Auburn wide receiver Quan Bray opens up to the media on the Tigers' reporting day. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

AUBURN, Alabama – The tattoo engulfs Quan Bray's right shoulder, spreading all the way down from the top of the joint to the edge of his bicep, ending where his arm meets his elbow.

The portrait is beautiful, a striking woman, smiling above script lettering outlining words so simple and direct.

Auburn junior Quan Bray opened up on the subject of his mother's death for the first time in two years during reporting day interviews. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

June 17, 1974-July 3, 2011.

R.I.P. Tonya.

"I always wake up in the morning and that's the first thing I see," Bray said. "It's a blessing to be where I am right now."

The tattoo isn't the only reminder on Bray's right arm. Further down, Bray wears two bracelets on his wrist, one yellow, one orange.

Both carry messages remembering Tonya "Cuddy" Bray, Quan's mother, the woman Bray lost two years ago.

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Bray has rarely talked about his mother's death since arriving at Auburn, granting only a single interview to Columbus-based TV station WLTZ in his two seasons with the Tigers.

"For me to talk about it with y'all right now is really crazy," Bray told reporters during Auburn's reporting day Thursday. "I don't mind talking about it now. Talking about it relieves me a lot."

Back on July 3, 2011, Bray was out of town in Atlanta and missed a call from his mother while sleeping, only to call back and get no answer. When he got back to LaGrange, he told the TV station last February, he went to his grandmother's house and saw his mom's car in the middle of the road.

Bray did not go into the rest of the details during Thursday's interview, but the Georgia courts have pieced together what happened.

On that day, Jeffrey Jones – Quan's father – sent a string of threatening text messages to Tonya Bray, then chased her as she drove down Ragland Street in LaGrange and shot her several times.

Tonya was pronounced dead at the hospital. Jones pled guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"It was tragic, very tragic," Bray said. "Something I didn't expect, but we don't expect a lot of things all the time in our life. It's crazy, but it's life. I just use that as a motivator."

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Bray lost his mother less than a month before the start of his first fall camp at Auburn. Only 19 years old, trying to be strong for his younger brother, Jymere, Bray dealt with his loss the only way he knew how.

Auburn wide receiver Quan Bray (4) is wrapped up by New Mexico State cornerback Samuel Oyenuga (20) Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett / al.com)

On the football field.

"I loved my mom to death," Bray said. "When I thought about that, I'd just go work out, just go do something and get my mind off that, just to motivate me to do things the best I can for her, because I know she was always with me."

Bray is not a talkative person. Never has been, according to his uncle, Charles Flowers, Tonya's brother, who was Bray's football coach at Troup County High in LaGrange.

In the aftermath of his mother's death, Bray didn't talk about it.

"He's not that kind of guy that's going to talk about stuff like that a whole lot," Flowers said. "We talk every day, and even when that happened, he's not the kind of guy that's going to open up and talk about it a whole lot. ... It's a shock for a 17-year-old kid to have to deal with that."

Bray responded by doing what his mother had always taught him.

From the time Bray started playing sports, Tonya never missed a game. She supported her son, offered him encouragement, made sure he could try anything and everything, from football to basketball to anything in between.

But she never pampered her son, the way some parents do once it's clear their boy has off-the-charts ability.

"She was never a parent that would place him above anything else," Flowers said. "She always pushed him to work harder and give his very best. I know it sounds cliché, but she did."

In the midst of tragedy, Bray posted a 3.5 GPA in his first semester at Auburn, carved out a role as a slot receiver and punt returner and finished off the season with a highlight-reel 62-yard kickoff return in the Chick-fil-A Bowl against Virginia.

Somewhere along the way, he found the strength to talk about his mother's loss, opening up at first to teammates, and one teammate in particular, the same teammate he's always competed against for playing time.

Trovon Reed had lost his mother to stomach cancer the year before, right before he announced his commitment to Auburn.

"Me and him went through the same type of thing," Bray said. "He lost his mom back then, so we always relate to each other. When we're in a grind and we don't want to do this, he's just like, 'Look up, man. Just look up. We've got something to do this for.'"

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Bray's two seasons at Auburn haven't been perfect off the field.

During the Tigers' bye week last season, after earning a spot as the No. 2 receiver behind Emory Blake, Bray was arrested for violating his limited driver's permit, cited for loud music and suspended for the Arkansas game.

"It was embarrassing, because he had to face the people that supported him and his little brother more than anything," Flowers said. "I don't think his mind was in the right place, and I don't think he was focused."

Bray says now that the suspension shook him awake.

"It was a good thing for me, it sounds crazy, but it really was," Bray said. "It actually got my mind right to where you've got something that a lot of people don't have, so you have to man up and make the right decisions."

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Bray did not mention his father at any point during Thursday's interview.

Only his mother. After her death, Bray assumed the role of father figure in the household he shares with his grandmother, Christine, and Jymere, now an 11-year-old who's watching and emulating Bray's every move.

Bray takes the responsibility seriously.

"I've got a little brother at home that's just like my son, might as well be my son," Bray said. "That's home."

Bray relies on Flowers, and his cousin, Jason Bray, a cornerback at Auburn from 1995-1998, for guidance, along with his coaches and teammates.

But his primary influence is still his mom.

"You can see her in him," Flowers said. "He's not a wild person, he's not a disrespectful person, he's got a cultured personality. He's always smiling, always helping people, and that's the kind of person that she was."

Bray's teammates have seen the same traits.

Over the summer, Bray made sure that every time punter Steven Clark went out to kick, he was out there to field punts. When he met with reporters on Thursday, he was covered in sweat, the product of one final workout before Auburn begins camp on Friday.

Auburn WR Quan Bray works out during spring practice Wednesday, April 3, 2013, at the Auburn Athletic Complex in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

"Every time I'm here working this summer, I've seen Quan Bray working," defensive end Nosa Eguae said. "I know he's been through a lot, but he doesn't let it get him down. He's always positive."

Bray, who has shown flashes out of the slot for two straight seasons and leads all Tigers receivers with 31 career catches, believes this could be his breakout year, finally back in the offense he came to Auburn to play.

No matter what happens, his mother will never be far from his mind.

"The hardest part for him was knowing that he was fulfilling his dream, and his mother not being there to witness it," Flowers said.

That tattoo on Bray's shoulder, visible under his pads and in pictures, may be the most prominent tribute to Tonya's life.

But it's the son she raised who's carrying on her legacy.