation to play the position.

“We cleaned up a lot of his breaks,” says Gregory. “We're in the process right now of continuing to craft and work on press man-to-man coverage. Defensive back is a position where it's not just a one-day fix of learning how to play. You've got to continuously, continuously work the craft, continuously study the craft. Just learning how to be a professional defensive back is one of things I think we've been working on more and more.

“You've got to take it seriously. You've got to obsess about the details and you've got to continuously work and work with a purpose. Just because you show up doesn't mean you're getting better. You've got to intentionally show up with that mindset and that purpose to get better.”

Because Adams does exactly that, Gregory believes the fit with Mickens is going to work out well.

“It's going to be good,” says Gregory. “Khary is really mature about his business, so it's going to be really good. It's a blessing, man. I'm just grateful that those two have crossed paths and now they're able to work. It's funny to see the coaching tree go down, continue to roll down. It's just a blessing.”

Adams’ natural talents and Mickens’ coaching will be an extremely successful pairing, according to Gregory.

“He plays the football in the air really well, and he is really fast,” says Gregory. “When the ball is in the air, he kind of turns into a wide receiver and he just has that knack for just taking the ball away, which is really, really good. 

“One of the good things about Khary is that his best football hasn't even been played yet. As he gets under Mickens and as he develops even more, he's going to be a Top 15 pick one day.”

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