Quinn Fordham Gray Sr. doesnt view his time breaking records as Florida A&M footballs quarterback as the glory days.Instead, he dishes on his experiences as a student-athlete at The Highest of Seven Hills in building a successful program, much like the way the Rattlers won two Black College Football National Championships during Grays college football career from 1997 to 2001.As head coach, Grays team is living in an on-campus residence hall during preseason training camp.We went old school with the way we approached camp, said Gray, whos entering his first season at the helm.We put everybody out of their apartments, we brought everybody to the dorms to Sampson Hall, where we stayed during camp when I was in school here.Housing over 500 students, the all-male Sampson Hall is named after George Sampson, a FAMU athletics pioneer and math professor who helped organize the colleges sports teams and co-founded the Rattler football team with Jubie Bragg in 1899.Dorm life is a bonding mechanism Gray adopted from his head coach, Billy Joe. It builds chemistry in the mind before even touching the gridiron.Just making sure that everybody got a chance to know each other on a deeper level instead of surface level, the FAMU head coach explained. For us, weve got to know how each other reacts in pressure situations. Youve got to know how your brother reacts when things go sideways.The Rattlers reported to training camp on July 29 and started practicing on July 31. The team is four practices in as of Monday, Aug. 3, and approaching a week since the team report date.The season begins on Saturday, Aug. 29, when Grays former team, Albany State, visits Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee.Every day, we share stories from every player. To get to know each other and help each other, where we understand who we are and what weve been through, will definitely help us on Saturdays when adversity strikes.So far, so good in the dorm room and on the practice fields.FAMUs identity is starting to form, Gray revealed.As coaches, we help foster that with things that we do outside of the dorm, he added. Activities we have in meetings, activities we do before meetings. Bringing these guys together so we can understand that this is a family.Gray said the team will be in Sampson Hall for the next week and a half before FAMU students begin moving in for classes on Aug. 24.Aug. 22 is the final day of training camp.Florida A&M football 2026 scheduleSaturday, Aug. 29: vs. Albany State, 7 p.m., SWAC TVSunday, Sept. 6: vs. South Carolina State, Orange Blossom Classic at Miami Gardens' Hard Rock Stadium, 3 p.m., ESPNUThursday, Sept. 10: at Miami, 8 p.m., ACC NetworkSaturday, Sept. 19: vs. Tennessee State, 7 p.m., HBCU GOSaturday, Sept. 26: vs. Alabama A&M (SWAC), 7 p.m., SWAC TVSaturday, Oct. 3: BYESaturday, Oct. 10: at Alabama State (SWAC), 3 p.m., HBCU GOSaturday, Oct. 17: at Jackson State (SWAC), 3 p.m., ESPN NetworkSaturday, Oct. 24: vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (SWAC/Homecoming), 3 p.m., HBCU GOSaturday, Oct. 31: vs. Southern (SWAC), 3 p.m., HBCU GOSaturday, Nov. 7: at Alcorn State (SWAC), 3 p.m., SWAC TVSaturday, Nov. 14: vs. Mississippi Valley State (SWAC), 3 p.m., SWAC TVSaturday, Nov. 21: vs. Bethune-Cookman (SWAC/Florida Classic), 3:30 p.m., ESPN+Gerald Thomas, III, is a multi-time national award-winning reporter for his coverage of theFlorida A&M Rattlersat the Tallahassee Democrat under the USA TODAY Network.Follow his award-winning coverage onRattlerNews.comand contact him via email atGDThomas@Tallahassee.comor on the app formerly known as Twitter@3peatgee.This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Quinn Gray revives 'old-school' FAMU football training camp tradition